David Pollack critical of Mark Stoops firing, buyout at Kentucky

After 13 seasons on the Bluegrass, the last several as the SEC’s longest-tenured head football coach, Mark Stoops and Kentucky formally parted ways on Sunday following the second of back-to-back losing seasons. Less than 24 hours later, the Wildcats announced the hiring of 36-year-old Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein, a Kentucky native, who was formally introduced as Stoops’ successor Wednesday.

Stoops leaves the Wildcats after ammassing a career record of 72-80 overall and 38-68 across 13 seasons in Lexington. Of course, he doesn’t leave empty handed or on poor terms after negotiating an agreement to spread out his remaining $38 million buyout over an unspecified number of years rather than a lump sum owed to him within 60 days of his termination per his contract.

But while his lengthy tenure ended on a sour note with back-to-back losing seasons, Stoops helped elevate Kentucky from perennial SEC doormat to unprecedented consistency, including making eight consecutive bowl appearances between 2016-2023, a stretch unmatched in school history. But in the day and age of NIL and revenue-sharing, it became clear Stoops was no longer able to build a competitive roster at Kentucky, which former ESPN analyst David Pollack suggested was his ultimate downfall.

“Mark Stoops, fired at Kentucky. I think that’s a lot of money to go away for a coach that everyone thinks is a very good coach. Now, the talent has absolutely fallen off and they’re not winning. They just haven’t won football games,” Pollack said of Stoops’ firing during Tuesday’s episode of his See Ball Get Ball podcast. “And he was one of those guys, before NIL, that was one of the best in the country at taking guys and developing them. Like taking two-star guys, three-star guys and developing them into four-star guys that can get drafted. And this is a byproduct of NIL, because you can be a great coach in college football nowadays, and that doesn’t mean you can survive.

“Because if you don’t have alignment between (the) president, AD, head coach and funding, … it doesn’t matter,” Pollack continued. “You can be a great coach, you can be the best coach – there’s a reason Nick Saban got out. This is a different world, it’s not just good enough to be a good college football coach anymore. You have to be a general manager and know how to talk to people and handle different situations and agents, and field all the questions that Mark Stoops – if you’ve met Mark Stoops, he’s one of the most fiery and passionate guys you’ll ever meet. Come at me with that. He’ll probably tell people to kick rocks.”