When Kentucky legend Tim Couch weighs in on the state of the program, people listen. On the George Plaster Show, the former Heisman finalist walked a delicate line: deep respect for Mark Stoops, and a clear belief that the timing was right for a reset.
‘We are very thankful for Mark… but it was time’
Couch didn’t dance around the big question.
“You know, we have been very close,” he said of Stoops’ run. “But I think after this year, the way we had been trending the last 2 to 3 years… I think it was time for a change.”
He didn’t take a shot on the way out. In fact, he called Stoops “the best coach who has been at the University of Kentucky,” and emphasized how thankful the fanbase should be for what Stoops built.
But “time for a new voice” is a pretty telling phrase. From Couch’s perspective, the combination of NIL, the portal and a slide in results demanded a different kind of leader for the next era.
NIL, the portal, and development all hurt Mark Stoops
Couch’s diagnosis of the downturn was pointed.
“I think there was a lot of things that played into it… the NIL and the portal… that is kind of when we went downhill,” he said. Kentucy’s edge under Stoops was always player development — finding guys, redshirting them, and building them over four years.
When college football turned into speed-dating through the portal, that advantage got undercut.
“I think Mark and his staff was doing a great job of going out… developing players when they got on campus,” Couch said. The rules changed. The model didn’t evolve fast enough.
Why Tim Couch thinks Kentucky football made the right move at the right time
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If Couch was measured about the firing, he was downright giddy about the hire.
“I like a lot of things about him,” he said of Will Stein. “He has developed some really good quarterbacks… he is going to bring a fun style of play into Kentucky.”
The key, for Couch, is the pairing with Cutter Boley.
“The main thing I am excited about is it will match well with the QB we have on campus right now in Cutter Boley,” Couch said. “He is our future… pair him with Coach Stein and his system, it is going to be a lot of fun.”
He highlighted exactly what matters in Stein’s scheme is a QB who acts like a point guard with precision and processing. He believes the offense Kentucky will put out on the field will get elite QB's and WR's interested and coming to Lexington.
In other words, he thinks Kentucky hired someone who speaks the modern offensive language fluently.
Tim Couch says ‘You better be able to embrace competition’ over portal drama
Couch is clearly not a fan of the annual quarterback carousel.
With young QBs jumping in and out of systems every year, he questioned how anyone is supposed to truly master an offense.
“I don’t think so. I don’t like it,” he said bluntly when asked if constant transferring helps development. “You better be able to embrace competition… a lot of these guys kind of run from it. They just transfer out… It’s just unbelievable to me.”
His bigger frustration? What quarterback play looks like on Saturdays now.
“Going through reads and progressions, it seems like a lot of backyard ball now,” Couch said. “Just try to extend plays… It has regressed at the quarterback position… it does get frustrating to watch at times.”
That’s what makes his praise of Stein matter: he believes Stein’s system is built around real quarterbacking, not just chaos.
From Hal Mumme to Will Stein in a full-circle moment
Couch also revisited his own story, nearly transferring away from Kentucky before Hal Mumme arrived with Mike Leach and an Air Raid promise. Remember Bill Curry wanted him to run the option?
“First thing he says to me… ‘You’re the starting quarterback and I am going to let you throw it 50 times a game,’” Couch recalled. “Obviously it worked out for us all.”
Now he sees shades of that moment in Stein’s hire.
“I couldn’t be more excited,” Couch said. He believes Kentucky “got their guy,” pointing out Stein’s Kentucky roots and his fit with Boley.
The subtext is hard to miss: Couch knows exactly what it looks like when the right offensive mind walks into Lexington at the right time.
He thinks it just happened again.