Paul Finebaum Has Odd Reaction to Texas Longhorns Hiring Mark Stoops

Paul Finebaum raises questions about the purpose of the Texas Longhorns newest hire

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops on the sidelines as the Louisville Cardinals football team dominated Kentucky 41-0 Saturday, November 29, 2025 in Louisville, | Matt Stone/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Texas Longhorns failed to reach their lofty goals from the 2025 season, and despite beginning the year as the preseason number one team, they were on the outside looking in when the College Football Playoff bracket was revealed.

Head coach Steve Sarkisian is doing everything he can to ensure that doesn't happen again. That includes adding an immense amount of talent from the transfer portal and making changes to the coaching staff, such as the recent hire of ex-Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops.

Not everyone is a fan of the hire though, including college football personality Paul Finebaum. On the Paul Finebaum Show, he questioned Sarkisian's decisions and wondered how many more ex-head coaches he would be bringing in.

Collecting Coaches

Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian arrives at the stadium before the game between the Texas Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners at the Cotton Bowl. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

Sarkisian wanted changes on his coaching staff. He brought in a fresh voice for defense in Will Muschamp, which would allow him to focus on the offense more. Muschamp has already made an impact, especially on the recruiting trail, where the Longhorns have climbed up the rankings for some of the top recruits in the 2027 class.

He continued to add though, bringing in Stoops, who was fired from the Wildcats on December 1 with a $30 million dollar buyout. Expected to serve as a special assistant to Sarkisian, he will bring over a decade of experience coaching in the SEC.

“The question I have is, didn’t he just hire Will Muschamp?” Finebaum said Monday viaThe Paul Finebaum Show. “How many people have two ex-SEC coaches? Now, Nick Saban used to, I think. But he has two ex-SEC coaches. One is the DC and the other one as what? We don’t know. It’s one thing if you had a 28-year-old defensive coordinator that you wanted to bring a mentor to."

Hiring former head coaches isn't a new prerogative thing for Sarkisian either, as he has done it nearly every year, including the hiring of Gary Patterson, after he was fired from the TCU Horned Frogs after more than two decades.

“But Will Muschamp is probably the same age as Mark Stoops. It just goes to show that once you’re a former coach, you are probably going to be a coach or analyst somewhere. So, good for Mark Stoops. He lands in Austin while he gets to collect his buyout money.”

With a $30 million dollar buyout that was due to Stoops in 60 days after the firing, there are worse jobs to have than that of an ex-head coach. For the Longhorns and Stoops, their pairing could hire insight into the Longhorns dealing with their gauntlet of a schedule, and a more relaxing job for the ex-Wildcats head coach. Should the Longhorns bring their first national championship to the Forty Acres in over 20 years, no one will be questioning how many former SEC coaches are on the staff.