How in the world is Mark Stoops considered a top 40 coach in college football?
That’s the question Kentucky fans and national observers alike are asking after CBS Sports and 247Sports released their updated 2025 rankings of Power Four head coaches. Stoops comes in at No. 36—down 16 spots from last year’s No. 20 ranking, yes you read that right.
Let’s break it down.
The criteria (or lack thereof)
According to CBS Sports' Tom Fornelli, the rankings are based on individual voter preferences. “The one rule is that the only coaches you can rank are the Power Four coaches and that you have to rank every one of them,” Fornelli wrote. “Everything else is up to the voter.” That leaves room for personal bias. Some value recruiting. Others value player development or schematics. The results? A mixed bag.
And Mark Stoops somehow came out ahead of coaches like Pat Narduzzi, who won the ACC in 2021, and Sonny Dykes, who—let’s not forget—led an undefeated TCU to a national title game appearance just two seasons ago.
The resume check
Let’s look at Stoops' record in 12 seasons at Kentucky:
- Overall Record: 67–73 (after 10 wins were vacated)
- Record vs. Ranked Teams 11-25: 13–18
- Record vs. Top-10 Teams: 1–18
- Record vs. SEC Teams with Winning League Records: 2–28
In other words, Stoops rarely—if ever—punches above his weight. He has built a reputation on beating MAC teams, a down Louisville program, and squeaking out enough wins to reach a bowl game. And yet, thanks to one good season in 2018 and some solid recruiting years, he’s still being lumped into the conversation with proven winners.
Even worse? He’s doing it while cashing one of the largest checks in the sport: over $9 million per year. That’s nearly double what Dykes and Narduzzi make combined.
The clock management debacle is exhibit A
Take last year’s baffling sequence against Ohio as Exhibit A for why Stoops deserves more scrutiny than celebration. With 1:36 left in the first half and the ball on Kentucky’s 9-yard line, Stoops and the offense actually moved into field goal range—only to completely mismanage the clock.
Here’s how that disaster unfolded:
- Brock Vandagriff scrambled, and Sumo-Karngbaye chipped away yardage.
- Kentucky reached Ohio’s 32 with 34 seconds and one timeout remaining.
- Stoops used that final timeout after a 4-yard scramble, instead of spiking the ball.
- An incompletion followed, then a delay of game penalty, and then a sack.
- With no timeouts left and the clock running, the field goal unit scrambled out—but time expired.
No points. All self-inflicted.
This wasn’t a one-off. Kentucky is consistently rated among the worst teams nationally in the “middle 8”—the final four minutes of the first half and first four of the second. That’s coaching, plain and simple.
The justification
Here’s what CBS had to say:
“When you're the coach at a program with low expectations, they love you when you exceed them. But the moment you fall back down to Earth, where everybody thinks you should be? Well, it gets rough, and it got rough here. After a remarkably consistent run from 2016-23, Stoops' Wildcats team fell to 4-8 last year. While most of our voters only docked him a few points from where he stood last year, one low ballot was enough to knock Stoops down a few extra pegs.”
So essentially, he was a victim of one bad season... except his overall record suggests he's had a lot more than one.
Money talks—but it ain't saying much for Stoops
Stoops’ salary places him among the elite—the 12th highest-paid coach in the country. But here’s the rub: he’s never won the SEC East(when it was still a thing). Never played in Atlanta. Never made a New Year’s Six Bowl. And with the 2024 roster turnover, he enters 2025 on the heels of a 4-8 disaster, a mass exodus of top talent, and questions about whether his style of play is fit for modern football.
In an era of uptempo schemes and quarterback-driven offenses, Stoops remains committed to running the ball 50 times a game and winning 10-7. Except his defense isn't dominant, and his in-game decisions—especially in clock management—are often baffling.
Ranking reality check
Just to recap:
- Mark Stoops: 67–73 (vacated wins included), $9M/year
- Sonny Dykes: 27–13, National Title Game, Big12 Champ, $5M/year
- Pat Narduzzi: 72–56, ACC Champion, $6.7M/year
Yet Stoops is ranked above Narduzzi and just 1 spot behind Dykes.
In what world?
Balance
Now Mark Stoops has done some great things at Kentucky too. Winning 10 games is a great feat, winning the Citrus Bowl is a highlight. He was able to raise the floor considerably for much of his time in Lexington. But he has also hit the ceiling, and it looks like he may be on the way down. With such a high buyout of over 30 million, he has at least 2 more seasons to turn it around.
Final thoughts
Kentucky fans appreciate what Mark Stoops has done for the program—he made the Wildcats consistently relevant and elevated recruiting. But relevance isn’t greatness. And when you’re making $9 million a year, coaching in the SEC, and entering Year 13 with a losing record, the excuses start to run thin.
So what say you, BBN?
Is Mark Stoops really a top 40 coach in America? Or are the CBS voters just watching a different game?