Thursday Headlines: Mark Stoops is 9th-highest paid college football coach

9th-highest nationally and 5th-highest in the SEC

USA Today released its annual list of the highest-paid college football coaches across the country, and coming off the heels of a loss to Vanderbilt — the 10th home SEC loss in the last 12 games — the list struck a wrong chord with some fans seeing Mark Stoops come in at 9th overall.

Stoops has an annual salary at just over $9M, which ranks him 9th in the country but 5th in the SEC behind Kirby Smart (UGA), Steve Sarkisian (Texas), Kalen DeBoer (Alabama), and Brian Kelly (LSU).

Stoops comes in just ahead of #10 Lane Kiffin (Ole Mis) #11 Eli Drinkwitz (Missouri) and #12 Josh Heupel (Tennessee), all of whom make right at $9M.

Of course, Stoops is the longest-tenured coach in the SEC since landing the Kentucky job in 2012. Stoops has a three-year lead on Smart, the second-longest tenured coach in the conference who was hired at Georgia in 2015. From there, it’s an even larger gap to Kiffin, Drinkwitz, and Sam Pittman at Arkansas, all of whom were hired to their jobs in 2019.

Stoops certainly has done things at Kentucky many thought were impossible, and Mitch Barnhart hasn’t been afraid to reward Stoops for the work he’s done in Lexington, but it is certainly interesting as well to see his name so high up on this list.

Tweet of the Day

I think the original poster had a big swing-and-miss on this one.

Headlines

UK Football looks to be more explosive – Herald Leader

We haven’t seen a lot of that through the first half of the season.

Grading UK Football position groups at halfway point – Cats Pause

A lot of positives on defense, not a lot on offense.

UK Defense looks to bounce back against Florida – UK Athletics

The Cats will need a strong defensive showing to get the road win.

Amari Williams acts as second point guard for Kentucky – KSR

His ability to pass the ball could give him a chance to thrive in Pope’s system.

Sabrina Ionescu caps wild Liberty comeback with crazy shot – ESPN

A big-time shot in a big-time moment.

NCAA makes rule change on 12-man penalty – Bleacher Report

Dan Lanning is out here single-handedly forcing changes to the NCAA rulebook.

Caitlin Clark becomes first rookie to be named WNBA 1st Team in more than a decade – Yahoo

A big honor for the rookie.

Jerry Reinsdorf open to selling Chicago White Sox – CBS Sports

Interesting, coming off a historically bad season.

Graham Mertz ready to be a mentor to DJ Lagway – AP

The highly-touted freshman will likely be the starter when Kentucky goes to the Swamp.