Kentucky Coach Talks Passionately About Adapting To NIL, Fundraising

Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops talked about how he’s evolved when it comes to the NIL space and his program.

Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops smiled while walking onto the field before the Kentucky Wildcats' Blue White scrimmage at Kroger Field on Saturday afternoon in Lexington, Kentucky. April 13, 2024 / Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA

Kentucky football isn’t the crown jewel of the SEC. But, under coach Mark Stoops it’s been consistently successful.

He’s had seven straight winning seasons in non-COVID years (the Wildcats went 5-6 in the 2020 season). At a school that is basketball crazy, his consistent success is, in a sense, job security.

But that doesn’t mean he’s coasting, especially when it comes to the Name, Image and Likeness space.

These days it isn’t just NIL. It’s the transfer portal. It’s the coming of revenue sharing with players, that could start as soon as fall of 2025.

There is a lot for Stoops to deal with when it comes to the stuff that doesn’t involve football. But, in this era, he told KSR that he’s learned it’s about adaptation.

“You either exist, you either exit, or you explore new ways to be innovative and make the best of it. I want to live in that world of exploring the best way,” Stoops said.

Fund-raising isn’t always a natural thing for coaches like Stoops, who would rather turn their attention to what’s happening on the field. But one thing he’s made peace with is that by helping to raise money, he’s doing it for his players, even if it doesn’t directly contribute to their NIL earnings.

If Kentucky was in a different league, he might approach it differently. But this is the SEC. He says Kentucky has “no choice.”

“You want to compete in this league, you got to do it, and that’s part of what we have to do. Once again, you could exist, you could just hang around, you could leave, or you can continue to invest more and it’s super important,” said Stoops.

The good news for Stoops is that he and his players have two collectives to leverage — the 15 Club and Chip Blue — and more help coming in revenue sharing, thanks to the House vs. NCAA settlement, which could further balance the playing field.

Stoops, the brother of former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, is one of the longest-tenured head coaches in the SEC. After a decade at Kentucky, he is the program’s all-time winningest football coach.

He carries a 73-65 record into 2024. Even though he’s 35-55 in SEC action, he has taken the Wildcats to a bowl game in each of the last eight seasons, with a 4-4 record. He’s ended the season ranked in the AP Top 25 twice — No. 12 in 2018 and No. 15 in 2021. In both of those seasons he and the Wildcats won 10 games.