Mark Stoops Adjusting to 'New World' of College Football, Transfer Portal
Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops went in-depth on the state of his program and the future of college football at his game-week press conference Monday afternoon.
Following the horrifying 24-21 loss to Vanderbilt, much of Big Blue Nation began to call for some sort of change to the Wildcats, specifically pointing to those involved with the offense on the coaching side of things.
Post-game last weekend, Stoops mentioned that he wasn't considering any in-season changes on staff, but acknowledged that that could come when the time was right. No specific names were mentioned of course, but first-year offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello could be a name on the chopping block come the end of the campaign.
On Monday, Stoops pivoted a bit, noting that potentially positive changes don't have to come in the form of changing members of the staff:
"I'm not sitting here saying I have my head in the sand, like I accept it. I shoulder it and we look at things and and we'll get better and we can make adjustments, that doesn't always have to be a personnel," Stoops said. "We got smart good coaches in here and there are things we can do. And there are things we we do do well we need to execute a little better."
One of the biggest disappointments of the season has come at offensive line. A combination of losing players to the NFL Draft, returning players switching positions and an overall lack of improvement has pointed toward a serious blind spot in the UK offense.
All of those reasons among others have impacted the team on a game-by-game basis. Stoops understands the shortcomings, but doesn't want to make any excuses.
"I'm not comfortable talking about excuses. There are no excuses, but I mean, you go through things you get caught. There are reasons why we get caught a little thin at offense line. We've gone through some real life stuff that has been hard, You know what I mean," Stoops said. "Change doesn't help either ... we got put in this position, it's my job to get it fixed."
Taking blame for the failures that have come with this season has been an unfortunately common theme for Stoops as of late. The sour tone that has overthrown a once positive outlook makes the future look bleak around Lexington when thinking about football.
In the mind of Stoops, however, the future of his program and college football in general is undergoing a serious change, thanks to the transfer portal. This upcoming offseason will be miles different than any other the 10th-year head coach has experienced.
"There are some things that we can fix that we will get fixed, you know, so that's where the the portal and things of that nature can help you, to where when we took over 10 years ago, those things weren't there."
The sheer number of players that are expected to enter the portal is staggering. Stoops, despite dealing with the finish to an underwhelming season, knows that he has to prepare for an influx of players leaving his program, while also focusing on finding a heap of players to bring in for next season:
“There is free agency. I didn’t create that, but let’s be honest. There’s a salary cap, that some people have none, and there is free agency. It makes life different. Now you better adapt, you better adjust and you better be able to overcome it. Again, I play by the rules that are that are put in front of me. I didn’t create that free agency," he said. "The sustainability of 85 free agents a year is kind of interesting. How would you like to operate an NFL team with every one of your guys is a free agent every year? How do you think they’d do?”
In the past, players hitting the portal usual comes with a shared agreement. Situations don't always pan out or better players in the same position are coming in that will take snaps, among other things.
Now, with there being no repercussions for jumping from school to school, that shared agreement won't always be the case.
"We’ve been blessed with guys that have left (in the transfer portal) where I’d probably say 100% was almost mutual. Now, that will change. But that’s everybody. That’s reality. That’s the new world. That’s not a knock. That’s OK," Stoops said. "There are players on our team right now that I absolutely love and I think they down deep love it here, but they may decide to go somewhere else that’s better for them. That’s just the new world. You don’t take offense to it anymore.”
The all-time winningest coach in program history continues to try and adapt as the landscape of football continues to evolve.
Kentucky Football News and Stories
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Depth Chart update for Kentucky football can be found here.
More on Kentucky's stunning loss to the Commodores here.
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