Mark Stoops fired after 13 years as Kentucky football coach, per reports

LEXINGTON — It's over.

After 13 seasons guiding the Kentucky football program, Mark Stoops was fired Sunday, according to multiple reports. News of his firing was first reported by Jeff Drummond of Cats Illustrated. The SEC's longest-tenured active coach at the time of his exit, no man ever led the Wildcats longer; Fran Curci had the prior mark, spending nine seasons (1973 through 1981) at the helm.

Stoops departs as UK's all-time wins leader, with an on-field record of 82-80 (38-68 SEC). Kentucky and the NCAA recognize Stoops' official record as 72-80 (33-68). The Wildcats had to vacate every victory from their 10-win 2021 campaign because of NCAA violations.

That was one of two 10-win seasons during the Stoops era, accounting for half of the school's 10-win campaigns all-time (1950 and 1977 are the others).

One of those vacated 2021 wins was a 52-21 romp over Louisville in the Governor's Cup. Stoops had a 6-6 on-field record versus the Cardinals, and 5-6 with the vacated victory not included. (The teams did not meet in 2020, as the SEC played a conference-only schedule amid the coronavirus pandemic.) UofL also marked the last opponent Stoops faced as UK's coach: The Wildcats suffered their most lopsided loss in the history of the series, failing to score a point in a 41-0 defeat.

Stoops' tenure unfolded in a bell curve.

He started at the bottom, inheriting what was then the SEC's most woeful program. After losing records his first three seasons (2-10 in 2013, 5-7 in both 2014 and 2015), the Wildcats returned to the postseason in 2016. That kicked off a run of eight consecutive bowl berths, which ran through the 2023 season. But then UK bottomed out again. It went 4-8 overall (1-7 SEC) in 2024 and then 5-7 (2-6) in 2025.

After an upset of an undefeated Ole Miss club on Sept. 28, 2024, Stoops' group went on to lose its next 10 conference outings before ending the skid with a win at Auburn on Nov. 1.

And following a lopsided win over Florida in September 2023, Kentucky dropped 10 straight conference matchups at Kroger Field. The Wildcats failed to a win an SEC home game in 2024 and went 1-3 in 2025.

Prior to arriving in Lexington, Stoops was Florida State's defensive coordinator for three seasons (2010-12). He served in the same role at Arizona from 2004 through 2009, working on brother Mike Stoops' staff. Mark spent three seasons as Miami's defensive backs coach at the turn of the millennium. During that stint with the Hurricanes, the program fielded one of the most dominant — and iconic — teams in the sports's history: the 2001 edition that went 12-0 and rolled to a 37-14 victory over Nebraska in the BCS championship game.

Raised in Youngstown, Ohio, Stoops and his brothers — aforementioned Mike, and Hall of Fame coach Bob — played at Iowa under legendary coach Hayden Fry.

This story will be updated.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops fired, per reports