KSR - 2025-12-01- KSR - Hour 1

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

Matt, Ryan, Drew, and Shannon talk Mark Stoops being fired and look back on his coaching career at Kentucky.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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This edition is sponsored by the T.J. Smith Law Office, called T.J. He'll make them pay. After a memorable weekend, including embarrassing, embarrassing loss to Louisville on the road, Mark Stoops is no longer the head coach at Kentucky. A result that would have seemed shocking, even two weeks ago, has now taken place. We're with Ryan Lemon, Drew Franklin.

So here's what I'm going to do today. I think this is the way to go. I think we're going to spend the first hour talking about sort of the end of the Mark Stoops era. Okay. What happened, how it took place, et cetera. And then the second hour going, all right, what's next? Because I think that's the way to go.

Yep. I want to end this first hour, giving Mark Stoops kind of some flowers. But let's just talk a little bit of news here for something. second, what happened. Kentucky gets destroyed, 41-0. Ryan, you and I were talking on our way walking in. Do you think he gets fired if that game's close? No. I think they can even lose that game, but if it's close, they show some fight. He is our coach today. You agree with that. Please agree. Maybe if it just shows fight in either one of the last two weeks, I think he's here.

I agree. I think what is amazing is that this, and I mean, I can say this with some certainty, they went in to the Vandy game and everybody had just said, all right, I think we're good. Yeah, they're five and five. You know, we were going to hit that purgatory of five and seven that I had talked about, but the $37 million was probably going to save him. Yep. And then they just couldn't have foreseen not just two blowouts, but two quits.

Because the team quit. I mean, you know, the team quit. and then a series of events took place that were somewhat shocking. I mean, even as they walked off the field, it started to think to me, I started thinking, I talked about this on the post game show, I was walking around downtown going, I've got to say they need to replace him. But I kind of don't think they're going to. And so I'm going to have this situation where I've called for his job and then I'm going to have to see, like, covering.

Yeah. But I was like, I still have to do it. But then I started to hear that night a lot of people talking about, there's folks who just think it's time. And I think one of the stories about Mark going is this is the rise of kind of a new generation of decision making at UK that we haven't seen. Most decisions in the last 10 or 15 years have been Mitch and Eli Capoluto, right? Other people have chimed in, but they did what they wanted to do. and I think in this one, if it was just Mitch and Capiludo, I think he might still be the coach.

But there's kind of a new decision-making body, which includes this board of seven, includes the board of trustees, who's always existed. But I think some of those people kind of were like, all right, got to make a move. And Mitch and Capoluto were like, oh. And Stoops at that point,

I'm not saying Mitch and Capiluto wanted to fight for him, but I think they were a little taken aback and then the discussions happened and next thing you know we end up where we are. So Ryan, what's interesting is the people who I think were the biggest part of Kentucky athletics decision making.

Mitch Barnhart, you like Capiluto, even to some extent donors, the crafts, etc. I think all of those people were not really what drove this. I think it was a different group of folks who kind of said, we have to make a check.

And I guess to Mitch and Eli's credit, they listened. They did. They listened. And I think it came to the point where, you know, we like Mark Stoops. He's the best coach of our lifetimes, but the program needed a change, a breath of fresh air. I think that's what it came down to. And I'm finally convinced Mitch and Eli, who was going to line up for season tickets next year? They ran this back.

Who was going to line up to donate NIL money next year if they ran this back? I think they finally convinced him to the better of the program a change had to be made. It just had to happen. I think you got to the point that, like I said, on the postgame show, it's just over. And I think there became a realization in the athletic department. You know what? It's just over. There were some people, maybe even still on the fence the last two weeks.

But when you lose like that in those two games was so much on the line. You're playing for bowl eligibility and Stoops his job, really, those last two weeks. And to get shut out against Louisville. And quit. And a lot of people try to downplay Auburn in Florida, because, their coaches were out, teams weren't good. I wasn't listening to that. Auburn and Florida, those are big wins. Louisville truly had a JV roster out there that was kicking your tail.

Not to take away from the kid from Ashland that won the award, but a true freshman walk on should not be running it down your throat in year 13 as a head coach as an SEC school. And that was probably part of it too. It wasn't Louisville the way Louisville was when they beat Miami. Right. This was a Louisville team that was playing a guy who last year was running against high schools. They were supposed to be the team that quit.

Yeah. And maybe there's a world where they would have. But we did it first. You know? So then the process gets started. And Sunday, I think UK basically, was meeting all day. You knew, you said you knew something was up when he didn't, when Mitch didn't show up to the volleyball. When I saw your tweet that said Mitch was not at the volleyball selection show, that told me right there, something's going down.

That's a too important event for him to miss. Because we are invited to that. Yeah. Right. Right. So Meteor invited to that, and he didn't want to be there. You know, he didn't want somebody to go, what's, I mean, I was going to have to call Phoenix Stevens and go Phoenix go up to. I mean, like, we had Zach there.

Zach was there. I mean, we were going to have. And like, so he didn't want to be there for that. So that was a, that was a sign. But they started meeting. Eli Capiluto, I think calls went on all day. And then Eli Capoludo and Mitch started meeting, I think, late afternoon. It went into, I don't think it ended until a few minutes before that story broke last night.

So you're talking about a five-hour meeting. First was trying to convince whether or not they were going to do it. And I think they went into that meeting, not sure. But slowly it became, okay, we're going to do this. But then it was how do we get the money? I think it had been made clear that the donors weren't paying for this one. Right? That's a problem.

The donors are not paying for this one. So then it became, okay, how do you raise this money in a very short turnaround? The university is allowed to loan money. to the athletics department. But you can't just do that overnight. There's a process. It has to be approved. They also knew a board of trustees meeting was today.

So I think there was a long talk about how do we get this money if we're going to do it. And they talked to Mitch, excuse me, to Mark's agent, to all those people. And then in what I think needs to be celebrated, genuinely, stoop's agree. to take the money over a period of years. Now, we have not heard that he agreed to take more money. I kind of think he probably, I don't know if he did or not. But he still agreed to do that. And Drew, he didn't have to do that.

Brian Kelly didn't do that at LSU. And he did. And to me, I think that's a big step in him preserving his legacy here. I agree. And even before he did it, I wrote on our website and I've said on the show many times, I wouldn't have done it. you sat down at the table with me. We signed the same sheet of paper.

I'm not budging because you didn't like the deal you gave me on down the road. So I think it took a lot for Stoops to be able to do that because he had every right to sit there and say, no, this was our agreement. This is how it's going to play out. I think a lot of people listening would have been the same way. Do you agree that I wrote on social media, this could allow Mark to have a tubby-esque future with the fan base, where when he gets over, you know, it took tubby a few years to get over. did.

When he gets over it, he can come back and be beloved here. He could even live here if he wanted. I'm not saying he'd want to, but that kind of thing. And for me, also, completely changed my attitude about Mark Stoops. The fact that he decided to spread that out over a number of years, shows that he's throwing us an olive branch, and we're going to maybe walk off in sunset holding hands a little bit. And that made the difference for me.

Throw us a bone or extend an olive batch. You don't throw the olive branch. I think he threw it. It was so important. He picked it up and threw it. All right. I think you saw, we all saw it. I don't remember the exact game, but this season they had the homecoming.

One of the last home games, whatever. Rich Brooks was getting the whole treatment. I mean, he was being paraded around all week. Former players are there. He's getting hugs at every turn. I wonder if Stoop saw a little bit of that and thought, hey, I kind of want that when it's my turn. Do you think Mark gets that? I think he does now.

Like you said, it may take a couple years, but I think he's the best coach of our lifetimes. Yes. You know? Well, and I want to talk about that. in a little bit because I do think that's worth noting. But do you think Mitch wanted to do it? I think going into that Louisville game, Mitch did not want to fire him. I think it was after the Louisville game, it became just evidently clear he had to fire.

I don't know if he wanted to, but he had to. Yeah, I don't think he wanted to. But I also think, I will say, I think he knew, again, he's in an isolated bubble. Only a few people get to him. And I think what changed is some of these people that were in his bubble actually got to him. You know, it was one of those things. When I did that post-game show, I knew, okay, this UK will hear this. And then, but they can always just write off us as like, haters. Exactly. KS.R. But that's then one step of fans yelling at the Louisville game. Okay. I think

there were a couple of important people at the Louisville game that said something to Mitch there. And then it kind of snowballed and all of a sudden he was like, whoa. You know, I didn't, and then I think he realized he had to do it. Yeah, and there's been Cala Perry comparisons the last couple of years, which I get. But I've always said it will never be the same because of how the sports are lined up. Cal had a, there's a tournament format where you can lose in the first round. Football just doesn't present that. So it's going to be harder to make a call because you have your SEC games and your

cupcakes and a bowl game. You've got to make a decision of what was good and what wasn't. With a small sample size. Yes. And just the nature of the sports doesn't give you that moment that we had with Cal. it was obvious. But then Louisville, that was Oakland. It really was. That was Oakland St. Peters.

Everyone there, everyone at home looked around, like, we cannot run this back. But then I was thinking about how after the Oakland game, you could just tell everybody knew we can't do this, but then they brought him back. We ended up getting bailed out. But they were going to bring him back.

So I was wondering, are we just going to have this? They sit there on BB in tonight, and and smile because unlike Cal, they didn't hate each other. Stoops and Barnhart like each other. Remember that show we had after they did that TV show? We were all thinking about it. Fans were not going to get behind this.

We were almost had that same conversation today. Oh, this would have been the same conversation. Saturday was terrible. Yeah. So they do it. It's kind of sad, really, to me. Is it sad? It is a little bit.

The fact that he was, you know, he was my coach and had the best coach I've ever seen, been around good guy. you were about the same age. He had great success here. It kind of sad to see it in the way. But you flipped by the way. I think people need to know if they didn't listen to the end of the post game show, Mr. I'm keeping him no matter what. You at the end of the post game show called in and said you flipped based on Saturday.

I mean, literally, it might be people like you flipping. That was the difference. I told the story that, you know, my dad was a coach. And he got fired one time. So I fully admit my leash is probably longer than most. people's leashes. I'm willing to give the coach a little extra benefit of the doubt. But at the end of the Louisville game, it was just plain and obvious. For the betterment of the program, you had to make a change. So I did flip. I had a conversation with somebody last night,

Drew, somebody who was, let's say, on the fence towards leaning towards wanting him to stay that is involved in some of the stuff. And I said to him, and they were like, this just doesn't feel right. And they said in a nice way, but they were like, you have always, he's liked you. And you like him. And I said, you know, I do like him. And he has been good to me. But the ultimate thing, like, it's not about me.

And it's not about if he's nice to, like, ultimately you hold a responsibility to an institution. And it's almost not about personal relationships. It's about can you succeed? And we didn't think going forward he could succeed, right? Yeah, the record's too damning. I mean, my mother could be the coach of UK football. If she lost 11 straight home games, I'll be like, Mom, it's time to get home.

You did a great job. I still love you. But Kentucky football needs to win games. What is we like 3 and 15 against Power 4 teams in the last couple years? I mean, no one, even people that wanted to keep him, cannot make a case for a reason to have optimism. Optimism with, I can't talk today, moving forward. So, yes, I like Stoops, too.

I wish him the best. I'm not really sad like Ron is. I mean, he didn't die. I mean, he's going to be all right. It was a good run. I'm not taking joy that it's over, but Kentucky's got to win football games and he wasn't getting it done. Yeah, I don't really think sad's not the word to me. I actually am kind of relieved because I think it needed to happen and it happened.

It's like a couple got divorced at the perfect time where they can still spend their kids' birthdays together without hating each other. Right? Like they can still go to graduation and your child doesn't have to go to two different parties. I think we broke up at the exact right time. Do you feel the way you feel is because Stoops gave him that extension on the bio? I think I would have felt that way either way.

Would you? But I feel more like that because he did that. Because I think if Stoops hadn't done that, then I think it says he's walking away bitter, angry. He clearly has to. to have walked away with some goodwill to have done this. Right? So I think that's good.

859-28027. We're going to open up the phones a little bit. I want to talk about kind of Stoops time here. And again, second hour, we'll talk about who's next. This is KSR. Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying,

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The World Cup is almost here. Experience it all with us. Listen, Inside American Soccer with Tom Bogart and Tabramos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast. wherever you get your podcast. Welcome back, Kentucky Sports Radio. All right, so let's talk just a second about Stoops' time here. I think it's important to say.

I think he's the best coach. He's certainly the best coach in my lifetime. I think he's probably the best coach Kentucky's ever had. He took Kentucky at his lowest point when they were two and ten, and he up through about two years ago, had an amazing run of success. Yes, he did. Really.

Ten win seasons, I never thought I'd see that. Being able to recruit top talent, I'd never thought I'd see that. He put more people in the NFL in his 10 years than the 35 years prior combined. Combined. Combined. There were times he put, I think if you look at the most players drafted in the NFL draft from Kentucky in a seven-round format, because I think they used to have like a 30-round format. But if it was a seven-round format, players drafted, he has like four of the top five

most times Kentucky players have gotten drafted. Okay? I mean, it's just crazy. And these are not just dudes in the NFL. These are dudes that really play and are good, okay, including Josh Allen, one of the best players in the league. So, and we have amazing wins, right? We have New Year's Day bowls back when that meant something.

And he also, you know, Daniel Hager put out the video of the Best Soup's moments. I was sitting there just a lot of great moments. I mean, there's just a lot of great times where it was fun to be a Kentucky football fan. I don't like how it ended at all, but he leaves. This program is a lot more attractive as a job now than it was when he got here. This was one of the worst jobs in the country when he got here. And I don't think that's true now. And it's been frustrating in the last couple years.

But he's also, I think, a good guy, a flawed person. but a good person who I'm very happy, Drew, was the football coach for this amount of time. Definitely. The last few years were disappointing, and that's how I got to this point. But that's not how I'll remember Mark Stoops. 10 years from now, 5 years for now, heck, maybe next month. When you're asking me about Stoop's time here, I'm going to be talking about punching the ceiling out at Missouri. Yep.

I'm going to be talking about the Louisville game when Lamar fumbled. Not just the Lamar fumble. That pre-game locker room video, I watched again last night. It's one of my favorite Stoop's things ever. He gets on the chair to talk, and the whole team is like wrapping Meek Mill, and he just gets off the chair and walks out silently and they follow him, and they go and beat Louisville's 26 and a half-point-hundred dogs. That's all the stuff I'll think about with Mark Stoops.

I'll forget that they lost 41 to nothing. I will think fondly of his time, even though that time needed to end. Yeah, we don't think about Tubby's last two or three years where they lost in the second round to Connecticut and Kansas. We think about the good moments, right? We think about 98, we think about 99. We think about the 03 team that was so good. Like, we don't think of the last.

about the end. I think that'll be like that with this too. I think he totally changed the culture of UK football. Like you said, during the Joker years, we were a laughing stock. He brought it back to a tough when you play Kentucky, you were hurting the next day. Tough guys, it hit you, not afraid to bring it,

compete in the SEC, win SEC games. He just did a lot of things I think most fans didn't think it could be done here, and he did it on a continuous, continually baby. I need to add his biggest. I meant to work this in. I thought I was going to die an 80-year-old man, never see us beat Florida. Not only did he beat Florida.

We kind of had their number the last five, six years. And that's his biggest win. I think that's his biggest win. That win in the swamp where we ended it with the, you know, the Johnson catch and the game that was it Stephen Johnson played or Terry Wilson. I can't remember who was the quarterback then. But let's just talk about some of the really good Stoops moments for a minute. You mentioned the Lamar Fumble. That Louisville game, I think, is way up.

That was honestly one of my favorite UK moments. I know we're all basketball. Final four is national championships. That game is right up there with anything basketball's done. I think the Tennessee win with John Schlarman in the locker room is one. Yes, it was. It is one I definitely think about. The Austin McGinnis kick against Mississippi State that ensures our first bowling forever.

Right. I mean, that's the loudest maybe Commonwealth Stadium's ever been, the Bud Dupree interception against South Carolina. I mean, that may be the loudest that stadium has ever gotten ever. You talk about the Lynn Bowden years. Yes. Creating an offense out of a dude that doesn't even play quarterback and guys, and he just can't be stopped. Right.

Benny Snell, followed by Chris Rodriguez, followed by Ray Davis. We'll never have a better seven years of running backs than that, right? The Penn State Bowl game, where we go and win, including a Lynn Bowden punt return. I mean, that Penn State Bowl game is kind of the best of a Mark Stoops team. You have a Josh Allen superstar. You have a crazy good athlete. You break the rushing record in that game. You break the rushing record in that game.

And then you have a quarterback in Terry Wilson who kind of embodies stoop's like, what's he doing out there? And it's working in an offensive line that dominates. And in that game, I'll forever remember this. When he walked out and yelled, bring it on to James Franklin, five minutes into the game. That's what I knew. Wait a minute. We are an actual football program.

Talking trash to Franklin. Even last year. year winning at Old Miss, a game that no one thought we had any business winning, and we won. Like those, and we, you know, Louisville beat us Saturday. It's the first time they beat us there since 2014, which kind of is an amazing thing. When he beat them at our place, everybody stormed the field, we beat Florida finally for the first time at home, when an SEC home win. Trevin Wallace running back that block kick against Florida that time, right? When we beat LSU, the year at home, which was a madhouse.

of a win with I think basically got Orgeron fire. Think about how many coaches he's gotten fired over the years. It's a big graveyard. Including two of them this year. You know. He beat Louisville, what, five times in a row until the last two years. Yes. And think about... Florida got just swear they'd fire their coach after they played Kentucky.

Yeah, I mean, think about how many dudes he's gotten fired over the years. I mean, I'm sure there are others. But those all kind of come to my mind. Oh, first time they won a road game at South Carolina. True. Remember when they stopped the two-point conversion and ran it back. Finzel Ware, I think, did that. A big Chris Westry game.

The Chris Westry game. Exactly. They're just a lot of the Jojo Camp against South Carolina, just running it over and over and over out of the Wildcat, and they can't stop him. I'm glad we're giving him these flowers and celebrate his time here. We had Will Levis. We had an awesome two years.

He deserves the moment to get his flowers. I'm glad we're giving him this moment here, even though we were saying goodbye today. He is, he is a guy that it's going to be tough to replace what he did here. On a personal note, too, when he would come on this show, he was a different person. That was fun. Like, I looked forward to those interviews because, you know, when we get him in a press conference, back to work, back to work.

But it was always fun talking to him on here. He'd let loose. Yep. All right, we'll open up the phones. What do you think about the stoops air and we'll talk about the rest of it after and the decision to fire him. 859-28027. Shannon will open it up right after this.

T.J. Smith, personal injury attorney. Call T.J., he'll make them pay. Now, more of Kentucky Sports Radio presented by Stockton Mortgage. Here's Matt Jones. Welcome back, Tuggy Sports Radio. Text Machine, 772-745254. Before I go to it, Shinn, you haven't gotten to say anything. What were your thoughts on this?

Well, I mean, the good thing is losing a combined 86 to 17 in your last two games of the year makes it obvious what you need to do. I think the worst-case scenario would have been going 5 and 7 and then being competitive in those two games and really not knowing what to do in dividing the fan base. So if you're looking for a silver lining, getting beat 41 to nothing at Louisville made it clear. There had to be a change. Yeah, we might have to thank Louisville for that. I mean, I didn't want it to happen, but since it did, you're right.

I think it made it easier. One person says, Matt, do you think Mark Stubes knew it was coming? No. I mean, I think he knew yesterday. But when he got up in the press conference said there's a 0.0% chance I'm leaving. I don't think he thought it. And then I wonder what happened between that and when he talked to Tom. Did you notice the difference in the language?

Absolutely. He said, we have bosses. He said, well, there's 0% chance I'm leaving. but I do have bosses. And it was like, I don't know if somebody said something or on his walk from the press conference to talking to Tom. He was like, well, wait a minute. I guess it's not my only choice. Makes you wondering out some people to just give you a little cold shoulder or you know, like, wait a minute.

Why are you not making that contact? Usually Mitch comes and talks to me after the game and he's not here. Stoops also backed off the cutter bowling comments. Well, he had to. He screwed that up. Yeah, he did. He screwed that up. He had the uncomfortable laugh, too, when he was asked about it in the press conference. You know? He was like, ha, ha, ha, ha.

Yeah, the 0% chance I'm leaving it. I'm getting all that money. Yeah. It wasn't just the 0% for me either. He had a moment to kind of explain the loss and give him a chance to inject some excitement moving forward. And he was like, well, you know me? We're going back to work. And it was like, well, that's part of the problem. Like, you just keep saying going back to work. Well, somebody said, do you have a message? And his message was just like, we'll keep working.

He was like, he kind of had a chance there to maybe win a few people over. It's like you're like standing there on the final battlefield before you're taking on the enemy. And you've lost the last battle. And you're like, all right, guys, let's battle. And you're like, no, we want to be pumped up. And his solution was he's going to go get junior college players. Which is not going to be a good idea. I don't think that's a good idea.

So, yeah, it ended up actually kind of working out. By the way, UK just put out a graphic that was very nice saying, we thank you for all you've done, Mark Sto. Like, they're clearly trying to make this a positive transition. I think you're right. After a couple of years, you can bring him back, introduce him at the stadium. We'll give him a great round of applause. And that's not going to happen next year, but maybe in a couple years down the road.

I think we will. All right, let's go through here real quick. Let's doing good. Gentlemen, I'm doing good with doing better. but I called in right before the Auburn or the Florida game and I was a... All right, doing good, we got to be more into it

and you got to give, like, we can't just be sad, go. Sorry, I'm a bit sick today. Anyway, I love having Mark Soupes as the coach. He's been my favorite coach of my lifetime and I go back to Kershey that I can remember it in place. But I love the University of Kentucky more. after that loss to Louisville, I think it was obvious we needed to go a different direction. I was not looking forward to next year.

You guys touched on it, but I think he did probably the classiest move that I don't think I would have done in that situation was letting us do a buyout over a certain amount of time that did not cripple the university going forward. So I hope as we look back on this time that we are very grateful for everything. Yeah, I think that's, I think you're exactly right. I appreciate the call. Think about how Lane Kiffin left. Lang Kiffin left with people standing at the airport flipping him off. Yeah.

That was wild. Not a couple people. I mean, let's just go ahead and say. The Lane Kiffin, Eni was wild. Should we expect anything less from that guy? I mean, well, they just did a documentary about what a good duty was. And how Oxford had changed his life. His daughter made a PowerPoint to convince him to stay, remember?

I mean, that was crazy. putting his clothes out in the streets. I mean, they put his clothes in the street. I kind of applaud that. I like it. You like it? Get out of here. Yeah, it's over.

They put his clothes in the street. Bye-bye. Should have put a yard cell sign next to it. It sounded like the players didn't like it either. You know, LSU plays in Oxford next year. Dude, that's going to be like you have to go. Like everyone has to go. Wow.

I mean, that will be, remember when he went back to Tennessee, they threw mustard at him. And that was like five years. later. He didn't help his cause when he tried to poach the entire staff and like get on this plane or you don't have a job. I mean, so much happened in that Sunday. The whole like, if you don't come with me now, you don't have a job. We have a bowl game.

One guy went, Charlie Weiss Jr. And pretty much everybody else stayed. They have a game. It's a playoff game. It's a huge game. It's crazy. David, go ahead, David. Hey, go ahead.

Yes, go ahead, David. First of all, I want to thank Coach Stoops for his 13 years at Kentucky in, and I want to thank him for beating Florida the past five years. I remember the first game against Florida when we served that fumble, and I have my dad, and I was at the block field goal game in 2021, and that was an epic. We did kind of own Florida. the games we won, we should have won two more. There was the one where the play clock went out and the holding call and bungee stallings. Like we probably should have won, probably should have won like

nine of 11 or something against them. But we still, I mean, we had a winning record against Florida and most, which is kind of crazy. But what, anything else? Yes. I hope the next coach is Will Stein. That's my pick. We're going to do that in the second hour, though. I appreciate it, David. But Lucas, go ahead, Lucas. Hi there. Hey. How's it going, guys? Yeah, I really just appreciate, you know, kind of what Stoops has done in the program.

And I remember back in near South Carolina and the Stoops troops there, and I'm hoping that, you know, moving forward with a new head coach, that's something that we can kind of attain as a fan base since it wasn't such a tough breakup. I'm looking forward to that. I think it's been interesting. I appreciate the call about the former players, because former players have weighed in, most of them. and said how much they love Stoops.

But they also haven't, like, taken shots. You know what I mean? Like, I think the former players, a lot of them kind of thought, you know, I get it, right, even though they loved him. And I do think the former players love him. I think a lot of them, Drew, kind of got it, that, okay, probably need to do something else. Yeah, I follow a lot of them on social media like a lot of our listeners do and kind of what you're saying.

They love Stoops, but you could just tell their tone. how things change. I mean, even like Cash and guys we've had on this show mentioned that the locker room isn't what it was in their time just because the sports changed so much and kind of wondered if that's the right, you know, this is the right time to have stoops. But there's no question they all love him. I mean, we have a

recap of players' reactions, and there's so many, it was hard to track them all down. What do you think if you're looking back was the what do you think was the change? Like, why did it end? Beyond just, you lost. You know, the smart stoops that came on this show and said,

we're just getting started, bro. That blue collar. That was awesome. That was awesome. We're just getting started, bro. Yeah. That blue collar attitude is what made him who he was. And I feel like he just lost his fastball a little bit the past couple seasons.

Maybe got it back of a little bit this year, but like the 22, 23, 24 seasons, I feel like he lost his fastball a little bit. And I don't know why. I don't know if he just got wrestling his laurels a little bit. You know, I've taken this program as far as I can. take it and I'm a superstar here. We're just getting started, bro. There it is. Yes. I mean, John Calapary said about the basketball job. It was a 10-year job.

Maybe all these jobs are 10-year jobs. Because we start to see, we start to see cows fall at 10 years. And I think we kind of started to see Marks at 10 years. Yeah, that's true. Maybe these guys have like 10 years of fire in them. And then that's kind of it. Because really, it started then. And it was, it was not, it was, it was just winning and losing. It was the locker room. It was him. He wasn't the same person.

Whereas Cal became kind of prickly and ornery. Stoops just kind of seemed down for the last three years. He just wasn't his self, I think, in a lot of ways. And when you were around him, it wasn't the same energy.

If you talk to people that love him, including people like Vince and cash and all these former players, they'd all go, yeah, just it's just not what it was and maybe this true is just a 10 year job and you do it and then you gotta hand it to somebody else. I agree that 10 years is about right.

You just need new juice with everything. But I also don't think it's a coincidence. Both of them fell off around the same time when NIL got here. Both for different formulas. They were both great with what they brought. Like when Stoop said in his first interview, I'm sitting on G and need an O, he had a plan, he's going to go to Ohio, recruit, develop.

I mean, you think of Josh Allen, a two-star, that he turned into something. Lid and Bowden, kind of a player he took a gamble on. We know what he became. When the era changed and we fell way behind on NIL, everything, the Stoops formula didn't work anymore. The sport evolved all around him and what he was doing just didn't stick with the time. I think you're exactly right. Recruit, develop, bring guys in and build them up. That maybe isn't the way.

And then I think some of this goes on the athletic department. Mitch took too long for NIL, put him in a two year behind. he became bitter about that. It led him to do things like pony up, and next thing you know, it kind of slipped away. I think he lost that connection for a variety of reasons. Is pain stiffness or a numbing sensation preventing you from enjoying watching your favorite teams compete? Go to court physical therapy. Over 30 years, Kentucky's go-to physical therapy helps athletes, fans, and average joes get rid of aches,

pains, and get back to what they love. They now have, through the end of the year, if you've met your insurance deductibles, you can go for free. court.com. That's K-O-R-T.com. We'll take a break. One more segment on stoops, and then we look to the future. Who's going to be the next guy that's here on Kentucky Sports Radio? Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind. Highlights are trending, opinions are flying, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where Sports Slice comes in. I'm Timbo. Every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the plays, the controversies, and the stories behind the headlines. We go straight to

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Welcome to my new podcast, Learn the Hardway with me, your host, and your favorite therapist, Kear Games. And in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month, I'm bringing over a decade of my own experience in the mental health field and conversations with so many incredible guests.

I'm talking, Tripp Fontaine, Ryan Clark. Sometimes when we're in the pursuit of the thing, we get so wrapped up in the chase that we don't realize that we are in possession of the thing. And we're still chasing it. And we don't know when we do. done enough because people scoreboard watch life becomes about wins and losses steve burns dustin ross because you find it important to be a good person while you hear on earth or are you a

good person because you're afraid because that's two different intentions bro absolutely and that that's two different levels of trust i want you to just really be a good person join me care gains is we have real conversations about healing growth fatherhood pressure and purpose on my new podcast learn the hard way open your free i heart radio app Search learn the hard way and listen now. What's up, guys? This is Clever Taylor the 4th. And on my podcast, The Cliverts Show,

I'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff. Like being an internet famous referee. We're in the middle of a game. This linebacker walks up to me. He goes, hey, ref, my mom wants you to wave at her. What? Time out. Quarterback on office blue 42.

Hey, ref, my mama want you to wave at her. What? Hey, Ms. Parker. Listen to The Cliver Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano, and our podcast, Point Game is about defining the odds. Like LeBron heading into the playoffs without Luca and Austin Reed. And finding ways to win no matter what.

He's the smartest player to ever play the game. His IQ is at a level that we've never seen before. And he knows. Without Luca and Austin Reeves, I got to manipulate the game. We get a player's perspective on the challenges of the playoffs. I think Joker's going to be exhausted this series because when they don't have Rudy in the lineup, he has to really guard guys like Nas Reid.

He has to guard Julius Randall. And then he has to give us everything he gives us on the night-to-night bases on offense. And when IT's friends stop by, like Quentin Richardson, we dive into some playoff history too. Steve Nash would get that thing. That man, hell get to fly. He running up the court, licking his fingers,

why he got the ball, like, You go through a training camp with that Isaiah, you figure it out real quick. Get your ass up and down the court, and you're going to get the ball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I don't think that's exactly what he said. I think he would like to have stayed. No, no, no. Johnny Paycheck said that, not Mark Steepson.

Yeah, I understand. I just didn't know if that was apropos of here. A couple people talking about kind of the way it fell apart. And it is worth knowing. I think you would be, if you're really trying, you'd be reminifs not to say he had a lot of changes in his personal life too during that period. Yes. And I think that matters.

I think it would be incorrect to say that it doesn't. But I do think there's a bigger thing of you want to leave anything. George Costanza said on Steinsfeld, leave him wanting more, right? Like get one good joke and get out. And I think, I don't think he left people wanting more, but I think he left before. it started to really get stale. And it's a good lesson for life. Like, don't stay at the last minute.

Make people go, man, I wish they'd come back rather than will you just go away? Like the people at the party that just stay all night. Yeah, it seems a little bit too long. Yeah, you got to leave the party. You got to leave just a little bit earlier than you think. I felt that one. That one hit home. How many times did we hear him in the last couple of years?

You know, somebody would be, he'd hear some criticism. He'd say, well, yeah, but. He's a big yeah, but guy. Uh-huh. I mean, and he, the other thing is he felt people's criticism. Yeah. He felt it. And by the end, he was almost expecting your criticism before he talked.

Remember his last interview when he came in the studio? And before everything, he'd be like, no, I don't want to, you know, I know everybody's going to say. And I just wanted to be like, just say, you don't have to be on rebuttal to start, just say, talk. And he just never felt comfortable in those last. couple years kind of in his own skin like he did the years before. I've heard every word he has said for several years, including the last two. And there was a lot of, well, I don't want to make a headline. Well, I don't want this getting out there.

I don't want to, you know, it's like, as your point, just say it and we'll figure it out. Well, I don't want to answer that. It'll be a headline. Yeah. Dustin, go ahead, Dustin. I want to get these folks on here. So let's go quick. Just make your point and go.

Dustin, go ahead. All right. Out of the gate. I mean, he was quick. He was right. That's true. It was quick. Did you hear the guy in the postgame show Carl, who called, he did like five seconds. It was stumbled over his words. And he just went, ah. Yeah. I got to try. I got to listeners than callers. I gave Carl credit. He was like, ah. Somebody was so mad and frustrated. He couldn't even get his words out. Go ahead. Just. Justin. Yeah.

Hey, Matt. What's up, guys? Hey, real quick, I don't know if anybody's asked this question or took on this. Where do you think he lands? So does he take some time off? coaching, does he maybe go back to a coordinator position? Does he try to go coach maybe a head coach at a lesser school? I think maybe as a head coach, probably when you coach that long as a head coach, you probably want to be a head coach, right? Yeah, next stop. I don't think he's done coaching.

So I'm just curious where maybe you think you land. Yeah, I'd say time, I think most likely scenario. Yeah, appreciate the call. Time off followed by coach at a G5. That's my, I think, the most likely scenario. I could see him being a coordinator, but he likes to be in charge now. And I think that's hard. I don't think he's one of these people that's desperate to coach that is like,

I got to have a job next year. But I think he goes and he'll end up getting like a G5. Who knows? Maybe he gets one this year. A lot of these jobs like in the American conference have all come open. South Florida. But I do think that's probably his likely future. I think, you know, maybe end up someplace like Youngstown or Toledo.

He's not going to Youngstown. He's not going that low. I don't even think he needs to be. needs to go to Toledo. I think he can get a job like Tulane or something. I don't know if he will, but I think he can. Don't you? Oh, definitely. Yeah. His Youngstown's Division 2. I mean, he doesn't need to go to that. No, he should not do that. If I were setting odds, one would be go enjoy life for a little bit.

I mean, he probably hadn't had time off since he was in high school. Don't you take a year off? Yeah, he got money. You know, we've talked about family. You know, he's got his boys getting about college aids. They've been away from him. I would say the favorite would be taking a little time off. Second, I would watch the Kirby smart rehab analyst thing. Kind of what people do with Sabin? Yeah, I'll come give you a job for a year until you figured out. Mark and Kirby are very close.

So I could see like the analyst at Georgia, defensive analyst for a year, as many people did under Sabin at Alabama. He will get a job. He'll get a job. He succeeded here. Yeah. He'll get a job. He might even get a job at a school like Kentucky in another conference.

You know, you can see a. I don't know, a Minnesota or something like that hiring. Yep. Jerry, go ahead, Jerry. Hey, Matt. First off, even though, you know, I felt a need for a change for a while, I want to thank Mark Stewart's for what he did here because he did do a lot of good things here and wishing the best in the future.

Going forward, I was going to happen, is that Barney was going to wring his hands about a a ponder gun and wringing his hands. We're not going forward. We're not going forward. That's our two. All right, I'm going to go to James. Jerry, I was very clear. Appreciate the call.

I was very clear that we were doing this. We were doing Stoops. James, go ahead, James. Yes, sir, first time, long time. My question is, you said yourself that Stoops pulled a lot of good investors into the program. Correct.

What happens to all these guys once he leaves? Are they still on board? It's going to be up to the new coach. It's a great question. It's a great question. It's going to be up to the new coach. The new coach is going to have to get him. I told this story on YouTube last night,

but I watched Drew Franklin and I set 12 years ago, 13 years ago, at a table at Dudley's. Yeah. At a table at Dudleys. It was me, Drew, Joe, Kraft, and Mark Stoops, and one other person who I won't force to be on the air. And I watched Mark Stoops sell Joe Kraft on investing in UK football. I don't know why Drew and I were there, but we weren't.

Still tell that story. And it was a lot of fun. And we closed the restaurant down. And Mark Stoops so won Joe Craft over that he became the leading change in the renovations of Kroger Feast. Oh, yes. And we wouldn't even have a football team if it was. I mean, we wouldn't even been able to get on the field these last few years. And we watched it happen.

And that was the moment I went, okay, maybe this guy, and he didn't just do it with Joe. That's the one we saw. He did it with a lot of people that weren't maybe as big of donors, but that were successful. And the new coach now has got to go do that. Wouldn't you agree? I think it's one of their most important. jobs, to be honest with you. Stoops was so good. I'll get the reservation if they want.

Stoots was so good at getting the guys that would just invest in basketball to also invest in football. And he said a line which I'll never be able to say, but which has become legendary amongst me and my friends. And it was the line he looked, he looked at Joe and said, and then Drew and I were like, okay, maybe this is a dude. I think I got choked on my food when he said. Well, so did Joe. No one saw it. coming. And I was like, oh, maybe Mark Stoops is going to get this done. So I give a salute to him. Amen. I really do. He made football a sport that matters at this school. And now somebody else takes that manel to the next level. And that's what we'll do in the second hour. Who's next on Kentucky

Sports Radio? Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite on humor me with Robert Smygle and friends, me and hilarious guests. from Bob Odenk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel,

help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and friends on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Last night, a blown call changed a game. This morning, the internet lost its mind, and nobody's telling you exactly what happened. That's where SportsSlice comes in. I'm Timbo. In every episode, we're cutting through the noise, breaking down the biggest moments in sports and giving you the real story behind the headline. And we're going straight to the source, the athletes themselves, their locker room stories, their reactions in the moment, and the stuff nobody gets to hear. Listen to SportsClease on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more,

follow Timbo Slices Life 12 in the TikTok podcast network on TikTok. What's up guys? This is Clifford Taylor the fourth and on my podcast the cliverts show i'm bringing you conversations about all kinds of stuff like being an internet famous referee we're in the middle of a game this linebacker this linebacker walks up to me he goes hey ref my mom wants you to wave at her what time out look quarterback on office blue 42 a rep my mama want you to wave at her what where she at hey miss parker Listen to The Cliverts show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast point game, the playoffs.

We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was hungry. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow. Then after that game seven, Marquis come in. He's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.