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Kentucky is expected to fire football coach Mark Stoops, sources told ESPN on Sunday, with the process set to formally play out Monday.
Kentucky has scheduled a team meeting for 8 a.m. ET to discuss the coaching transition, sources told ESPN's Adam Rittenberg.
Stoops just completed his 13th season at Kentucky with a 5-7 record after going 4-8 in 2024. Kentucky lost its final game of the year to rival Louisville 41-0 on Saturday.
Stoops, 58, went 72-80 during his time in Lexington (82-80 if including the 10-win 2021 season that was later vacated) and leaves as the winningest coach in school history. Bear Bryant is No. 2.
Stoops brought consistency to Kentucky, making bowl games every season from 2016 to 2023 and twice finishing in the AP top 20.
But Kentucky has had very few bright spots the past two seasons, and the university decided to move on despite Stoops being signed through June 2031 and earning $9 million this year.
Stoops is owed 75% of his remaining salary, which is approximately $37.7 million. That falls within the top five buyouts in college football history, four of which have come this year (Brian Kelly, $54 million; James Franklin, $49 million, though that was reduced when he took the job at Virginia Tech; and Jonathan Smith, $33 million).
Stoops' last two years at Kentucky came in the wake of changes to NIL and revenue sharing in college football. Prior to that era, Stoops delivered some of the best seasons in school history. That included 10-win seasons in 2021 and 2018, Kentucky's first since 1977.
He developed Kentucky into a program whose hallmarks are toughness and player development. The Wildcats had multiple players drafted every year from 2019 through 2025, including four first-round picks during his tenure.
Kentucky appeared to have found its quarterback for the future this season, as Stoops inserted freshman Cutter Boley as the starter in late September. The move paid dividends, as Kentucky took Texas to overtime and then won three straight games -- at Auburn, Florida and Tennessee Tech. Boley threw 15 touchdown passes and completed 65.8% of his throws.
After the loss to Louisville on Saturday, Stoops -- who chose to remain at Kentucky when other opportunities surfaced over the years -- said he wasn't going anywhere.
Asked after the game about the possibility of stepping down, Stoops told reporters, "Like, I'm going to walk away? Are you kidding me? ... Zero percent chance I walk."
