Mark Stoops criticizes 9-game proposal as unfair to certain SEC teams

After hearing Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops‘ latest thoughts on the future of SEC scheduling, it’s obvious why there has been a holdup on the final decision. After the SEC Spring Meetings in Destin, Stoops told KSR why he prefers the 8-game format when the league adds Oklahoma and Texas.

He painted the bleak picture of how adding a ninth SEC game to the schedule jeopardizes the league’s own coaches.

“Just look at our league,” Stoops shared with KSR. “For instance, I go to those meetings, the last time we met in person in Destin, there’s only four coaches there (returning in 2022). How much money do all these teams have? You’re guaranteeing 50% of our room one more loss. They already fire everybody in this league all of the time.”

Along with Stoops, Nick Saban, Kirby Smart and Jimbo Fisher are the only coaches in the conference to have coached four or more seasons at their current program.

The last time the conference played more than eight SEC games in a season was in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Kentucky finished with a 4-6 record.

“We were the middle of the pack and I’d consider a bad year,” Stoops said. “I don’t want to win four games. I want to win a lot more than four. But 50% of our league was the same or worse. Is that good?”

Stoops: Majority of coaches prefer 8-game format

A proposed 9-SEC game schedule would give each school three annual rivals, and rotate among the rest of the schools for the remaining six games. The 8-game format reduces each school to one annual rival while rotating between another seven opponents.

Stoops also revealed that the majority of coaches at the meetings preferred the 8-game model.

“Where we stand, if we were to take a vote with the football coaches in Destin — I hate speaking for people — the majority was eight,” Stoops said. “The reason being, a lot of us have cross-over games: South Carolina and Clemson, we have Louisville and we want to keep that. To play nine conference games and Louisville, that’s tough.”

The SEC also has a complex rivalry situation to consider with each school claiming multiple rivals.

“We all enjoy those rivalries and want to keep them. The league enjoys them and wants to keep them,” Stoops said. “There’s give and take with all of this. You’re getting Oklahoma and you’re getting Texas. It’s already an unbelievable league as we know and so there’s gotta be some give, and that’s across the league. That’s with everybody.”

On3’s Nick Roush contributed to this report.