Mark Stoops has been a great head coach for the Kentucky Wildcats, but the 2024 season was one to forget.
Kentucky finished 4-8 with just one win in SEC play. It was also the first time since 2015 that the Wildcats missed out on a bowl game, previously, bowling in their last eight seasons.
A bad season like that will lead a coach to want to hit the reset button, and that’s exactly what Stoops wants to do in Lexington. He’s looking for a new mindset out of his team that has to do with hard work, lack of complaints and simply getting the job done.
That’s what he’s preaching this spring.
“Being very upfront with them, be very clear, define exactly what we’re looking for, and hold them to those expectations, and them holding themselves to that, you know — to the standards that we set for them. They’re doing that. That’s all we could do, is attack each day,” Stoops said in his opening spring news conference (h/t On3).
Part of the stress at Kentucky is that the SEC is, as always, stacked. The Wildcats found that out the hard way in 2024, and Stoops needs them to be prepared to go to work against the conference again in 2025.
“You know, it’s a tough business we’re in. It’s a tough league. It’s gonna be a tough schedule. So, the only thing we can manage is the day to day, and attacking that day,” Stoops said.
Kentucky kicks off 2025 with Toledo on Aug. 30 and then it’s right back into the frying pan with a Week 2 matchup against Ole Miss.
