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What is Mark Stoops’ buyout? Kentucky fans are ready to move on

What is Mark Stoops’ buyout? Kentucky fans are ready to move on

The longest tenured head coach in the SEC may not be that way after this season. With Nick Saban out after last year, Mark Stoops has been hired more than any other SEC head coach. He was his girl Kentucky football since 2013. After a slow start to his tenure in Lexington, Stoops helped turn UK into a regular bowl team. However, this season has taken a toll on fans…

Early to install rival Louisville, more and more members of Big Blue Nation are starting to wonder what Stoops’ purchase is. While that’s pretty massive, keep in mind that we’ve seen trainers with higher buys let go quite recently. Also, keep in mind that Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart is no longer dealing with John Calipari’s antics on the hardwood after he’s gone.

Stoops brought a lot of wins to Kentucky, something I can’t say I saw a lot of in my formative and collegiate years as college football fan. However, Kentucky’s offenses are often the reason the Wildcats never seriously compete for SEC championships. Stoops is too defensive-minded for his own good now that the SEC has eliminated divisions, which hurts UK…

According to USA TODAY’s coaching salary database, it would cost Kentucky $44,437,500 to fire him.

There’s only one reason to move on from Stoops for that amount, and that’s to hire Jon Sumrall.

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At a tick over $44 million, you have to wonder if Kentucky boosters have had enough of Stoops in recent years. Every three seasons or so, Kentucky will do enough offensively to win about 10 games. However, their inability to beat Georgia it culminated with the inherent limitations of the Wildcats under Stoops. Even in the team of 12 College Football Playoff format, would it ever make the field?

Right now, I’d be patient if I were in Kentucky. Accept that the Brock Vandagriff transfer portal transaction was a huge failure and move on. I think it was a lot to ask of incoming offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan to get the most out of a player who likely committed to Kentucky to play for Liam Coen, who is now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Hamdan knows what he’s doing.

Either way, Stoops is always a candidate to replace Kirk Ferentz at his alma mater in Iowa. Ferentz is not young and could be cut or retire after any season. Again, the only coach I would hire over Stoops this cycle would be one of his Kentucky proteges and Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall. He’s the next rockstar head coach to make his way up from the Group of Five soon.

With how pitiful the Wildcats look at home compared to Louisville, I could understand making a change here.

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