Mark Stoops doubles down on future at Kentucky: 'Zero percent chance I walk away'

Kentucky’s 41-0 loss to Louisville is the worst in the history of the Governor’s Cup and the first time the Cats have been shut out by the Cards since 2004. Bowl eligibility was on the line for the Cats, but you wouldn’t have known it by their performance. The Cards dominated the game from start to finish, an embarrassing end to a 5-7 season, the second in a row Kentucky has failed to reach bowl eligibility.

Where does Kentucky go from here? If it’s up to Mark Stoops, he’s not going anywhere.

“Come on. I mean, I don’t want to be disrespectful to you,” Stoops said, laughing when Jon Hale asked if he was considering stepping away from the program. “You think I’m going to walk away? Are you kidding me? No. Zero means zero. Zero percent chance I walk away.”

“I’m going to be here as far as I’m concerned,” Stoops added. “I can’t control what decisions are made. If you’re asking me, I said zero. Zero means zero. Zero percent chance I walk away.”

A few minutes later, Stoops echoed those remarks in his conversation with Tom Leach.

“Well, I mean, I have bosses. But the media asked me. I’m not going nowhere on my account, you know what I mean? I’m gonna work my tail off and get this program better. We are better. I know it’s not at all the result we want in particular, these last two weeks. But we have the core, and we have the nucleus of good players in our program to get it rebuilt the right way. And in this era, you can do it quicker if you have the resources, which we are getting, which we’re doing, and hopefully, we’ll put it into the program and get better.”

If Kentucky were to choose to part ways with Stoops, it would owe him $37.5 million within the next 60 days. After the four-game losing streak in the middle of the season, there was talk that Kentucky was prepared to pay that amount; however, the Cats’ wins over Auburn and Florida cooled Stoops’ seat considerably. It’s now red-hot after embarrassing lopsided losses to Vanderbilt and Louisville.

Based on his remarks after today’s game, Mark Stoops will not negotiate. The ball is in Kentucky’s court.

Mark Stoops walks off the field after a slightly disappointing 41-0 loss to arch rival Louisville. pic.twitter.com/L9XXpAa11p

— Steven Peake (@StevenPeakeKSR) November 29, 2025

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