Tuesday Headlines: Mitch Barnhart deserves some blame for Mark Stoops

University of Kentucky new coach — Mark Cornelison/Lexington Herald-Leader/Tribune News Service via Getty Images

More than just a bit.

Kentucky football is going through a rough patch in their season that may not be able to be fixed.

Head coach Mark Stoops and his team sit at 3-4 after dropping back-to-back games against Vanderbilt and Florida. The Wildcats not have daunting matchups against Auburn and at Tennessee with the odds predicting Kentucky loses both of those games.

If the oddsmakers wind up being correct, Kentucky would be 3-6 and all but out of bowl eligibility with their remaining schedule being at home against Murray State, at Texas and then back home against Louisville.

It would be irrational to call for Stoops to be fired (as of now), after all he did just beat No. 6 Ole Miss on the road less than a month ago. But if the Wildcats continue to spiral in the wrong direction, the last couple of seasons could very well warrant a hot seat.

The problem is that even if Kentucky wanted a new face for the program, it would look impossible for the Wildcats to decide to part ways with Stoops.

Approximately $44 million would be owed to Mark Stoops if Kentucky was to let him go. Meanwhile, if Stoops were to leave Kentucky for another school, his buyout would be less than 1/10th of that amount.

That buyout also doesn’t decrease by much and it will take multiple years to even decrease it by 20%. That leaves Kentucky at the mercy of Stoops, who last year was sought after by a few programs, but this season likely won’t bring along much interest in the UK coach.

Athletic director Mitch Barnhart will shoulder some of this blame of not being able to get out of the contract with Stoops, but there’s also an argument to be made that Stoops and his staff should simply get to work and get this program back on the train tracks. And Kentucky basketball just went through this with John Calipari, who the school simply couldn’t let go due to his massive buyout.

Barnhart keeps saddling Kentucky with unreasonable contracts that make it virtually impossible to fire coaches. And we saw Calipari’s level of coaching once he got his deal. The same appears to be happening with Stoops.

Tweet of the Day

Fan question at the Tipoff Luncheon: “Your feelings on the UK/UofL rivalry?”

Lee Anne Pope with the best answer @WLKY | #BBN pic.twitter.com/ldxE6PVQkG

— Britt Del Barba (@brittdelbarba) October 21, 2024