Mark Stoops is veteran head coach among SEC coaches by a large margin, starting his tenure with the Wildcats back in 2013.
Despite doing an admirable job rebuilding the program to respectability, winning ten games twice, and leading UK to eight straight bowl games, Stoops recently made it clear during a one-on-one interview with On3 that the recent landscape of college football with NIL and the transfer portal is weighing heavy on the 57-year old.
“I have 100 free agents every six months,” the veteran head coach shared with On3.
“You don’t think there’s pressure of raising money to keep them and to pay them what they deserve and to help them? And I’ve done this for two, three years completely alone."
"I get no help. None.”
While many will say it's tough to have sympathy when you look at how coaches are being compensated, recruiting used to be restricted to just high school kids, but now head coaches and their staffs must target kids at the high school and in the portal, they also have to constantly recruit their own rosters.
“I feel very isolated, very alone. I’ll be honest, I don’t know how long I can take dealing with what I’ve dealt with. Myself, personally, I can only do so much. I’ve never felt this kind of stress and pressure.”
Just over the past week, major college programs have made significant moves in the general manager and personnel spaces.
Wisconsin promoted their 24-year old player personnel director Max Stienecker to their GM role, while Texas Tech and their GM James Blanchard recently reportedly agreed to a new deal that will make him one of college football's top paid front office figures.
Stoops goes on to mention frustration and panic among the emotions he feels while he's not able to run the program the way he wants to. The Wildcats were able to add former offensive coordinator Eddie Gran to the staff as a special assistant to Stoops, and he mentions he wouldn't be able to operate at all without his help.
“I can’t coach the way I want to coach because all I do is raise money or try to raise money."
“You go through all the frustration, and even panic. How do I raise the money? I feel very isolated on how to do it. But if I don’t raise it, it doesn’t get done.”
Some programs have other places that have people raise the money to operate, and while Kentucky football has its own collective (The 15 Club), Stoops says he still plays more of an active role than most.
If Stoops is going to find a renewed energy as he continues into year twelve and beyond with the program, finding a way to structure his support staff more like an NFL front office like so many programs are doing and getting the support of his administration to do so seems like it's going to be critical.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.