Mark Stoops: ‘No quit in me’ after Georgia hammers Kentucky, 35-14
ATHENS — Mark Stoops said he has no plans on leaving his post as Kentucky’s head football coach when asked about a radio report that he approached the school’s administration after last season about negotiating his buyout.
“I’d hate to give anything like that legs, there’s zero — I told you last year, you guys can write or say anything you want about me, but I told you last year, there’s zero chance I’m walking away,” Stoops said in his postgame press conference at Sanford Stadium after the Wildcats lost to No. 12 Georgia by a 35-14 count.
“You know what I mean? Zero. There’s no quit in me, so that’s unequivocally, 100% false. Anyone who says otherwise is lying.”
Stoops interrupted a follow-up question on the reported buyout request, saying, “I don’t want to address that crap no more.”
Stoops, the longest-tenured SEC coach in his 13th year coaching at Kentucky, would be owed nearly $38 million within 60 days of being fired if it took place after the season, per the Lexington Herald Leader.
Stoops did acknowledge the Wildcats aren’t where he would like them to be after losing for the 14th time in the past 16 games, but he gave Georgia credit in the wake of the loss on Saturday.
“Very tough to take a loss again, give credit to Kirby (Smart) and Georgia, that’s a very good football team playing at home and coming off a loss,” Stoops said. “They gave us problems early with the formations.
“Offensively, a lot of times, I don’t think people give them enough credit, they may not look very flashy, but they are very hard to defend, they are very physical and keep you off balance.”
Stoops said Georgia is “great defensively, always,” challenging quarterbacks with their coverages and pressure packages and physical play on the interior defensive line.
Kentucky is off next Saturday before playing host to Texas on Oct. 18.
Stoops said the Wildcats will continue to work on improving their team, as challenging as it can be with the program moving in the wrong direction after an 0-3 start in SEC play this season.
“Absolutely, it’s hard, listen, I’ve been there,” Stoops said. “You talk about those moves and knocking down some pegs and moving up. I’ve been there and done that. It’s hard. You’ve got to have the right pieces in place. We’re not exactly where we want to be.
“We’re better than we’ve been in the recent past, but we’re still not where we want to be. So, we’re missing a few pieces, but we’ll keep on working.”
Stoops, asked about some of the challenges for Kentucky football on the SEC teleconference on Sept. 24, noted the state has a smaller recruiting base than many others.
“I think, you know, anybody could understand by population and recruiting base, for us is a little bit less than some other states, certainly in the South,” Stoops said.
“I think everybody can understand that, but we have an unbelievable institution here, a beautiful place to go to school and play football at. It’s been a great place, so we have a lot of advantages as well.”
About the Author
Mike is in his eighth season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 30 years of collegiate sports multimedia experience, 25 of them in the SEC including beat writer stops at Auburn, Alabama, Tennessee and now Georgia. Mike was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.
