Mark Stoops checks in outside top-30 in CBS Sports head coach rankings

Head coach rankings are quickly becoming very popular in the college football space. This offseason activity can often tell us what the current national perception is both of coaches and of certain program. Mark Stoops was as recently as last year seen as a consensus top-25 coach who had what many claimed to be the best job in college football.

Things can change quickly in this sport.

CBS Sports released their latest batch of rankings on Tuesday in an exercise where a panel ranks every power conference coach. Mark Stoops dropped 16 spots from No. 20 overall to No. 36 overall after a 4-8 campaign in 2025.

“When you’re the coach at a program with low expectations, they love you when you exceed them. But the moment you fall back down to Earth, where everybody thinks you should be? Well, it gets rough, and it got rough here. After a remarkably consistent run from 2016-23, Stoops’ Wildcats team fell to 4-8 last year. While most of our voters only docked him a few points from where he stood last year, one low ballot was enough to knock Stoops down a few extra pegs.”

CBS Sports

The highest ballot still had Mark Stoops in the top-25 (No. 24 overall) but the lowest ballot had Stoops fall outside the top-50 (No. 58 overall). There are 68 head coaches total in this ranking. The Kentucky head coach is still ahead of Jeff Lebby (Mississippi State), Sam Pittman (Arkansas), Clark Lea (Vanderbilt), Brent Venables (Oklahoma), Hugh Freeze (Auburn), and Billy Napier (Florida) in the SEC. That’s good for No. 10 overall in the best conference in college football.

There has not been much positivity surrounding the Kentucky program this offseason. The Wildcats went through a complete roster reboot after a highly disappointing 2024 campaign and that will equal many new personnel pieces in 2025 while Mark Stoops decided to double-down on staff continuity following the bad season. All that has led to many expecting a win/loss result similar to last year against another brutal schedule. This edition of coach rankings confirms that lack of buzz.

Kentucky is flying very much under the radar heading into the fall. Can Mark Stoops and his program prove the doubters wrong?

CBS Head Coach Rankings: No. 26-68

26. Kalani Sitake (BYU)

27. P.J. Fleck (Minnesota)

28. Shane Beamer (South Carolina)

29. Mike Elko (Texas A&M)

30. Brent Key (Georgia Tech)

31. Dave Doeren (NC State)

32. Matt Rhule (Nebraska)

33. Deion Sanders (Colorado)

34. Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State)

35. Sonny Dykes (TCU)

36. Mark Stoops (Kentucky)

37. Pat Narduzzi (Pittsburgh)

38. Dave Aranda (Baylor)

39. Jedd Fisch (Washington)

40. Luke Fickell (Wisconsin)

41. Willie Fritz (Houston)

42. Rich Rodriguez (West Virginia)

43. Greg Schiano (Rutgers)

44. Manny Diaz (Duke)

45. Billy Napier (Florida)

46. Fran Brown (Syracuse)

47. Hugh Freeze (Auburn)

48. Joey McGuire (Texas Tech)

49. Jonathan Smith (Michigan State)

50. Bill O’Brien (Boston College)

51. Barry Odom (Purdue)

52. Brent Venables (Oklahoma)

53. Clark Lea (Vanderbilt)

54. Bill Belichick (North Carolina)

55. Justin Wilcox (California)

56. Jake Dickert (Wake Forest)

57. Sam Pittman (Arkansas)

58. Sherrone Moore (Michigan)

59. Mike Locksley (Maryland)

60. Scott Satterfield (Cincinnati)

61. DeShaun Foster (UCLA)

62. Scott Frost (UCF)

63. Brent Pry (Virginia Tech)

64. David Braun (Northwestern)

65. Tony Elliott (Virginia)

66. Brent Brennan (Arizona)

67. Frank Reich (Stanford)

68. Jeff Lebby (Mississippi State)