Kentucky's Mark Stoops will retire 'in a few years': Anonymous coach
Mark Stoops became the longest-tenured active head football coach in the SEC after Nick Saban retired, but how long the Kentucky coach will remain so is an open question.
Stoops could walk away from the Wildcats in the near future, according to remarks made by an anonymous coach to Athlon Sports.
"After the Texas A&M flirtation with Stoops, a lot of us think he's gonna end up retiring from Kentucky in a few years," the anonymous coach said. "He'll leave the game at a smart age, the way his brother did."
His brother, of course, being Bob Stoops, who coached Oklahoma from 1999 to 2016 before stepping down somewhat surprisingly at the age of 56. Mark turns 57 on July 9 this year.
Not long after Texas A&M parted ways with Jimbo Fisher, it appeared that Stoops was the favorite to succeed him as Aggies head coach.
But the school backed away from that idea, in part because of the perceived investment it would have to make in Stoops, one with guaranteed money similar to what the school paid Fisher.
Stoops has not discussed retirement up to this point, instead putting his focus on bringing some stability to Kentucky's offense, which debuts its fifth coordinator in as many years.
"They've got to rework the offense again," the anonymous coach said of UK. "It's remarkable in this league how often they lost offensive coordinators and the program doesn't collapse."
Complimenting the Wildcats' defensive line, one of the best in the SEC in his view, the coach said "the measure of success is if they can install another new scheme to fit another transfer QB."
That new quarterback being Brock Vandagriff, a former highly-acclaimed recruit back in 2021, the No. 4 signal caller and No. 23 overall prospect at the time, according to an average of the four national recruiting services.
Vandagriff transferred to Kentucky from Georgia this offseason. He's 12 of 21 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions in his career.
Three years removed from winning 10 games and the Citrus Bowl, the program's fourth-straight postseason victory, Kentucky has put forward consecutive 7-6 finishes with two 3-5 SEC records and two straight bowl defeats.
Stoops is 73-65 overall and 35-55 in SEC games in his tenure at Kentucky since 2013.
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JAMES PARKS
James Parks is the founder and publisher of College Football HQ. He previously covered football for 247Sports and CBS Interactive. College Football HQ joined the Sports Illustrated Fannation Network in 2022.