Mark Stoops claims college football is headed to a 'bad place'

Mark Stoops gave a major warning about where college football is going by stating the sport is in a “bad place” with constant movement. The Kentucky football coach appeared on the Paul Finebaum Show following the third day of SEC media days and commented on the rapidly changing landscape of college football — stating that coaches agree the current path is not what is best for the sport and athletes both.

Mark Stoops on football being in a “bad place”

Stoops took a chance to explain what he truly feels about the state of his sport with the rapid changes occurring in such a short time. With the topic shifting to how things have changed with the combination of NIL, the NCAA Transfer Portal and conference realignment, Stoops gave a harsh warning that the sport is not adjusting well behind the scenes.

“Very concerned,” said Stoops of the future of college football. “I think a lot of us are concerned because we love this game. It’s provided a lot for us, yes — but that’s not why we got into this. Very passionate about what we do. There are obviously some good changes and there are things that are just very concerning. I think that’s what worries a lot of us. A lot of this is out of our control. That’s kinda scary. I hate to say coaches are control freaks because people are going to flip that.

“Coach Saban said this yesterday somewhere — he’s genuinely interested in the good of college football and the good of all athletes. There’s a lot of us [that] are, you’d be surprised. Do every one of us want to protect our university and do what we have to do? Absolutely. However, we do have interest in all the good of all college athletics. And right now we’re in a bad place, I should say a scary place of where college football is headed.”

Finebaum then asked Stoops how he felt about making statements publicly that sound negative when fans and the media listen and think that coaches were simply saying what they wanted people to hear, trying to influence opinions.

“I will not be a politician, but [I will] speak the truth — every one of us are going to play by the rules that are given to us. And what’s going on in other conferences or other teams and keep up … As I mentioned many times, nobody’s interested in going backwards. And we’re interested in doing what we can do, and there’s many people that are going to push the envelope as far as they can. However, I truly believe that we’re unified in this — what we’re doing right now is not good. I believe our head coaching meetings, and I hate speaking for other people … but I know we’re a consensus that certain elements of this is not sustainable and very concerning and what’s it gonna look like in the future?”

Stoops closed his points by referring to his own start in football, citing that he got involved with the sport because he loved it, not for the money or financial opportunities it presents. He quickly added that he does not blame any players who take advantage of the new NIL opportunities, and indicated that the fault lies with the people making the rules.