A Decade of Mark Stoops: By the Numbers

In 2022 Mark Stoops will step on the sideline for his tenth season as the Wildcats’ head football coach. Before he surpasses Bear Bryant with more wins than any other Kentucky head coach, this summer KSR will reflect on the transformative decade under Stoops’ watch. Previous: 10 Most Influential People, Top 10 Plays, “We’ve Arrived” Moments,

The Kentucky record book has been rewritten in the Mark Stoops era. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most impressive numbers from the exciting ten years of Kentucky football.

Mark Stoops Stats

— Stoops opened his Kentucky tenure 12-26. Since then he is 47-27 (.635) to improve to 59-53 overall. Kentucky has not had a head coach end his career over .500 since Blanton Collier left to coach the Cleveland Browns with Paul Brown in 1961.

— With two more wins, Mark Stoops will surpass Bear Bryant with the most wins in Kentucky football history.

— Kentucky has 33 wins since the start of the 2018 season. It ranks No. 6 in the SEC and No. 14 in Power Five football.

— The Wildcats finished 5-3 in the SEC in 2021, finishing in sole possession of second place in the SEC East for the first time since the league split into divisions in 1992. Including ties, Stoops has finished in second place in the division three times, a feat never done before his arrival in Lexington.

Streaks Snapped (and Started)

6 — Straight wins over Vanderbilt. Kentucky is a combined 20-4 against South Carolina, Missouri and Vanderbilt since 2014, holding win streaks of at least five games over each team during that time.

6 — Consecutive bowl appearances by the Wildcats is a school record. Kentucky has won four straight, bookended by Citrus Bowl victories on New Year’s Day.

16 — Straight non-conference victories by Mark Stoops’ squad. It’s the longest winning streak of its kind after UK took down Iowa in the Citrus Bowl. UK’s last non-conference loss was to Northwestern in the 2017 Music City Bowl.

22 — Game road losing streak SNAPPED in a 26-22 win over South Carolina in 2015. The road losing streak lasted more than five years.

31 — Game losing streak to Florida SNAPPED at The Swamp in a 27-16 victory in 2018.

36 — Years of losing at Neyland Stadium ended when in 2020 Kentucky defeated Tennessee 34-7 in Knoxville.

41 — Years between 10-win seasons in 1977 and 2018. Prior to 2018 Kentucky had two 10-win seasons. Mark Stoops now has two in the last four years.

71 — Years between 6-0 starts for the Wildcats. Kentucky entered its seventh game of the 2021 season at Georgia undefeated, the best start to a season since 1950.

All-Time Record Breakers for Mark Stoops

Two seemingly untouchable all-time Kentucky football records were shattered in the same season. Sonny Collins held the school’s career rushing yards record until Benny Snell rushed into the end zone in the Citrus Bowl. In three years Snell gained 3,873 rushing yards, a record Chris Rodriguez is chasing in 2022. It’s not the only UK records he holds. He had 19 100-yard rushing games and rushed for 48 touchdowns, 22 more than Collins and Moe Williams. Benny Snell has the top two touchdown-scoring seasons in UK history.

Oliver Barnett’s all-time sack record stood for 29 years. Bud Dupree came close, but Josh Allen was the only one that could catch him. The best defensive player in college football set a single-season UK record with 17 sacks in 2018, finishing his career with a 31.5 quarterback sacks. Barnett did hold onto one record, leading Allen in tackles for loss by two. Dupree and Josh Paschal are tied for third on that list with 37 career TFLs.

Max Duffy‘s historic career also began in 2018. The UK record-holder for best career punting average (45.96) had his best season in 2019 when he won the Ray Guy Award by blasting the ball 48.12 yards per kick, also a single-season record. Duffy arrived on campus a year after Austin MacGinnis set the school’s all-time scoring record while hitting game-winners and re-writing the placekicking portion of the UK record book.

Wide Receivers Shatter Expectations

Two names stick out, but first, people forget that Garrett “Juice” Johnson is one of only four Wildcats to gain more than 2,000 receiving yards. From 2014-17 he caught 155 passes for 2,089 yards, ranking fifth and fourth in school history, respectively.

You can’t forget what Wan’Dale Robinson did last year. The BBN had high expectations and he surpassed them all by setting new single-season records in catches (104) and receiving yards (1,334). Robinson ranked second in the SEC and fourth nationally in receptions per game (8.0) and second in the conference, 12th nationally in receiving yards per game (102.6).

Lynn Bowden does not dominate statistical categories in the Kentucky football record book. He sprays the board. Enjoy a small snippet of his accolades, particularly the ones from his Paul Hornung Award-winning 2019 season.

• Single-game receptions: 13 vs. Missouri, No. 2
• Yards per play in a season: 9.16, No. 3
• 100-yard rushing games in a season: 7, No. 2
• Yards per carry in a career: 7.42, No. 1
• Most rushing yards in a game: 284 vs. Louisville, No. 2
• Most rushing yards in a season: 1,468, No. 2

Dudes on Defense

Mark Stoops rose through the coaching ranks by coaching defense, particularly defensive backs. He had the pleasure of coaching one of Kentucky’s best ever. Mike Edwards is one of two UK defensive backs in the Wildcats’ 300-Tackle Club, recording 318 in his four-year career. He also had a pair of Pick Sixes in his career, totaling 10 interceptions from 2015-18 to tie for fourth in UK history. Edwards won a Super Bowl in his second season wit the Tampa Bay Bucs.

Down in the trenches, Bud Dupree was a havoc-making machine. He ended his career just 2.5 sacks behind the school record with 23.5. You might be surprised to see Boogie Watson at No. 5 on the UK sack list with 18.5, one more than Jeremy Jarmon. During Dupree’s tenure he teamed up with Avery Williamson, who totaled 237 tackles in his final two seasons in Kentucky blue.

Mark Stoops First and Second Team All-Americans

• Josh Allen, Consensus First Team, 2018
• Bunchy Stallings, First Team, 2018
• Benny Snell, Second Team, 2018
• Logan Stenberg, Second Team, 2019
• Max Duffy, Consensus First Team, 2019
• Lynn Bowden, Consensus First Team, 2019
• Darian Kinnard, Consensus First Team, 2021

All-SEC Performers

I admittedly took out some of the more obscure publications that dole out four or five All-American teams. But we’re still sharing first team All-SEC selections from the Mark Stoops era. You can find all of them in the UK Football Record Book.

• Bud Dupree, 2014
• Austin MacGinnis, 2014
• Jon Toth, 2016
• Benny Snell, 2017-18
• Josh Allen, 2018
• Bunchy Stallings, 2018
• Lynn Bowden, 2019
• Max Duffy, 2019
• Drake Jackson, 2019
• Logan Stenberg, 2019
• Landon Young, 2020
• Darian Kinnard, 2020-21
• Luke Fortner, 2021
• Chris Rodriguez, 2021

Cats in the NFL Draft

Mark Stoops has turned Kentucky’s top-ranked recruiting classes in school history into a bevy of draft picks, particularly on the Big Blue Wall. Let’s dive into numbers.

21 — Kentucky Wildcats drafted after playing for Mark Stoops.

3 — First round picks, Bud Dupree, Josh Allen and Jamin Davis.

10 — Players picked in the first two days of the NFL Draft.

5 — Offensive linemen drafted in the last four years. Zero UK offensive lineman were drafted between 1993-2013.

6 — Players selected in the 2021 NFL Draft, a school record in the modern draft era.