Mike Stoops, who played in the NFL after a star career at the University of Iowa and who has coached at some of college football's biggest programs, including Alabama and Oklahoma, is expected to return to the Southeastern Conference.
Multiple sources tell FootballScoop that Stoops is slated to join the staff of his brother, University of Kentucky head man Mark Stoops, in a defensive assistant role working with the Wildcats' linebackers.
Mark Stoops, whose Wildcats just closed their second 10-win season in four years with a bowl triumph last Saturday against his alma mater, Iowa, has been seeking a replacement for Jon Sumrall.
Early last month, Sumrall, a fast-rising coaching star, was hired as head coach at Troy University, but Sumrall completed the task with the Wildcats and helped coach the Kentucky team to a narrow win against Iowa in the Citrus Bowl.
In Mike Stoops, Mark Stoops is poised to get a coach with whom he obviously is comfortable and who also has seen programs excel at the highest levels of college football.
During the first of two decorated stops at Oklahoma, Mike Stoops helped Bob Stoops and the Sooners to the program's 2000 national championship, and Mike Stoops also was an defensive analyst on Alabama's 2020 national title team.
Additionally, he has coached at Kansas State and most recently spent the 2021 season as defensive coordinator at Florida Atlantic.
The Owls allowed 25.75 points per game -- a scoring defense that ranked inside the top 60 and ahead of such Power 5 programs as Oklahoma, Oregon, Florida, Mississippi State, Wake Forest, Texas and Tennessee, among others.