Following reports that he had emerged as the top candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Texas A&M, Mark Stoops put the rumors to bed in the early hours of Sunday morning: he’s staying in Lexington.
Stoops announced on Twitter that he would remain as Kentucky’s head coach, hours after completing his 11th regular season at the school with a win over rival Louisville.
Late Saturday evening, sources told Sports Illustrated that A&M had tabbed Stoops as its top target to replace Jimbo Fisher, who was fired earlier this month.
“I know there’s been much speculation about me and my job situation the last couple of days. It’s true I was contacted about a potential opportunity this weekend, but after celebrating a big win against our rivals with players I love like family, I knew in my heart I couldn’t leave the University of Kentucky right now,” Stoops posted on X. “I have a great job at a place I love, and I get to work with the best administration and greatest fan base in college football right where I’m at. I’m excited to say I’m a Wildcat!”
Stoops is one of the highest paid coaches in the country, making just over $9 million per year. Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork had said publicly multiple times that the school wants its next coach on a more incentive-based contract that doesn’t reset the salary ceiling of the sport like the fully-guaranteed Fisher contract did. At his current salary, only six coaches make more than Stoops.
Artie Walker Jr./AP
Stoops had brief overlap with Bjork when both were at Miami in the early 2000s. He has amassed a 73–64 record overall with two 10-win seasons. The Wildcats’ 10–3 mark in ’18 was the program’s first 10-win campaign in over 40 years. Stoops’s Kentucky teams have faltered against the upper echelon of the SEC, though if he is the hire at A&M, he’ll have resources and talent on-par with any team in the country.
When asked by On3Sports about the Texas A&M vacancy after Kentucky’s win over rival Louisville on Saturday, Stoops said:
“This is a big win for our program and state … I’m keeping the focus and concentration on our team.”
