Sunday Headlines: Mark Stoops and Mitch Barnhart Watch

It’s another Sunday morning and another Sunday feeling demoralized about a Kentucky Football performance.

Kentucky’s offense showed some life yesterday, finally scoring more than two touchdowns against a power conference opponent. Cutter Boley played really well and looks like the type of quarterback this program could build around.

But Kentucky had a pair of devastating turnovers and allowed Joey Aguilar to throw the ball wherever he wanted, resulting in the Vols dropping 56 points in Lexington. That’s the most points Tennessee has scored against Kentucky in the Stoops era and the most since 2000.

We’ve had plenty of coverage of the game, so I won’t recap it here, but it was an embarrassing performance for the Wildcats, who are now 2-5 and 0-5 in SEC play. The Wildcats are now 4-17 in SEC play over the last three seasons and last won an SEC game at home on September 30, 2023.

Needless to say, things are not going well in Lexington, and Mitch Barnhart needs to be deciding what the future looks like for the Kentucky Football program.

By now, we all know about the contract situation with Mark Stoops. To make a change at head coach, UK would have to pay out one of the largest buyouts in college football without it being divided up over a period of time, barring any negotiations.

That’s what makes this situation difficult. In today’s college football world, spending that amount of money to get rid of a coach is difficult, not to mention buying out assistants and the money needed to bring in a new coach and staff.

But things move quick in the college football world too. We’ve already seen Arkansas and Florida in the SEC fire their coaches for underwhelming performances, not to mention other big-name programs across the country like Penn State, Virginia Tech, and UCLA.

Hugh Freeze likely will soon be out at Auburn, although he likely saved himself with that win over Arkansas, and who knows what’s going to happen at LSU.

The Mark Stoops era at Kentucky is effectively over. The image of Kroger Field with orange everywhere while Kentucky fans left the stadium dejected, shaking their heads —not booing — gave a visual to the finality of the situation.

Who knows what Mitch Barnhart will do. Personally, I don’t see Barnhart getting rid of Stoops mid-season, but it’s also hard to see this getting much better this season. Sure, Auburn and Florida are technically winnable games, but does anyone feel optimistic going into those games? That upcoming game against Vanderbilt is full of embarrassment potential, and I think it’s possible the crowd for the last home game against Tennessee Tech could be abysmal.

In an ideal world, Stoops and the administration could come to an agreement on a negotiated buyout that allows for a clean separation between the two, but who knows what’s ahead. Regardless, the morale among the fan base is the lowest it’s been in a long time.