Stoops Talks Longevity, 2024 Team at SEC Media Days
Longevity was the topic of the day on Thursday for Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops as he made his round at the annual Southeastern Conference Football Media Day.
When SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey introduced Stoops to the media in the main media room, Sankey acknowledged that Stoops is now the dean of all SEC coaches, entering his 12th season on the job. It’s something in which Stoops takes a great deal of pride.
“As far as being the longest tenured coach in the SEC, I think it’s an accomplishment by a lot of people,” Stoops said. “Our administration have been very supportive for a very long time. There’s a lot of coaches that have come and gone, that have worked tirelessly to help put us in this position, and a lot of players that have dedicated a lot. I feel very fortunate, very blessed. I want to continue to succeed.”
Only 19 coaches in SEC history have been with their programs 12 years or more. That list includes legendary names like Bear Bryant, Nick Saban and Steve Spurrier. Stoops joins that list and he’s proud of the things that his program has been able to accomplish in his first 11 seasons.
“I don’t look down on some of the things we’ve done,” Stoops said. “There’s things at our fingertips that Tony Neely and Susan (Lax) give me on the way here, but the other thing is since 2018, there’s only three other schools that have more wins than us since ’18. Again, that’s not nothing. We want more, but the consistency that you have to have in this league, it’s difficult. There’s some great schools, some great programs that have been up and down, and we’ve been relatively stable.”
That list of accomplishments also includes eight consecutive bowl games, a school record that the Cats hope to extend this season. Being a defensive coach at heart, Stoops hopes that his defenders can carry a big load in 2024.
“I like our defense. I like the group. I like the leadership,” Stoops said. “I feel like there’s some young guys on the defensive line that we’re continuing to progress. We just addressed the cornerback situation. I feel like we’ve made some improvements there and some young guys are growing up, hit the portal. Overall we feel like it’s a good group. You need the depth. It’s a long season. You need some impact players. We have some experience with J.J. coming back up front and Deone (Walker) and Tre’vonn Rybka and Octavious Oxendine. We feel very good about that. We have a transfer in Georgia with Pop Johnson. Pop is an impact guy. He’s a big, physical dude, and we needed that.”
On offense, the Cats will have Georgia transfer Brock Vandagriff behind center and Ohio State transfer Chip Trayunum at running back. UK also returns receivers Barion Brown and Dane Key. Stoops likes how hard Brown has been working to make himself better.
“Barion knows he’s a special talent and can do a lot of amazing things with the ball in his hand,” Stoops said. “He’s worked really hard to become a more complete player, and I really appreciate the grind that he’s going through because he knows there’s just a lot of little details and a lot of things he’s got to focus on. He’s been so talented that he’s always relied on that, and he’s been much more consistent and working really hard. I’m looking forward to seeing how it translates to the field.”
The SEC’s longest-tenured coach likes his 2024 team and looks forward to adding to his already formidable legacy.
