Stories from Saturday Night about Mark Stoops and Texas A&M

Saturday was one of the most eventful days in Kentucky football history. The Wildcats shocked the world by upsetting a Top 10 Louisville team, in-between reports of connections between Mark Stoops and the Texas A&M head coach vacancy.

Some of you may have slept through it. Others were locked in for updates and ‘what if’ chatter on KSBoard. So what exactly happened between Mark Stoops and Texas A&M? There are two sides to every story.

Assistant Coach Hesitation Forces Mark Stoops to say No

Mark Stoops emerged as one of the top candidates for the Texas A&M coaching vacancy throughout the week leading into the Governor’s Cup. According to KSR’s Matt Jones, athletic director Ross Bjork was convinced Stoops was his man after watching the Wildcats take down the Cards in the Governor’s Cup.

“I think on Saturday after the game he was offered the job. And then it became a question of, does he take it or not?”

Jones shared more on Monday’s radio show. “He did not take the job. He did not accept the job. I think the job was offered to him in a ‘we gotta get final approval tomorrow morning, and are you serious enough about this that we’ll go ask?’ I think he communicated that he was serious, but did didn’t accept it.”

Texas A&M fan sites floated Stoops’ name Saturday night while the Kentucky head coach deliberated his next step. Two things came to mind.

“There were a lot of conversations that Mark had with people about, ‘Okay, should I go? — I think that was one set of conversations — and then if I go who would go with me?’

“I got the sense, this is just my sense, that not everybody was certain to do that (follow Stoops),” Jones said.

The founder of KSR was at a Lexington restaurant with various coaches and other power players as all of this was unfolding in real time. He does not believe some of Stoops’ top assistants — Vince Marrow, Liam Coen and Brad White — were ready to make the move to College Station. The UK administration was willing to “do everything in their minds” to keep at least two assistants, even if it meant promoting them to fill Stoops’ shoes as the program’s head coach.

“This is my take my take: two things I think happened at the exact same time. I think Mark realized that there might have been a couple of people he really wanted to go with him that weren’t gonna go, or at least weren’t certain to go, couldn’t commit in that moment or by the next morning when he got the official offer.”

The other part that Jones believes made an impact on Stoops’ decision comes from the second side of the story.

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Texas A&M Money Men Strong Arm Board of Regents

You know Matt Jones as the BBN’s Leader in all things Kentucky sports. Billy Liucci is the Texas A&M equivalent at a site that rivals KSR’s large traffic numbers, TexAgs.com. He shares a differing tale, albeit one I’ve heard from folks in College Station as well.

When Stoops’ name was floated out, there was a tentative contract with terms agreed upon by both sides. It was a contract that mirrored Jimbo Fisher’s, a contract that included so much guaranteed money that it was universally mocked when A&M was forced to pay a $76 million buyout. Needing approval from the Board of Regents Sunday morning, the various board members and money men pushed back on the athletic director’s initial choice.

Internet observers put the onus on the online revolt from fans for stopping Stoops’ move to College Station. One thing Jones, Liucci and this blogger can all agree on — angry fans did not cause athletic director Ross Bjork to redirect the coaching search. The money men and the board of regents weren’t willing to agree to the lucrative terms of the tentative deal.

What Does All This Mean?

We live in a world of gray area. The truth is rarely black and white. It’s fair to say that’s the case here, with the reality falling somewhere in-between.

Mark Stoops is much more attractive to Texas A&M if he has a quarterback magnet calling plays and an ace recruiter with an unlimited NIL budget. It’s also safe to say the money men behind that NIL budget weren’t ready to invest their future with an unfamiliar coach. Mike Elko checks many of the same boxes as Stoops, albeit with less experience as a head coach, and four years of glad-handing boosters in College Station.

As Liucci said late Saturday night, “This is one of those rare times where when the dust settles both sides win.”

If you’re worried this incident will hurt the overall outlook of the Kentucky football program, think again. “The long term ramifications of this are very little,” said Jones.

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