Kentucky coach Mark Stoops is staying in Lexington.
After multiple reports emerged Saturday night that Stoops was Texas A&M’s top target to be its next coach, Stoops released a statement saying he was staying at Kentucky.
Stoops’ name being linked with the A&M job came somewhat as a public surprise. Conventional wisdom suggested that A&M was going to go for a splashy hire to replace Jimbo Fisher after giving him over $100 million for less than six seasons.
A&M fired Fisher with two games to go this season after beating Mississippi State. The Aggies lost to No. 14 LSU on Saturday to finish 7-5, while Kentucky beat No. 10 Louisville to finish 7-5.
Kentucky has won 10 games in two of the last six seasons. That’s a historic accomplishment in Lexington. Before Kentucky went 10-3 in 2018, the Wildcats last won 10 games in a season in 1977 and had just two 10-win seasons in program history.
Stoops, 56, is the winningest coach in Kentucky history – he has 13 more wins than Bear Bryant did with the Wildcats – and is one of just eight coaches in school history with winning records at UK.
Kentucky has also recruited well during Stoops’ tenure. Kentucky currently has the No. 22 class in 2024 according to Rivals and had the No. 14 class in the country in 2022.
Recruiting has not been the issue at A&M – performance on the field has. The school hasn’t won 10 games in a season since Johnny Manziel won the Heisman in 2012 and has just two 10-win seasons since joining the Big 12 in 1996.
Stoops could have made a lot of sense at A&M. Instead, he seems set to stay at Kentucky for the foreseeable future while the A&M coaching search continues.