'This is My Home': Stoops Talks His Commitment to Kentucky, New Contract Extension

It was publicly revealed yesterday that Kentucky football head coach Mark Stoops had signed a contract extension on Nov. 11, keeping him in Lexington through the 2030 season.

The deal lands Stoops at $9 million per season beginning in February 2023, an $8.6 million deal going along with his $400K base, per UK's open records. Jon Hale of the Lexington Herald-Leader was the first to report the extension.

Now in his 10th year as head coach of the Wildcats, Stoops became the all-time winningest skipper in program history in September. His name had been linked with Power Five head coaching vacancies such as Nebraska and Auburn, but he made it clear at his Monday press conference that he's never wavered from leaving his current post.

“I don’t talk about any of that because I don’t like to disrespect any school or anybody or anything. I think with the work that we’ve done here, I think it goes without — I mean, I don’t need to say anything. I think there’s been a lot of people over the years that have inquired, and I don’t go — I really don’t push that," Stoops said. "I’m in season. I’m committed to my players. I’m committed to this place and I’ve never strayed five minutes from that.”

He continued about his decision to remain at Kentucky:

“I told you last January, that when Mitch and I and Dr. Capilouto make an agreement, you know, we make an agreement. And I said that about Jimmy [Sexton] and lawyers and all that stuff," Stoops said. "But we have worked together so long that we have a great commitment to each other and a trust and a belief in each other and this stability was important. And early in the season, there was a lot of noise and I just simply said, ‘I am committed to this. I’m not going anywhere. I’m committed to this place.’ And they said vice versa."

That commitment has remained the same from the get-go across his decade in the Bluegrass. So how come it wasn't publicly announced upon the signing of the deal?

Well, Stoops and UK thought better of releasing the news the day after the Wildcats suffered an embarrassing 24-21 loss to Vanderbilt:

“We made that commitment to each other a while ago and I kind of feel bad about the timing of it," Stoops said. "Nobody — I wasn’t very proud of some of the losses, certainly coming off through the Vanderbilt game and all that.”

"I feel bad for Mitch (Barnhart) and Dr. Capilouto and not doing my part, you know, truthfully," he added. "After that game, I, believe me– I better just stop there. I felt very bad about that loss and some of the parts of the season.”

Across his almost 10 complete seasons, Stoops has amassed two 10-win seasons, taking the football program to a new height that it had not previously come close to reaching.

The 2022 campaign has been full of ups and downs, from a top-10 ranking down to the aforementioned home loss to the Commodores two weeks ago.

Even still, the current trajectory of Kentucky football is on the incline. Stoops plans on keeping it that way:

“I have been here a long time but I’m committed to this place and have been. This is my home. This is the place that I’ve helped build to this point. We have built it to this point. Do we want more? Yes, I think we want to continue to grow. Dr. Capilouto expects more. Mitch expects more and I do. And I want to continue to build, continue to have the continuity and I want to improve and there’s a lot of people that would like to have the stability that we’ve had and there’s a lot of people that, would much like us, be driven to compete at higher levels as well.”

More on the contract extension here.

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