Mark Stoops
Mark Stoops went 82–80 on the field as a head coach, 2013–2025, at Kentucky; 72–80 officially, after the NCAA vacated 10 wins (2021). Share
- Record
- 72–80 official; 82–80 on the field
- Seasons
- 13
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Jul 9, 1967
- Alma mater
- Iowa
- Best season
- 2018 10–3
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Kentucky | 2–10 | 7th | |||
| 2014 | Kentucky | 5–7 | 6th | |||
| 2015 | Kentucky | 5–7 | T–4th | |||
| 2016 | Kentucky | 7–6 | T–2nd | Gator Bowl L | ||
| 2017 | Kentucky | 7–6 | T–3rd | Music City Bowl L | ||
| 2018 | Kentucky | 10–3 | T–2nd | Citrus Bowl W | 11 | |
| 2019 | Kentucky | 8–5 | T–4th | Belk Bowl W | ||
| 2020 | Kentucky | 5–6 | 4th | Gator Bowl W | ||
| 2021 | Kentucky | 10–3 (0–3 official) | 2nd | Citrus W (vacated) | 18 | |
| 2022 | Kentucky | 7–6 | T–4th | Music City Bowl L | ||
| 2023 | Kentucky | 7–6 | T–4th | Gator Bowl L | ||
| 2024 | Kentucky | 4–8 | 15th | |||
| 2025 | Kentucky | 5–7 | T–11th |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Max DuffyConsensus All‑American, 2019- Courtney Love2017 Wuerffel Trophy
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 48 | 14–34 | 29% |
| Against top-10 teams | 24 | 3–21 | 13% |
| Against rivals | 51 | 21–30 | 41% |
| Conference games | 106 | 38–68 | 36% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 8 | 4–4 | 50% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 56 | 31–25 | 55% |
| At home | 93 | 57–36 | 61% |
| On the road | 60 | 21–39 | 35% |
| At neutral sites | 9 | 4–5 | 44% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 73 | 56–17 | 77% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 89 | 26–63 | 29% |
His own 162 games on file, 2013–2025, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kirby Smart 2016–2025 | 0–10 | Georgia | 10 | |
| Dan Mullen 2013–2021 | 3–6 | Mississippi State, Florida | 9 | |
| Derek Mason 2014–2020 | 6–1 | Vanderbilt | 7 | |
| Will Muschamp 2013–2019 | 3–3 | Florida, South Carolina | 6 | |
| Clark Lea 2021–2025 | 2–3 | Vanderbilt | 5 | |
| Bobby Petrino 2013–2017 | 1–4 | Western Kentucky, Louisville | 5 | |
| Butch Jones 2013–2017 | 1–4 | Tennessee | 5 | |
| Shane Beamer 2021–2025 | 1–4 | South Carolina | 5 | |
| Josh Heupel 2021–2025 | 0–5 | Tennessee | 5 | |
| Barry Odom 2016–2019 | 4–0 | Missouri | 4 |
Mark Stoops’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Vanderbiltseries | 13 | 8–5 |
| South Carolinaseries | 13 | 7–6 |
| Floridaseries | 13 | 5–8 |
| Tennesseeseries | 13 | 2–11 |
| Georgiaseries | 13 | 0–13 |
| Louisvilleseries | 12 | 6–6 |
| Missouriseries | 11 | 7–4 |
| Mississippi Stateseries | 11 | 5–6 |
National title staffs
Every title staff- Won a national title on Miami’s 2001 staff (defensive backs) · the staff · source
The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.
How he was hired
- Hired by Kentucky for the 2013 season from Florida State, where he was defensive coordinator.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990–91 | Iowa | Graduate assistant | |
| 1992–95 | Nordonia HS (OH) high school | AD and defensive backs coach | |
| 1996 | South Florida | Defensive backs coach | |
| 1997–99 | Wyoming | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2000 | Houston | Co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| 2001–03 | Miami (FL) | Defensive backs coach | |
| 2004–09 | Arizona | Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| 2010–12 | Florida State | Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| 2013–25 | Kentucky | Head coach | |
| 2026–present | Texas | Special assistant |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Hayden FryIowa
- Dana DimelWyoming, Houston
- Larry CokerMiami
- Mike StoopsArizona
- Jimbo FisherFlorida State
- Steve SarkisianTexas
Assistants who became head coaches
- Bradley Dale PevetoNorthwestern State
- Chad ScottWest Virginia
- Neal BrownTroy, West Virginia, North Texas
- Dean HoodEastern Kentucky, Murray State
- Brad WhiteFlorida
- Walt WellsEastern Kentucky
- Jon SumrallTroy, Tulane, Florida
- Liam CoenJacksonville Jaguars
- Mike StoopsArizona
- Brad LambertCharlotte
Worked under (6)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hayden Fry | Iowa | 1990–91 | Graduate assistant | |
| Dana Dimel | Wyoming | 1997–99 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Dana Dimel | Houston | 2000 | Co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Larry Coker | Miami | 2001–03 | Defensive backs coach | |
| Mike Stoops | Arizona | 2004–09 | Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Jimbo Fisher | Florida State | 2010–12 | Defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Steve Sarkisian | Texas | 2026 | Special assistant |
Coached under him, later head coaches (10)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bradley Dale Peveto | Kentucky, 2013: safeties coach and special teams coordinator | Northwestern State | |
| Chad Scott | Kentucky, 2013: running backs coach; 2014–15: running game coordinator and running backs coach | West Virginia | |
| Neal Brown | Kentucky, 2013–14: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Troy, West Virginia, North Texas | |
| Dean Hood | Kentucky, 2017: special teams and outside linebackers coach; 2018–19: special teams and defensive backs coach | Eastern Kentucky, Murray State | |
| Brad White | Kentucky, 2018: outside linebackers coach; 2019–25: defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach | Florida | |
| Walt Wells | Kentucky, 2018–19: quality control coach | Eastern Kentucky | |
| Jon Sumrall | Kentucky, 2019–20: inside linebackers coach; 2021: co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach | Troy, Tulane, Florida | |
| Liam Coen | Kentucky, 2021, 2023: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Jacksonville Jaguars | |
| Mike Stoops | Kentucky, 2022–25: inside linebackers coach | Arizona | |
| Brad Lambert | Kentucky, 2025: defensive assistant | Charlotte |
Other assistants under him (12)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| D. J. Eliot | Kentucky, 2013–16: defensive coordinator and linebackers coach | |
| Derrick Ansley | Kentucky, 2013–15: defensive backs coach | |
| Matt Powledge | Kentucky, 2013: graduate assistant | |
| Shannon Dawson | Kentucky, 2015: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Darin Hinshaw | Kentucky, 2016–20: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Eddie Gran | Kentucky, 2016–20: offensive coordinator and running backs coach; 2021–25: special assistant to head coach | |
| Matt House | Kentucky, 2016: inside linebackers coach and special teams coordinator; 2017–18: defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach | |
| Steve Clinkscale | Kentucky, 2016–20: defensive backs coach | |
| John Jancek | Kentucky, 2017: consultant | |
| Rich Scangarello | Kentucky, 2022: offensive coordinator | |
| Bush Hamdan | Kentucky, 2024–25: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Kevin Barbay | Kentucky, 2025: offensive assistant |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Kentucky | head coachbonuses up to $3,100,000; $425,000 in bonuses paid; buyout $14,765,625 | $3,763,600 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Kentucky | head coachbonuses up to $2,800,000; $50,000 in bonuses paid | $3,513,600 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Kentucky | head coachbonuses up to $2,775,000; $125,000 in bonuses paid | $3,263,600 USA Today | |
| 2014 | Kentucky | head coachbonuses up to $1,475,000 | $2,701,600 USA Today | |
| 2013 | Kentucky | head coachbonuses up to $1,475,000 | $2,001,250 USA Today via Leeds |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
The same USA Today database for 2006–16, from Michael Leeds’ replication data on Harvard Dataverse (CC0): the season’s contract pay.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Stoops’s teams went for it on 21% of fourth downs and on 40% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 46% of plays and took 27.6 seconds a play, 2013–2025.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 12 g | 26 of 109 24% | 34% | 46% | 24.4 | +0.07 | |
| 2014 12 g | 24 of 112 21% | 38% | 52% | 23.4 | −0.02 | |
| 2015 12 g | 19 of 102 19% | 39% | 52% | 25.1 | −0.03 | |
| 2016 13 g | 16 of 94 17% | 39% | 39% | 26.0 | +0.04 | |
| 2017 13 g | 10 of 102 10% | 22% | 44% | 27.7 | −0.01 | |
| 2018 13 g | 15 of 89 17% | 32% | 39% | 28.1 | +0.03 | |
| 2019 13 g | 27 of 90 30% | 47% | 33% | 29.5 | +0.04 | |
| 2020 11 g | 17 of 83 20% | 44% | 38% | 29.6 | −0.04 | |
| 2021 13 g | 17 of 69 25% | 48% | 46% | 29.0 | +0.13 | |
| 2022 13 g | 26 of 101 26% | 47% | 49% | 30.7 | −0.04 | |
| 2023 13 g | 10 of 76 13% | 44% | 56% | 29.4 | +0.02 | |
| 2024 12 g | 26 of 86 30% | 61% | 47% | 28.4 | −0.08 | |
| 2025 12 g | 20 of 86 23% | 37% | 50% | 27.1 | 0.00 | |
| All 162 g | 253 of 1199 21% | 40% | 46% | 27.6 | +0.01 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.