Stoops ‘couldn’t leave’ Kentucky amid Texas A&M speculation

After upsetting rival No. 9 Louisville in Week 13, coach Mark Stoops said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he “couldn’t leave the University of Kentucky right now” despite “being contacted about a potential opportunity this weekend.” Here’s what you need to know:

• Stoops was named as a top target for the Texas A&M job Saturday, a source briefed on the hiring said. It then surfaced that Stoops was no longer in the running for the position before the 56-year-old publicly declared to stay put at Kentucky.
• Texas A&M fired former football coach Jimbo Fisher on Nov. 12. Fisher, 58, had eight years remaining on his contract, with a buyout expected to be over $77 million.
• Kentucky went 7-5 during this year’s regular season, and the Wildcats are 73-64 under Stoops since his tenure started in 2013.

Why Stoops would want to stay at Kentucky

Nick Saban is the only SEC coach who’s been at his school longer than Stoops, and Stoops already makes $9 million annually. That’s top 10 nationally and was barely below Jimbo Fisher, whom Texas A&M paid $77 million to fire earlier this month.

But Stoops said he is staying at Kentucky where he has plenty of hard-earned capital on the back of seven winning seasons in his last eight years, with the SEC-only schedule in 2020 as the only interruption in that streak. Perhaps most importantly, he’s not bearing the weight of unrealistic expectations. Kentucky has twice finished in the top 20 under Stoops. Nobody else has done that since Fran Curci in 1976 and 1977. Texas A&M is looking for a coach that can win it a national title. Fisher failed to do so. He never won the SEC or made the Playoff.

Stoops wasn’t going to be well-received at A&M, but he might have brought the program much closer to its ceiling. He has done that at Kentucky. But after electing to stay at Kentucky, Stoops won’t be trading in his current spot for a supercharged roster (Texas A&M ranks No. 4 nationally in 247Sports Team Talent Composite in 2023) and the expectations that come with it. The Aggies have an NIL war chest that Kentucky doesn’t, and Stoops was complaining earlier this year about that reality, but for now, he’s willing to stick with what’s working in Lexington rather than making the move to an A&M program that hasn’t won a national title since World War II and hasn’t kept a coach longer than six seasons since R.C. Slocum. — David Ubben, senior college football writer

Where does Texas A&M go from here?

Texas A&M wanted to have a coach in place by the end of this weekend, but time is running out. When the search began on Nov. 12, Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork pointed to the opening of the transfer portal — Dec. 4 — as an informal deadline. The Aggies have a top-five roster and would like to hold on to as much of it as possible. Hiring someone in advance of that date so that the new coach could meet with each of the players in hopes of keeping the talent together was paramount. NCAA rules allow players a 30-day window to enter the portal as soon as a coaching change occurs, so A&M players have had a chance to do so since Fisher’s firing, but only one has taken advantage of it thus far. Giving those players clarity before the portal opens for everyone in December was important to A&M’s administration.

With the Stoops deal falling through, how quickly can the Aggies pivot? There are still intriguing options out there. Duke coach Mike Elko, a former Texas A&M defensive coordinator, knows the place well and has had a terrific start to his head coaching career. Arizona coach Jedd Fisch has done a terrific job turning around a Wildcat program that was winless prior to his arrival. Kansas’ Lance Leipold has won wherever he has been. Could Texas A&M defensive line coach Elijah Robinson — who has served as the interim head coach since Fisher’s firing — have a shot here? Multiple A&M players spoke up on his behalf on social media on Saturday night.

Whatever direction the Aggies go, they need to regroup quickly if they want to meet their original deadline. — Sam Khan, senior college football writer

Required reading

(Photo: Jordan Prather / USA Today)