Update 1:25 a.m. Good thing we didn’t go to bed, because Stoops is apparently going to stay in Lexington!
I know there’s been much speculation about me and my job situation the last couple of days. It’s true I was contacted about a potential opportunity this weekend, but after celebrating a big win against our rivals with players I love like family, I knew in my heart I couldn’t…
— Mark Stoops (@UKCoachStoops) November 26, 2023
Texas A&M is set to hire Kentucky’s Mark Stoops as its next head football coach, per Mark Passwaters of AggieYell.com. The report comes less than two weeks after the program fired former head coach Jimbo Fisher, owing him a record $76 million buyout that will be paid out in installments through 2031.
Stoops just wrapped up his 11th season at Kentucky, where his Wildcats defeated rival Louisville on Saturday just hours before the news of his departure to Texas A&M began circulating. With a 73-64 record during his tenure, Stoops reportedly leaves Lexington as the winningest head coach in school history. He led the program to eight straight bowl appearances and a pair of 10-win seasons, the only UK coach to ever accomplish those feats. The second-winningest head coach in school history is Bear Bryant, who coincidentally also left for Texas A&M back in 1954.
Following the failure of the Fisher era, Texas A&M has decided to poach a sitting SEC head coach to provide better results.. Stoops was able to turn a historical have-not of the league into a consistent bowl team, but may have hit his ceiling in Lexington. No longer playing second fiddle to John Calipari and the men’s basketball team, he’ll now head to one of the best resourced programs in the entire country.