LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The smell of missed opportunity was once again in the air as disappointed fans streamed out of Kroger Field Saturday night, with Vanderbilt in victory formation after a 20-13 victory.
It was the fewest points Vandy had allowed in an SEC game in six years. It was the second career SEC road win for Commodores’ coach Clark Lea. (The other came in Lexington, two years ago.) Lea, according to ESPN, makes $3.75 million a year (Vanderbilt, as a private school, doesn’t make those details public).
A day before that 2022 Vanderbilt win – which snapped the program’s 26-game SEC losing streak – Stoops signed a contract extension that now makes him a $9 million man, and locked into Lexington through the 2031 season.
Stoops is the winningest coach Kentucky football history. He has built Kentucky into consistent respectability and occasional notoriety.
But after Saturday night, even more are going to question whether he can build Kentucky into anything more. And just as concerning, perhaps, is that Stoops was candidly questioning himself after a loss to Vanderbilt in which Kentucky doomed itself with penalties (12 for 106 yards) and allowed a Vanderbilt team known for running on early downs to nonetheless average 7.3 yards per first down carry. Vandy quarterback Diego Pavia went 6-for-6 passing on third down.
It was Kentucky’s sixth SEC loss in a row on its home field. Maybe Stoops' success is a fair reflection Kentucky’s level in the toughest conference in college football. But fans would like to see Kentucky operate at a more competent, disciplined level, just to find out. So would Stoops. I have italicized portions of his quotes to illustrate that he, too, seems puzzled by his team's response.
“Another disappointing loss,” Stoops said. “And when I turn on the film tonight and I’m going to see a lot of the same mistakes that we made in another loss earlier this year. I tried to head it off as best I could. I obviously didn’t get it done. About our team and controlling our emotions and executing. You know, you don’t win games by being all psyched up or just being irrational. It comes down to disciplined execution. I tried like hell to beat that into our heads and to play winning football in all areas. When you continuously hurt yourself with penalties, turnovers, missed assignments, not making plays, I’m obviously not getting through to them. You know, I understand what winning football looks like and I know what it doesn’t look like. We certainly didn’t do that today and I’m very disappointed in myself and our staff for not getting this team ready. And I have to do a better job. I can promise you it wasn’t for lack of effort.”
One problem, "I tried to head it off" seems to indicate that he knew it was coming, which seems strange given the momentum his team had after knocking off Ole Miss.
For Stoops, little has gone right since a 51-13 loss to Georgia, after which he encouraged fans to “pony up” for more NIL money to pay to players. Kentucky supporters, it must be said, have ponied up, to the best of their means.
More than that, they have showed up. Kroger Field has been home to big-time college football atmospheres this season. But since Stoops’ “pony up” comment, Kentucky has gone 0-6 in SEC home games and 2-10 in league games overall. Despite big-time crowds, the football, with a couple of exceptions, has not been big time. And when your $9 million coach is publicly scratching his head and clearly wrestling for ways to get through to his players, it’s a problem.
“I need to challenge them some more and I need to call upon some leaders on the team and hopefully, you know get some help in some different areas and have some guys step up. Because we can play winning football. I’ve told you many times. You guys have seen it. We have to play very good. We have to play complementary football. We have to do things right to win games no matter who you are playing. I think you’ve seen that across this league. Very clearly that wasn’t winning football. With the penalties and turnovers and missed assignments. Basic stuff that, again, it’s going to go back to a loss that we had earlier in the year. It’s going to look very similar in a lot of ways. Obviously, that’s not very good on my part to let that happen again. Again, I can promise you I tried like heck not to let that happen.”
The inner workings of teams in the NIL era are something of a mystery. I can sympathize with coaches trying to manage these locker rooms. Stoops has excelled at drawing talent to Kentucky, which is not always a place that is easy to do.
But he has a knack for rolling the dice at the wrong time – or not rolling them when perhaps he should. The little things pile up. Kentucky, six inches from the goal line, declined a penalty that would’ve made it first and goal from the three instead of second and goal from less than yard out. It shouldn’t have mattered. You figure you’re going to punch it in. But the Wildcats got an illegal procedure call on the next play, and failed to get into the end zone, or even score after a botched hold on a field goal attempt.
Down 14-7 with 13 seconds to play in the half, Kentucky received a kickoff and then just took a knee. Realistically, there are as many bad things as good that can come from taking a shot downfield in that situation. But taking a knee sent a message that fans didn’t appreciate, and Kentucky left the field to a chorus of boos.
Stoops did roll the dice in the offseason, pursuing an opportunity at Texas A&M that he almost got. But when he didn’t it portended awkward times at home.
And then there's the vacated 2021 season, an NCAA penalty handed down because players were accepting impermissible pay for work not performed in the UK Healthcare system. Stoops wasn't found at fault, but it still happened on his watch.
And here we are. What does Kentucky do about Stoops?
It will do nothing. It can’t afford a $44 million buyout. Like with John Calipari, any change will have to come from Stoops himself. It nearly did after this offseason. Will he have other opportunities? Florida State, where he was a successful defensive coordinator, is in freefall. But who leaves the SEC for the ACC?
Stoops has done well at getting teams to respond to adversity, to keep plugging away. It’s one reason he’s still at Kentucky. Another – he has developed a knack for beating Louisville, which in Lexington puts a happy ending on whatever kind of season the team has had.
He'll have to do both now to avoid more grumbling. Perhaps it’s a good thing Kentucky is going to Florida this week, instead of staying at home, where its struggles are inexplicable.
“It’s a fair question and I’ve looked at it too and thought about it and talked to the guys and talked to them about coming here and having our composure, having our control,” Stoops said. “I talked to them about it openly. Like what is it man? Like no distractions? Do we have a lot of people coming in? Do you have ticket problems? Whatever it is, put it away and dial in and commit to doing the things necessary to win this game and obviously I did not do a good enough job. I tried to addressing it and addressing all of it and staying really focused and disciplined. Emotion doesn’t win you games. Execution, discipline, execution win you games.”
“They hear me talk a lot and I clearly have tried to work extremely hard on messaging and getting through to them,” Stoops said later. “I think they have responded since earlier in the year and I hope they have the same response right now. This league is very difficult right now. If you haven’t noticed, I think it’s pretty tough on a lot of people. If you don’t come and play well you will lose. Everybody, we all know that and feel that as coaches. So, I don’t know if it’s not being heard. I wouldn’t say that. I still feel like this team will respond the right way and I will continue to grind over this team to put them in a position to be successful.”
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