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Mark Stoops doesn’t get a lot of attention within the confines of college football or even the SEC, because, well, he’s the head coach at Kentucky and not the conference’s traditional powerhouses.
But guess what? The 57-year-old Stoops might not be that old, in coaching terms, but he happens to be the longest-tenured head coach in the SEC right now. Stoops has been the main man in Lexington since 2013, going 67-73 overall during his 12 seasons. That mark includes a 28-62 conference record, so it’s no wonder that only ardent SEC fans know that Stoops has actually been at Kentucky longer than any head coach at any other SEC school.
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On Tuesday, Stoops got together with ESPN’s Matt Barrie for a 1-on-1 interview to talk about his battle scars from all those SEC wars.
“Feels like dog years,” joked Stoops about his long tenure at Kentucky and in the SEC, although he might have been only half-joking.
“You know how tough it is to coach and survive in this league,” continued Stoops. “Last year, we hit a hiccup. I’m not very proud of that. We have a lot of work to do to get back on track,”
Stoops, whose Wildcats finished 4-8 overall and 1-7 in the SEC in 2024, also said that he’s proud of the progress the program has made overall during his time in Lexington.
Here is more from Stoops’ interview with Barrie:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
