KSR Goes LIVE to talk Future of Mark Stoops & Kentucky Football | KSR Special

KSR’s Matt Jones, Nick Roush, and Adam Luckett alongside Rivals’ Justin Rowland go live to discuss the latest news on Mark Stoops and the future of Kentucky football.

way for us to see chat and all that or no? Okay, so we are live. We are live. All right. Well, let’s give people a minute to get in here. Um, thank you guys very much for doing this. Uh, we got Justin, Adam, Nick. I think this is the first time, guys. Well, I know this the first time I’ve done one of these with Justin, and I haven’t done one of these even with Adam and Nick before. So, uh, I thought I’d bring all the heavy hitters in. Thank you guys for doing it. Yeah. Exciting. Thanks, man. All right. So, let’s just start with this. Um, I’ll start with you, Justin, and then we’ll go Nick and Adam. Just in terms, and I’ll I’ll go last. Just in terms of kind of what you’re hearing today, uh, as opposed to where it was a week ago. If if someone were to go, okay, I haven’t been keeping up. Where are things with Mark Stoop’s future with UK today? Justin, you start. Where would you What would you say? I think that the guy that’s ultimately gonna make the decision is Mitch Barnhart, but I feel like real I don’t want to say pressure, but a green light has been given that if he were to want to make a move, I feel like he would have the support to make that happen. And as to whether he’s going to or not or whether those people would then try to encourage him more strongly to make a move, I think that’s that’s where things probably stand right now. Probably a lot on Mitch Barnhart. Um, but I would caution that have support. Do you mean the money for the buyout? I think the money, but also the board. You know, I I and I I heard somebody say that that the board of trustees might have greenlighted Mitch to make a move, but when I pressed, is that the board of trustees for the university or is that the Champions Blue voting board that has seven people on it that Eric Monday is reportedly pretty influential on? They thought it was probably more likely that because there’s a lot of people on the board of trustees that don’t have anything to do with athletics. So, I think that the higherups, generally speaking, are okay with a move if that’s the direction that Mitch wants to go in. Um, and we’re just going to have to wait and see. All right. What about Adam? Then, Nick, I would just I wouldn’t look it go, but I think it’s kind of funny that a previously scheduled board of trustees meeting is in place for tomorrow. And um when we and that was already scheduled. I think that’s important to say. It was already Yes. Yes, that was already scheduled, but I think the timing is funny. And the other part too is uh they’re having the selection show for volleyball tonight at 6. Yeah, that’s true. Mitch normally sometimes speaks at that. I guess I I bet he won’t tonight. Yeah, like that’s normally like the great little puff piece. Like I I I have a feeling he’ll want to stay away from that selection for right now. Uh Adam, yeah, I think Kentucky leaves the Tennessee game. They’re two and six, two and five, whatever they were. I think there was a lot of like uhoh, we might have to make a change. Then I think he won the Auburn and Tennessee game. Then I think they entered we’re in safe mode. I think they got caught flatfooted here with these last two games. And I think it’s created a situation where Mitch Barnhart leaves that stadium yesterday and he’s he’s got to talk to people. And so what I think’s happened like probably last night and today is him having these conversations and it’s figuring out where we are, if we need to move on, how are we getting this money, how are we paying it, and there’s a lot of moving parts, but I think like I don’t think they had their ducks in a row for this. I don’t think they had it planned that they were going to get blasted 89 to six over the last two games and that’s kind of created a situation for them. Oh, Matt’s on mute. Oh, wait. We lost Matt’s mute. Oh, no. That’s not a deal. No, you didn’t. I’m right here. Okay, now we can hear you. There we go. The whole time. What happened? All right. I’m sorry if I if I lost everybody. Uh, okay. So, I I’m going to summarize like 10 different sources into what I think actually happened, but knowing that like not everybody’s always says the same thing. So, I think after they were two and five, uh, the assumption was, and if anybody disagrees with any of this, feel free to jump in. I won’t take it personally, okay? I think after they were two and five, I think the assumption from everybody involved is this is likely over and we need to start figuring out how this is going to end. Would everybody agree with that? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Agree. Then then I think when when they won the next three there was a sense of okay five and five disaster averted. As long as we’re like we’d love to win one of these but as long as we still like as long we don’t get blown out twice we’re probably bringing him back regardless. Does everybody agree with that? Yes. Yeah. I think so. That was most likely. Yeah. And then we get blown out twice. And there are a couple of people who I think are very influential who always wanted Stoops to stay. And at two and five were like, “What in the world are we going to do?” And then five and five took a deep breath. And I actually talked to a couple of those uh people close to those people last night and like I sort of said, “Do you think he still survives this?” And they were like, “What? Well, I mean we that decision’s been made, right?” Um, and then all of a sudden the reality of you got flopped twice uh hits everybody. I think as Justin said, there are some folks, and we’ll be interested to see if we ever find out who this is. I mean, I know at least one, but it’d be interested to see if they ever come out kind of publicly that said, “Hey, wait a minute. This now there has to be a change.” And Mitch, who I think is hoping to keep him, I would say almost solely for financial reasons, um, is now left with having to make a decision. And I agree with Justin, they’re a little bit flatfooted in the sense of the decision they’d kind of been made. And I don’t think anybody foresaw what happened yesterday. Yeah. If you I do I I don’t think I think the staff thought they’d win, but I think if they thought if they’d lose it’d be like a field goal. I don’t think anybody saw that happening. Does anybody disagree with any of that sentiment I just said? No. And I I I don’t know if the other staff thought they were going to win like that either. Um it in my mind, I can tell you I know one of them and I know they didn’t think it was going to be like that. The the thing was is so like essentially the conversation we’re having is about having your ducks in a row behind the scenes. And from what I gathered is after they won those games, instead of gearing up for a coaching search, Stoops and Barnhart were kind of gearing up for a negotiation, right? Like this was going to be a a deal where Stoops was going to come to the table. It’s it’s what Mitch said after his last uh board of Champions Blue meeting was, “Hey, we do what we do after every year. We have a conversation. Conversations are had. We see where we’re at and we go from there.” And I think Stroops was ready to go to the table and he was wanting to ask for more money for his roster, right? Because if he’s going to win games, he needs as much money as possible to be able to buy a roster that’s worth living. And I think in Barnhart’s mind, it was going to be, well, what what do I negotiate to give him that? Like, what’s the care I give him out there? And I don’t know if it was going to be to try to do the buyout. I don’t know if it was going to try to be for him to get a general manager to make more decisions that’s like a real general manager. I I think that was the most likely outcome regardless because I don’t know that Mark Stops ever had any leverage on any of those. Let me ask you, I’ll start with you, Justin. Do you think there’s any chance like do you think Mark Stops I know he wants his $37 million. Do you think he wants to be the coach at Kentucky next year? Does he want to coach football? I I’m going into the territory. I’m speculating. Don’t take I’m not saying this is coming from Mark or anything like that, but I I think we all know that he has he’s looked miserable for a while now, right? And there have been es and flows, but he’s looked really frustrated and unhappy and he has coexisted with the public narrative that has been swirling around him and he’s blocked it out. But when when the topic comes up, he’s very defensive. He’s very adamant. He everything I’ve heard is he is adamant he’s going to get his money. But earlier in the season, there was a point at which I think he might have been more flexible on how those details happen. Another thing that that I’ve heard is Mitch, and I’m not putting words in his mouth either, but somebody reached out to me today and said that he knows that a change is going to have to happen in the near future, but does he want that to fall to the next person? and some of the mess and some of the toxic crap that goes into that getting an SEC football coach out. Does he want to put that on the next guy right after he’s gone and have them start out or would he or you know if he makes the hire then that’s a very different situation for the athletics director that comes in after him. Yeah. And I think it’s also a question of do they already know who the hire for the new AD is going to be? Because if the new if the hire for the new AD is in the building and they’re helping you pick the new coach, um I in my opinion, I’d be shocked if Mitch Barnhart’s the AD when football season kicks off next year. I’m not going to say it’s impossible, but I think it is very unlikely he is the AD next year. I think there might be some talk. I think this is the worst time to hire a coach if you already know you’re probably going to step away. So, I think that’s part of it as well. Let’s talk about what is actually going on right now. I can tell you one thing I know is happening today. And if anybody else knows anything for sure that’s happening right now. I know that Mitch has solicited opinions from the from some of the administration above him and from some donors about what they think they should do for the future. Uh these are opinions I would have suggested maybe should have been gotten two weeks ago, but I think they thought they could put this to bed uh when they beat Florida. So, I know those conversations are happening. I’m certain of it. They’re probably happening as we’re talking. They might even be watching. And hello, if if uh if you are, but does anybody else know anything like definitive, you know, this is happening? Not that I know. Somebody Somebody has reached out and said they expect Mitch to make some kind of statement today. I did hear that. Here’s what I heard. If he’s coming back for sure, we likely hear tonight. And if there’s a if the o if a possibility of leaving is still out there, it goes into tomorrow. Does anybody um does anybody disagree with that? I have have not heard, but in these situations, specifically with the calendar, they have to just make a decision, put it out there, and go. They just have to go. So whether it’s keep him, let him go, you know, it can’t get past really, it can’t get past today. And if you leak in the money, it cannot get past. I would say if he’s definitely coming back, like if there’s 100% support, no chance he leaves, you find out tonight. If I go to bed tonight, if heck, if we get to I said, “Heck, if we get to 8:30 and there’s not a statement, then I think it’s really about Nick at that point, who wins the backstage conversations?” Because at that, there’s no way they let everybody go to bed tonight, if he’s definitely coming back and they don’t say something. Would you agree with that? Yeah, because I mean to Lett’s point, I know a lot of the frustration, a lot of the reason why people are ready to move on is because you look at what everybody else is doing, whether it’s Vandy, Indiana, you know, you see Florida hiring summer. You we saw what happened this morning, right? Like it it’s chaos in the SEC. I don’t think I think that tier of coaches like I don’t know what you all think like I think all those things that just happened were going to happen no matter what. Now, there’s going to be other jobs come open and there’s going to be like a second process. And honestly, I don’t know if it makes a ton of difference if it’s tonight, Monday, or Tuesday to start that process because you probably weren’t getting any of these guys, Justin, that they were talk that got jobs right now anyway. Right. I think they have more good plausible candidates than they would than they’ve ever had before. Me, too. And not only that, but when you look at the sport as a coach, this is the moment when you’re like, heck yeah, I can go to Kentucky and do something. That’s everybody else is doing it. So, you know, you look at the guys that have been floated and and it’s pointless to talk about names until we know about Stoops. But I start thinking Will Stein, Dan Mullen, the names that are floated, who are you going after if you’re committing to pay 35 plus million dollars? Are you paying $35 plus million dollars to buy out the winningest coach in your school’s history to hire a 36-year-old offensive coordinator who has only ever been at a massive talent advantage relative to the teams he’s played against? Oh, you don’t sound like a pro Will Stein guy. I I I would I would get on board and certainly give him a chance to prove to me that he’s the right guy. And the fact that he has that job says something. You don’t become Oregon’s offensive coordinator unless you’re very well regarded, but it leaves a lot to the imagination when you have somebody out there. Yeah, I’m big time pro Wilstein. Yeah. Uh you seem more hesitant. Well, let me ask you a question, Justin, because Nick and Adam, I think you guys are pro Wilstein. Am I right? That’s fair. Yeah. Yeah. There’s there’s some infrastructure questions they’re going to have to address. most notably front office and how they structure this no matter who the coach is moving forward that I’m curious and that I think could put the coach at a disadvantage if they don’t hit it right but I think Stein as a target to me he’s a year away from being a Penn State target from being a Florida target from being Michigan target whatever but Kentucky they have to be early to market on these guys they do so so you’ve got to take a swing and if you miss, you fire him in three years and you go take another swing. Um, that’s kind of how you have to look at it in my opinion. Justin, let’s say you were the AD. Let’s say the job comes open. Well, let’s actually start. If you were the AD with the set of circumstances as it is today, would you get rid of Mark Stops? Yeah. Yeah, I’ I’d get rid of I’d probably move on from Stoops and go hire people don’t want to hear it. I would be I think Mullen makes a ton of sense, but I’d probably try Dan Mullen. I I try to hire Brian Kelly. Matt, I’d try to hire Brian Kelly, but Dan Mullen would be really good as well. So, yeah. So, so let’s say you could have either of those guys. Who would you take? I would Kelly would be at the very top, but I think Mullen would definitely take the job. And Mississippi State is as close to to an exact scenario that Kentucky is going to be in anyways. And then you throw on that he did have good teams at Florida and he’s winning against the odds at UNLV right away and and so he just checks a ton of the boxes and it would be like wow like Kentucky really turned that guy down. They went in a different direction. I would be surprised but you know Mitch has surprised before Nick uh Adam Brian Kelly and uh uh Brian Kelly and Dan Mowen Paul. So I I I you have to look personality fit um with hey who’s Mitch Barnhart going to hire, right? Like we probably didn’t have Mark Pope high enough on our list because of the personality fit. Yeah. So for me, Kelly is immediately out for that reason alone. And Mullen’s tricky because a the Mississippi State success was pre NIL and I mean I know he took three years off. Now he’s in Vegas. It matters there but it doesn’t matter as much. H you know like that that part worries me. But the other part is Scott Strickland and like will Scott Strickland give Mitch who used to work for Mitch. Will he give Dan a Dan Mullen stamp of approval? Like I don’t I don’t know how I know things got ugly with Mullen and the fan base at the end of Florida because of that recruiting line and all that stuff, but I I don’t know what it was right with Strickland. Um but I’m more of the favor of like, hey, take a shot on somebody instead of a retread hire because like I know Rich Brooks worked out, but it took a lot to get there, right? And they took a stop. you, Adam. I’m pretty against retreads most form of fashion for Kentucky. I think this is a job for an ascending coach. I think for Kentucky, you have to look at it like we have a chance to hit big here. Mhm. So, you’ve got to be willing to take a big swing, I think. And unlike in the past, Adam, you can hit it big with a young assistant and you can keep them. used to be if you got somebody like that the moment they had a chance they’d leave and now we’ve seen that Kurt Signetti stayed and Clark Lee stayed and all these guys will actually stay whereas I don’t think they used to do that laying aside I think there’s a void in the market for coordinators right now because everyone wants head coaching experience because of everything the job requires. So I think for Kentucky you’re add a little you’re adding value to your process if you’re willing to hire um a coordinator there. I think Mullen like I think you can really when you draw it out it makes a ton of sense on paper. He was at a Mississippi State. He knows he knows the league very well. He did as well as anyone in Florida since Urban Meyer. It kind of went away from him. But the we the reasons it got away from him aren’t reasons it wouldn’t work now. It was basically just recruiting that high school recruiting thing, which is less important at a place like Kentucky than it is is going to be at a Florida or an LSU or or whatever. So, I think there’s there’s reasons to believe there. I just don’t I I like the high upside swing more in this situation, I think, for Kentucky. They don’t need they don’t need to swing low and just let’s be competitive. Let’s go seven and five. Yeah, we just got like 15 minutes, so I want to go through some quick question. If you have questions, put them in the chat. I don’t know how that works. Stephen says he’ll uh he’ll put something up. Let’s do this. We always talk about who makes these decisions. Let’s talk specific names. All right. So, who are the people that you think are on these phone conversations today? Okay. So, because I think a lot of people don’t even know who these people are, especially people that are probably watching this. All right. So, Mitch Barnhard is one. I think it’s fair to say Mark Hill, who’s the assistant AD, and Rachel Baker, who’s the assistant AD, are probably part of it. Mo most people might not even know who those two people are, but I think they are certainly part of this. Then there’s this new name that we all learned, at least I learned a few months ago, Eric Monday, who’s likely to be the next president of the University of Kentucky. I think that probably happens in the next year or two as well. He has a big role. Then there will donors. I don’t like mentioning individual donors because a lot of these people have private lives. I think the crafts you have to mention just because people, you know, their names on things so people know that the crafts exist. Do you think there are other people guys that are part of this? And if and you don’t have to say their names. As a matter of fact, if they’re private donors, I don’t really think you should. But Justin, do you think there are other people besides those people I mentioned that will play a big role in the next however many hours in making that decision? Yeah, people just Google the Champions Blue Club, the president’s inner circle for dealing with athletics. Those vote seven voting members, and Mitch is is on in that group, but he’s not a voting member. They would definitely be important. And whichever way Monday wants to go, I would say um that’s going to be pretty influential. But as far as the donors, I mean, I no, not poo pooing anybody else, but I think the crafts are the donors that would be, you know, the ones that would come in and have the clout to move it from one place to another. That’s that’s what I would say about that. I would say this about and I I would never speak for them. Um, but I they will not be I would I would be shocked if they were the people who moved him out. I’m not saying they would keep him from like I’m not saying like they’re going to lay on the tracks, but this is not like th this will not be pushed by them. I would be shocked if that were the case. So I’m saying so if it’s going to be pushed by somebody, I don’t think it’s going to be them. And I don’t think it’s gonna be Mitch Barnhard. So it’s got to be somebody else. And let’s remember Rachel Baker and Mark Hill work for Mitch Barnhard. So it’s probably not gonna be them. So you’re talking about, let me read you the Champions Blue board just for for people to know. Eli Capaludo, Eric Monday, George Wright, he’s an adviser to the university. Rob Edwards. Um and then there are Jacob Tammy, former UK player. Shannon Arvin, that’s the president of Keeland. Um Chris Prindeville, that’s the vice former vice president of fanatics. Oddly, I met with that guy when I was doing my um deals trying to figure out who I was going to do gambling with. He was in that meeting and I don’t know how he ended up on this uh thing. Also, non voting members Mitch Barnhart and Paul Archie from JMI. I think JMI is relevant but not really because they got to they like they just got to make their money back. So I I So it’s interesting that the president of Keeland, Jacob Tammy, and the Fanatics guy. That’s interesting to me. Like those are the three nonUK people involved. Nick, Adam. Um I do want to say when they hired Stoops, Mitch brought Tim Couch in. Tim Couch was a big part of that search. Big part of it. Yeah. So I think Tammy is positioned there. Yeah. I haven’t heard this, but I think he’s positioned to play a role here. It’s fascinating like Jacob Tammy like you know who know Jacob Tammy just online’s been very critical before this role okay of play calling and decision making now he he hadn’t said anything since he joined champions blue but you go back to before that he was one of the former players very much sort of like what are we doing on stuff just that’s an interesting thing but go ahead Nick I would just say that Mark Hill is probably Stoops’s greatest ad admin ally in the building Um, that’s worth noting. And and like I said, I wouldn’t speak for him either, but all the impressions I’ve gotten from Joe Craft, Kelly LLC is that they are not in the business of paying for buyouts. They’re in the business of NIL players and buildings. Um, so I I I’ve always thought if that if Kentucky was going to have to do this buyout, it was going to be without Mark Stoops is probably greatest funding ally as well. I think it’s easy for people when it comes to the crafts, I think it’s easy for people to sort of demonize them for like the fact that they were very involved in politics and and and all that. And look, I couldn’t be more again opposed to most their politics, but I’ll say this about the two of them in my dealings with them. They really do care about the University of Kentucky. They really do care about University of Kentucky athletics, especially Joe. And like I agree with you, they are not in the business of like just spending money for the sake of doing it, but they want to do what matters, what they think matters for the university. And I’ll even go further. They I think because they both came from small town, like they kind of want to know what BBN thinks. I’m not saying please don’t like reach out to them. I don’t think that would help. But I’m just saying to you, I it’s very easy to demonize them. And I’ll just tell you this, if we didn’t have them, we wouldn’t have even had programs the last few years. Like Justin, I mean, you know that like we wouldn’t have had, forget about football program, basketball program, like wouldn’t be anything. I mean, you there’s things you can say about anybody. And if you talk about politics, there’s anything you could say. But you take the crafts out of the situation and you don’t want to know the place that Kucky’s going to be in. And Auburn would be much better off if their boosters behaved like the Crafts than the way their boosters do behave. and the crafts they’re they’re not going to push this on Stoops. I wouldn’t assume, but I do think there could be kind of if it gets to that in negotiations, a wink and a nod from Stoops where he says, “Okay, I’m okay if you guys get involved.” So, I could definitely see that. And remember, they got involved in football because of Mark Stoops. Yeah. They did not give money in football until Mark Stoops. Um, so you know that for what that’s worth. All right. So, let’s make if you have questions, put them. I know we Stephen, there have to be questions. There’s 10,000 plus people on here. Someone has to have written a question. So, throw some uh explain the JMI deal and the reservation, its ability to work. Love this question. Let me do it quickly and then Justin, I want your take on it. Uh we’ll just kind of as questions go around. JMI is now technically in charge of NIL. I hate it. Um, like not cuz it won’t work, but like I don’t know what experience they have in doing that. You know, they kind of think that’s the future. The university and its partner kind of do all the NIL rather than having private collectives do it. My thing about the private collective, Justin, is that like those were business people and they were used to negotiating contracts. And in the case of basketball, our guy was used to negotiating with agents because he was a money manager and they knew what they were doing. And I don’t know if you get these people who are doing something else and all of a sudden have them sitting in rooms with high school kids and agents. I don’t know how that’s going to work. What do you think? Whatever football says about it, they got to be on board with it now. But that I understood that Mark and Vince fought them about bringing NIL in-house with JMI for a for an extensive period of time. And the reason was it was the other collectives that were actually getting guys paid. And so when UK is trying to bring it in in house with JMI, but it’s these other people that are feeling like they’re getting cut out and they’re the ones that are producing the results. That’s one thing like a lot of these people with the collectives there was kind of this not they didn’t people didn’t trust them like what’s their angle? Are they shady characters? But those they came with serious resumes and credentials and they were doing good work. And you hear some of the names Kentucky almost brought in from the portal. So like that infrastructure is in place and UK just needs to gain trust with the JMI thing because that’s the context. They in the football program did not trust the effort to bring it in house with JMI. So they’re going to have to produce results in order for people to buy in. I am very skeptical about the JMI and I don’t think I hope I’m wrong Adam. I want it to work, but I I don’t know. If the score act does not get passed, I worry they’re in deep deep deep trouble. I hate the score act, but that’s what they’re baking on. That that is what they’re baking on. What’s crazy about the score act, and that’s a whole another conversation, is that that started as a way for the ACC and Big 12 to catch up moneywise to the SEC and Big 10. They wanted to pull the the the TV rights so the SEC and Big 10 did not make as much money, but it has now evolved into this act. I literally was talking with a congressman from out of state LA yesterday about it. It has now evolved into something else, which is basically colleges trying to restrict NIL. And the problem is it’s gonna be a hard time passing it. But what’s interesting is initially the SEC opposed it because it was taking away their advantage. And then because of Mitch Barnhart, the SEC is now for it. And the SEC is trying to flip it. Mitch Barnhart has like completely flipped the SEC’s position and it’s for the reason Adam’s talking about and again it’s a perfect example of Mitch like it’s your personal belief but but in the short term you’re right. We there’s no reason there’s no reason to have that all in house right now. Zero. It’s not gonna work. Go ahead, Nick. Yeah, I I was just gonna say that they’re the only ones doing that right now. It makes sense that like you don’t need to. They put the car before the horse for no reason. And um I I just realized that this happened right before we went live. But um man, it’s it’s heartbreaking that Kentucky lost one of the Jok commits, Deari Williams, who committed like two days ago and now he’s decommitted. So, uh, well, that’s interesting though, cuz he just committed two days ago. Yeah. Yeah. Just just committed and that Jo push. I mean, like if you committed to a staff Yeah. I mean, two days. That’s interesting. Now, maybe he just didn’t like what he saw in the Louisville game. I don’t know. But, uh, you know, maybe maybe as we kind of uh round this in circle, maybe we kind of do the hypotheticals one way or another because Well, no. Wait a minute. I’m going to end with everybody predicting what’s going Okay. Okay. So, let’s hang on. Uh, what names besides Stein, Heartline, and Mullen would get you most excited? So, this is more like a who are the people out there, and all three of you will know this better than me. Who are the people out there that we don’t know their names that you think would be good head coaches? Justin, you lead? There’s a lot. I mean, you just look the Big 12 and the ACC. First off, you can say, could a could a coach realistically take two million more a year to come into the SEC as it’s going to professional route with the Big 10 in the SEC? Maybe you could make that pitch. I said Brian Kelly, you know, there there’s amp number of guys like that. Sim similar situation to James Franklin. I know Adam’s kind of against the retreads. Um yeah, I I I would be more focused on Dan Mullen. That’s my my personal belief is that he checks so many boxes it would be unwise to let him get away. Adam, is there some random ass coach or coordinator that you know? Let me get one before you do Lucket because I’m sure you’ve got more. Kane Wmach is the Alabama defensive coordinator. He was at Indiana with Dbor and then he was big rivals with Summerall when Summerall was at Troy. Wach was the He’s defensive minded coach. He was at South Alabama and then when Dbor got the job at Alabama, he’s like, “Ah, this G5 thing’s hard. Let me go back to being a defensive coordinator.” He was the head coach at South Alabama. He was and he’s been Dbor’s defensive coordinator for the last two years. So m maybe he’s ready for the step up. You just saw Pete Golding get uh promoted. So that that that one I think would be on the short list. Adam, ask whoever recommended Liam Cohen. Ask whoever recommended Cohen. There you go. I mean, you remember how that worked, Mark? Yeah, he was he was good. But go ahead, Adam. You go back to last year, North Carolina had their search. The three finalists were John Summerall, Tommy Reese, and Glenn Schuman before Bellichic. I don’t know who those people are. Glenn Schuman’s Georgia’s defensive coordinator. Kirby Smart hired him when he was 24 years old to be a full-time coach at Georgia. He’s been their defensive coordinator last three years, 35 years old. Tommy Ree was with Notre Dame with Brian Kelly, became Brian Kelly’s offensive coordinator at 28 years old. Then Nick Sabin hired him, was there, and then he was kind of out of a job. He’s with the Browns right now, but it sounds like he’s going to be interested to come back to college potentially. Those are two young ascending coaches who have checked a lot of boxes and have been ahead of the curve I think um just in their career arc that I think would be interested in a job like Kentucky. Let’s do one more question and then I’m going to get everybody to make a prediction. What’s the last question there? Uh Stephen, you got something? See, I can’t see the question, so I have no way of know. Um here we go. With the crafty more lane to support, they have a hand in supporting front office development. They don’t want to do any of that. They don’t they they Again, this is part of why I give them a lot of respect. They they are not meddlers at all. They are not they they I know when when they hired Mark Pope, the last person that was talked to was them. They were not given names. They were not like they I think this is what I think makes them such good donors for the university. They write the check, but they don’t get in the mess. and Justin, Adam, Nick, like that’s not something other donors do, right? And I think that I that’s part of why I have a lot of respect for the way they handle it to be honest with you. Generally speaking, do we think that a front office element is required? Yes. No matter if Yeah. Okay. I’m kind of with you with that no matter what they need to hire GM. Yeah. Yes. Yes. And there’s a guy who played at Kentucky named Champ Kelly who’s bounced around the NFL who’s going to be without a job here because he’s a Dolphins interim GM. They’re gonna hire a new GM. What Florida just did was basically go hire the Eagles number three. Um Dave Cwell who had ties to Florida. That’s that that guy is right there like potentially someone they could get. It’s right there. Justin, I you know, I think it’s important to do that because it seems like everybody else is doing that, but I know Bill Bichc came into North Carolina promising this massive NFL operation and what does that look like now? So, I mean, as long as you have good talented people, I don’t know if the titles and the actual organization matters a whole lot, but yeah, that’s the era we’re in. They’re going to have a GM. We don’t know who. Um, but I thought they did a good job of evaluating and and trying to get guys out of the portal this last year. I think it’s they’re just going against momentum. a new guy gives the momentum going in the other direction. Uh, does Barnhart and the rest of the admin understand how upset the fans are? Um, no, but now they do. Uh, I think I think a consistent theme of the of the Barnhard era is they they look the other way and then all of a sudden they’re like, whoa, where’d y’all come from? And I think there’s like and I I think that in some ways that has happened. I think a lot of people started getting phone calls yesterday evening that they did not expect to come and uh that makes it a little clueless. I saw an online poll. Granted, I do not believe in online polls. I don’t think they’re representative, but it was do you want to see UK make a change? And it was 946. Now, I don’t think that’s representative, but it also ain’t nothing when it’s 946, right? Like that’s that’s something. All right. I’m going to start with you, Nick, and then go around Nick, Adam, then Justin, and I’ll finish. Tuesday. Who is the coach of the University of K? Well, is Mark Stops the coach? I uh I I’m ready for a change, but I’m pessimistic. I I said it in a mini meltdown earlier. I think when given the chance, Mitch Barnhard would prefer to do nothing rather than something. That’s been the case for a very long time now because he’s been the athletic director for a very long time. I think he would prefer doing some sort of reinvestment strategy. Says we’re going to get a GM. We’re going to put money in NIL. We’re going to give Mark one more chance. Even though I I don’t think it’s the right idea. I don’t think it’s the best idea, but I think that’s the one he’s going to he’s going to do. So, you think he will be the coach? I think Stoops is staying. Yeah. All right, Adam. I think we’re covering a coaching search on Tuesday. I think it’s very close to 5050 decision for Barnhart. I actually think his gut will be to want to keep him, but I think there’s going to all this push back. And I think Matt, when you write this stuff out on paper, and when you start going down, okay, we owe this, this, and this, you’re not saving really anything if you bring them back. I just think you’ve got it’s and it’s reached the point where I think it’s just a hard cell and it’s how do you even get the fans back after after what just happened these last two games? So, I think they move on and we’re we’re covering a coaching search. I think reluctantly Mitch doesn’t. It’ll be a little out of character move for him, but I I think when push comes to shove, they’re gonna have to rip the band-aid off. Justin, I’m with you. They got seven expiring assistant coach contracts. You got to fill out your staff that you got a Jo decommitting and that’s like the lynch pin of your strategy down the stretch. Donors are going to be reluctant to give because what’s the return been the last few years? I just objectively looking at the circumstances any other SEC athletics department would make the move. at Kentucky. I understand the reluctance to open up the pocketbook because you’re basically resourcing two power conference football programs at UK and maybe North Carolina, a couple other places that’s the case for. So, it’s always going to be really hard. But, I just don’t think they can get away with running it back. It’s just been too bad for too long. And and you can’t keep kicking the can down the road and telling the football fans just to eat it when they had to deal with mediocrity and lack of investment for so many decades. This would set the program and the perception of the program back a really long time if he essentially said you guys just have to eat it for another year. So you think gone? I think he’s gone. Yeah. All right. So I I think if So when I was on Matt and Myin at like 10:00 a.m. we’re about to start and Myin says, “Will Mark Stops be the coach next year?” And I said, “I kind of think yes, but I don’t know. I think it’s close.” Every hour that goes by that there is not an announcement makes me think it’s more and more likely something’s happening because if you were gonna bring him back, what are you waiting on? Like what are you waiting? Like nothing’s changing. If you’re going to bring him back and they’re sometimes tonedeaf, but they know I mean they know we’re doing this like they know they need to like stop the conversation. I now am leaning towards joining Justin and Adam and thinking something’s going to happen. Now that’s that’s not scoop. That’s just knowing the mindset of how they think. And if we get to let’s just say nine o’clock because they ain’t going to I don’t think they’re going to release anything after 7 or 7:30. If we get to after that Okay, so the volleyball thing’s part of it. So because Mitch has got to probably say something because they’re hosting volleyball, right? because they they’re going to host. Yeah. For throughout the first round. So, let’s get through the volleyball, let them have their moment. And if we don’t hear anything after that, then I think tomorrow’s going to be a busy day. That’s just my That’s just my take, but we’ll find out. Uh Nick is the pessimist. Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it. Depends on how you look at it. Depends on how you look at it. Hey, first thank you guys very much for doing this. I hope uh you know Justin is now part of uh of Rivals is now kind of paired with on three. So hopefully we can do more of this kind of stuff. And uh guys, thanks for popping in on a s Sunday afternoon. Thanks a lot guys. Good to see you. Good luck everyone. Yeah. All right. Buck in everyone. Stay sane. [Music]