Mark Stoops confident he can rebuild Kentucky's program: ‘I’ve been there, done that’

Kentucky is getting back to as low as they’ve been in the tenure of Mark Stoops, with the Wildcats having lost 17 of their last 25 games in total and 13 of their last 15 in conference play going back to 2023. Still, having rebuilt the program once before, Stoops knows he can do so again amidst where things are trending during year thirteen for him in Lexington.

Asked after a 35-14 loss at No. 12 Georgia on Saturday if he could get the Wildcats back to where they’ve been before under him, Stoops said yes. He did it over the course of 2013 to 2021, and thinks he can do so again if their team better positions itself for success.

“Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely,” said Stoops. “It’s hard. Listen, I’ve been there. You know, you talk about those moves, right, and knocking down some pegs and moving up? And, I’ve been there, done that. It’s hard.”

“And, yeah, you’ve got to have the right pieces in place,” Stoops said. “We’re not exactly where we want to be. We’re better than we’ve been in the recent past, but we’re still not where we want to be, you know.”

Again, though, things are just not going well for Stoops of late at UK. A lot of that is due to where the expectations went for the program after going from 26-36 (.419) with two bowl appearances over his first five years to 40-23 (.635) with a bowl appearance in each campaign, four of those being wins, over his next five years. Now, in the past three years, the Wildcats have trended back down at 13-17 (.433) since 2023, including a 2-3 start now to 2025, losing all three of their conference games so far to Ole Miss, at South Carolina, and at Georgia by an average of 16.7 points, with their schedule suggesting it may not get that much better.

That has since led to questions about Stoops’ future as head coach at Kentucky. A buyout of around $38 million, and every cent of it due within 60 days of a firing, would make for quite the decision by the Wildcats if it came to that with the winningest coach in school history, at 79-76 (.510). Still, considering all things right now with the program, those are the thoughts currently going around Big Blue Nation.

Still, Stoops remains in charge, will remain so throughout the remainder of this season, and could remain so going into another year for Kentucky. That being the case, all he can continue to do is coach the best that he can, with the Wildcats in serious need of a win of significance.

“We’ll keep on working,” said Stoops.