Mark Stoops on Year 13 at Kentucky: 'This Shit’s Hard,' but 'We’re Going to Swing'

The Kentucky Football program is at a crossroads entering Mark Stoops’ 13th season. While Stoops did an incredible job turning Kentucky from an SEC cellar dweller into a contender, there’s no denying the program’s recent decline. Ahead of what could be a brutal and pivotal season, Stoops made it clear at SEC Media Days that he’s determined to get things back on track.

Two quotes from his main room speech sum that up perfectly. The first came when he was asked about his 12-year tenure at Kentucky and how hard it is to sustain success in the SEC. Stoops gave a very long answer, but it was best summed up by three words, one an expletive: “This shit’s hard.”

“It’s a real challenge. When I got to Kentucky, as I mentioned –” Stoops said of how bad things were when he took the job at Kentucky in November 2012 before biting his tongue. “Listen, I might as well just stay away from that. I was going to say something. I say things tongue-in-cheek, and it gets taken way out of control. When you lose, you’ve got to watch what you say.”

Stoops said he was proud of how far he brought the program, comparing the eight-year run of consecutive bowl appearances to Bear Bryant’s success at Kentucky in the 1950s; however, he acknowledged that things have dipped, for which he is taking accountability.

“When you have a down year, you have to stand up here, own it, face it, talk about the things you’re doing to address it, then move on. I’ve stood up here after two 10-win seasons; that has only happened two times in the history of our school. I don’t want to talk about that year; I want to talk about this year. There’s a fine balance there.

“For me, it’s just exciting. I’m really just excited about the opportunity, really diving into the challenge that lies ahead of us and embracing that and having fun with it. This shit’s hard. You might as well go enjoy it, dive into it. There are a lot of people who can’t do it and didn’t do it for 12 years, didn’t do it for 13 years, not at Kentucky. You look at the history of what we’ve done, there are a lot of great ones that didn’t make it very long.”

How excited is he to tackle that challenge? He clearly doesn’t like the word motivated, but instead said he and the team are going to “swing” for the fences this season, despite all the challenges they face, whether it be the turnover from last year, the schedule, or revenue-sharing.

“I do think players want to be coached. I think a lot has been talked about, and a lot has changed. I hope we’re on the other side of that. I feel it right now, even in this recruiting class that we’re going through right now, I feel the shift going forward.

“If we can keep this thing in the guardrails and keep this House Settlement the way it is, they deserve to be paid. Pay ’em what it is and then coach ’em hard and let us do our job. That’s developing young men into great people. Better people make better players. Each and every year, that’s our job. We’re committed to that.

“I love it, man. You’re right, reminds me of who I am. I’m going to go out there and we’re going to swing. You know what I mean? We’ve got a lot of work to do. We have an incredibly challenging schedule, but bring it on. Let’s embrace it, have fun with it, and attack each and every day. That’s all we can do.”

There’s no denying that “shit’s hard” with Kentucky Football right now, but at least Stoops is determined to go down swinging.

Bring it on, 44 days until kickoff 😼

🎟️ – https://t.co/mAUcmRSP4k pic.twitter.com/qADb3daRCE

— Kentucky Football (@UKFootball) July 17, 2025