Take a moment and close your eyes. Imagine a world where Mark Stoops accepted the Texas A&M job back in November 2023 and they actually followed through with their promise to hire him. Football Saturdays in Lexington might feel different right now. They might even be fun again.
But they didn't. And they aren't. And Kentucky fans have Aggie boosters to thank for it.
The hire that almost was (and the revolt it caused)
Johnny Manziel, the Heisman-winning Texas A&M legend, dropped a fascinating nugget on the Nightcap Show while discussing Kentucky’s latest heartbreak. Recalling the chaotic A&M coaching search after Jimbo Fisher's firing, Manziel described the moment reports leaked that Mark Stoops was the choice.
“At one point,” Manziel said, thinking back to the fan reaction, "College Station almost burned to the ground.”
He wasn't exaggerating. Reports confirmed Stoops was hours away from actually getting on a plane for Texas A&M, having told people close to him it was a done deal and he was leaving. Then, suddenly, the offer evaporated. Why? As Sports Illustrated later reported, powerful regents and big-money boosters vetoed the hire, believing Stoops was not the caliber of coach needed for Texas A&M.
Aggie fans were right, and Kentucky fans are furious
Look, they are right. Mark Stoops beat up on bad teams at Kentucky. That is just a fact, as of 2023, 38.4% of his career wins are against low-level FBS or FCS opponents. That hasnt improved much with the disaster that was 2024 and now 2025. Now, Stoops is stuck in Lexington, and the Wildcats are mired in a brutal slump, culminating in Saturday's agonizing overtime loss to Texas where questionable playcalling doomed a dominant performance to a 9th straight home SEC loss.
And Kentucky fans will never forget what Texas A&M has done to Kentucky football. Their revolt didn't just save their program from a coach they didn't want; it saddled Kentucky with a coach whose tenure had clearly plateaued. Since that near-departure at the end of 2023, Kentucky has won exactly one SEC game. One. They are 1-12 in conference play since the start of the 2024 season, and 2-16 in their last 18 games, with many losses not even being competitive.
The Aggie boosters were been right about Stoops. He built Kentucky into something respectable, but the innovation stopped years ago and it was against teams that were doing not so great. Now Kentucky is trapped with Mark Stoops and his bad coaching decisions.
College Station may not have burned down, but Kentucky fans are certainly burning with resentment, stuck watching the same frustrating movie play out, all thanks to a fanbase hundreds of miles away that inadvertently caused a disaster to unfold for the Kentucky football program.
Drew Holbrook is an avid Kentucky fan who has been covering the Cats for over 10 years. In his free time he enjoys downtime with his family and Premier League soccer. You can find him on X here. Micah 7:7. #UptheAlbion