Mark Stoops firing: Kentucky insider reveals new details from Sunday meetings

Mark Stoops is reportedly out at Kentucky, with the Wildcats moving on from their all-time winningest coach on Sunday. Now, even further details have been revealed of how that came about tonight.

Earlier tonight, Matt Jones of KSR reacted, alongside several experts across Kentucky Sports Radio and CatsIllustrated, to Stoops’ firing at UK. He said it has been something that was discussed and debated throughout the day coming off their record of 5-7, which ended in two blowout losses to Vanderbilt and Louisville, losing in a 41-point shuout yesterday in the Governor’s Cup, with new influence from some of the different powers that be now within the athletic department maybe helping to lead to this eventual decision by AD Mitch Barnhart.

“I’m a little surprised he pulled the trigger. I am. I mean, I started thinking, around 1 or 2 o’clock, he was going to do it, but I think I said earlier, even when I got asked is it going to happen, I was kind of like, eh, I just don’t know, man,” said Jones. “But, I think what happened, at it’s core, and I’m fairly confident about this. I think there was finally – okay, earlier today, I said I wasn’t thrilled about the new JMI thing. I’m still not, but, I will say, this probably happened because the new (Champions Blue Board of Governors) and Board of Trustees made voices other than Mitch Barnhart and (President) Eli Capiluto in the room. My reasoning for always thinking this was unlikely to happen is that Mitch wouldn’t want to do it, Eli wouldn’t want to do it, and The Crafts were not going to push it. And so, if that were the case, Mitch doesn’t listen to anybody else, so, and he doesn’t know what’s going on, he doesn’t listen to social media. How is he even going to know?…But then I think he started hearing, I think, these other voices, that (Champions Blue Board of Governors) and some Board of Trustee people, and maybe even at least one political figure said something, and I think, at that point, they still left it up to Mitch, but he realized, oh, wait a minute, it’s not just crazy fans out there saying it. There are actually people that matter saying it, and then you ended up in this process.”

“I just think there were people who, there were more people who felt (frustrated),” said Jones. “And, I mean, there were a lot of people, like, in the BBN that felt that way. But I think there were more people in positions that are a little higher than people thought, and some of them expressed their voices. I think it took people by surprise.”

That said, nothing has been officially announced yet by Kentucky. Jones originally thought that was a result of further negotiations of how his buyout would be paid out, but that was taken back once he was made aware of newer reporting, per On3’s Chris Low, that the now-former head coach would be willing to restructure his buyout in different increments than the originally agreed-upon timeline of two months.

“I’ve heard Mitch has played hardball. That’s why I didn’t put it out from 5:30 on, because I still think they don’t have a deal. But I also think they realized that they’re, like, we can’t keep these Kentucky fans up all night or they’re going to go crazy,” said Jones. “And so, that’s how we got here. But I still don’t think they have a deal.”

“They weren’t going to be able to do it. And so, I can tell you, by like 7 o’clock, that wasn’t their position,” Jones said of the new information regarding the buyout. “That’s a massive thing, and that was not his position earlier…But, that’s a big deal, and I’m going to give him credit. He didn’t have to do that, and I actually think that’s a goodwill gesture on the way out.”

Much has been reported on this process today, and more on how it all went down should be tomorrow once this likely becomes fully official in Lexington. Jones, though, shared more on what went on behind closed doors this evening that ended what was a thirteen-year tenure for Stoops at Kentucky.