The Other Side: Mutual respect fumes between Mark Stoops and Kirby Smart

When Georgia and Kentucky meet in SEC play, Kirby Smart makes a point to speak to his respect for the way Mark Stoops and the Wildcats operate.

‘Phyiscal’ is how he describes the game every season. Smart opened the week with a statement that had a familiar tone to describe the 2-2 Wildcats.

“It’s always the most physical game when we play these guys,” Smart told reporters on Monday. “I think because philosophically they believe in running the ball, we believe in running the ball. Those two things hit head-to-head when we play them. We’ve had head-to-head battles many times with these guys. Coach Stoops’ teams are always physical, so we know it’ll be physical.”

Smart and Stoops come from similar backgrounds. Smart’s father was a long-time football coach. Stoops’ father was as well. His brother Bob Stoops was a national championship-winning coach at Oklahoma.

His brother, Mike Stoops, coaches the inside linebackers on the Kentucky staff. Smart feels he and Stoops are cut from a similar cloth. The two talk regularly and there’s a real close friendship between the two.

“Mark’s one of my close friends,” Smart told reporters on Monday. “We’ve grown because we’ve been in it the longest together. He’s been in it longer than me. I text him all the time. It’s just really amazing what he’s done at Kentucky, and, you know, it’s one of those things that I hope they appreciate what he’s done because he’s, you know, done some incredible things, broken some records up there, been extremely competitive in our league, and that’s not necessarily by record. I mean, it is by record sometimes, but the games that he’s been in and the way they’ve played is incredible. You can tell he inspires his team to play extremely hard, and they’re always physical.” 

From Mark Stoops’ view

The feeling is mutual for Stoops. The Kentucky head man looks at Georgia as a litmus test and acknowledges that he knows what Georgia is going to be because the Smart-led group is usually consistent in its readiness.

“Going against Kirby and this team every year is like,  you get a good feel for what your team looks like and just you know you’re gonna be challenged,” Stoops said during the SEC teleconference. “I think that’s the ultimate respect you could get for a coach and for a team. You know they’re gonna be in great position, you know they’re fundamentally sound. You’d better bring it, or you’re gonna get embarrassed. We’ve had some tough games against them, and we’ve had some really good games. We came on the wrong, on the short end of the stick. But I just think, I know we try to play the game the right way and we need to play it better. We haven’t lived up to our end of the bargain here lately and we’ll give it another chance here this Saturday.”

Stoops also views Smart as a friend, and they’ve become the two longest tenured head coaches in the SEC Stoops is the longest tenured coach, and Smart is second.

They lean on one another from time to time.

“I just think through the years, we’ve been in the room together for a long time and seen a lot of people come and go,” Stoops said. “We do have a friendship and somebody that we could talk to once in a while about things. But I just think a lot of him, I love the way he runs his program and the way he coaches, and so he’s done a remarkable job.”

Kentucky sees ‘dynamic’ player at quarterback in Gunner Stockton

Stoops has come away with impressed with Stockton in his week of preparation. Stockton has put up 851 yards, five touchdowns and zero interceptions.

Stockton has also rushed for 146 yards and three touchdowns.

“I’ve just been very impressed with Gunner,” Stoops said. “He’s a guy that you know was going to be well-prepared because he’s been in their system for a while. He’s been there and, you know, he just seems like the type of guy who’ll do anything necessary to help position his team to win a game. You know, he can hurt you with his legs, stands in the pocket and takes a shot, you know, and delivers the football. There were a couple of throws, you know, even in this last game. I know they came up on the short end of the stick, but there were some throws in there. The one in particular on third down that was just a dynamic throw. And, you know, he just has a lot of poise.”

Georgia will host Kentucky at noon on Saturday.