Mark Stoops shuts down Nebraska talk: "More work to be done here"
The Nebraska Cornhuskers paid Scott Frost $15 million to go away this weekend, firing him after four years (and three games) of doing his job poorly.
Now, they’re looking for a permanent replacement, and Mark Stoops has quickly emerged as a hot name among national analysts. Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com listed the Kentucky head coach as the No. 1 candidate on his list, while Pat Forde of Sport Illustrated and Chris Vannini of The Athletic listed Stoops as a possibility, as well.
UK’s all-time winningest head coach is here to silence the noise before it even ramps up.
When asked about his potential interest in the Nebraska job by a caller on his radio show, Stoops said he has more work to do in Lexington.
“It’s been a great ride and we’ve had a lot of good coaches, a lot of good players,” Stoops said. “(The caller) was the first one that had to open Pandora’s box this year and start talking about another job [laughs].
“I’m very content and very happy at the University of Kentucky. We have a lot more work to do here.”
A lot more work to do right away, starting with the team’s game against Youngstown State this weekend. Back-to-back wins over Florida? Now the program’s all-time winningest coach? Appreciate the achievements, definitely, but continue to move forward.
“Not long, not long,” Stoops said of how long it took to come down from the postgame excitement in the locker room Saturday. “I had been pretty even-keeled this year, can’t you tell that? [laughs] The players, heck when I went in there I let them have their fun for a while, they had the music going and were enjoying, they should. They work hard and as I mentioned the first game you walk in there and I’m like, ‘What’s going on here? It’s not like we lost.’ I think that’s a good sign. I think they were like, ‘OK, we’re ready for the next step.’
“Just like I addressed after game one, let’s get to work, let’s improve, let’s get ready for game two and now the challenge is how do we keep that energy, how do we keep that consistency to prepare, to be the best team we can be and continue to build.”
Stoops respectfully declines, Nebraska.
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