Mark Stoops: Georgia "Not a hump, that's Mt. Everest"
In the aftermath of Kentucky's decisive 51-13 defeat at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs last weekend, Kentucky Head Coach Mark Stoops made headlines on Monday with comments he made on his weekly radio show appearance that seemed to cast a negative light on how Georgia amassed its talented roster.
"I can promise you in Georgia, they bought some pretty good players," Stoops said. "You're allowed to these days and we could use some help, that's what they look like when you have 85 of them. I encourage anybody that's disgruntled to pony up some more."
Reactions to Stoops' comments were swift and strong, leading the Kentucky head coach to address and clarify those comments Wednesday during an SEC teleconference call in which he was much more complimentary of Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart and the Georgia program at large.
“Basically one person was questioning me and the program and getting over the hump,” Stoops explained. “I really simply should have said, ‘Hey dude, I’ve gotten over a lot of humps. That’s not a hump, that’s Mt. Everest.'”
Kentucky Head Coach Mark Stoops walks on the sideline during his team's game against No.1 Georgia in Sanford Stadium.
When players were permitted to begin being compensated for their name, image, and likeness in June 2021, Georgia, like many programs across the country, was put in a position to have to engage in NIL or risk being left behind in recruiting. With its large and passionate fanbase combined with its tremendous recent on-field success, Georgia has been able to leverage NIL to its benefit. Since the introduction of NIL, Georgia finished with 247 Sports No.3 recruiting class in 2022 and the No.2 class in the 2023 cycle. The Bulldogs currently hold the No.1 ranking in the 2024 cycle. However, Georgia's recruiting success did not begin with the advent of NIL. The Bulldogs have been one of the nation's premier recruiting powers since Kirby Smart first assumed the reins of the program in 2016, finishing with the No.1 recruiting class in both 2018 and 2020, both of which predated the introduction of NIL. Georgia's embrace of NIL has simply allowed the Bulldogs to maintain its already elevated position in the college football recruiting landscape.
Based on his explicative comments on Wednesday, Stoops was trying to express similar sentiments in an effort to drum up more support for NIL from the Kentucky fanbase in order to enhance the program's own NIL efforts.
“I think people just want to take one little piece of it and blow it completely out of proportion,” Stoops said. “If you listen to the whole thing… I mean just listen to Kirby. He knows. He knows exactly what I was saying. We’re all in the same boat. Kirby’s probably happy. He’s probably trying to rally up more money too. We all need it. It’s just the way it is. I wasn’t taking any shots. I took full responsibility. We got our butts beat. We need to respond better and that’s it.”
Stoops also made sure to express the tremendous respect that he has for Kirby Smart and the Georgia program and his regret at how his initial comments were interpreted.
“Kirby and I are friends and colleagues,” Stoops said. “I respect every aspect of what he does and how he runs his program. To me I was responding to one person at a radio show, and that was one part that was taken completely out of context.”
Kentucky Head Coach Mark Stoops talks with Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart on the field prior to a game between the Bulldogs and Wildcats.Credit - Joshua Jones
Smart has shied away from engaging with Stoops' comments and expressed an understanding of the motivations behind Stoops' remarks during his Monday press conference.
“No reaction,” Smart said. “It’s much to do about nothing, really. Mark is trying to garner interest in money from his fan base for his collective. We’re all trying to do the same in terms of trying get money for our collective. Mark and I talked about NIL pregame and we talked about it in our meetings. I’m not biting on that.”
During his 11-year tenure at Kentucky, Stoops has yet to defeat Georgia. He holds an 0-11 record against the Bulldogs with those 11 losses coming by an average margin of 22 points.
