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Mark Stoops, Head Football Coach, University of Kentucky – Aug. 8th

Posted on Aug 7, 2019

LEXINGTON, KY – The Rotary Club of Lexington held its weekly meeting Thursday, August 8th.  at the Red Mile, 1200 Red Mile Road. The program’s guest speaker was University of Kentucky’s head football coach Mark Stoops.

COACH MARK STOOPS
Last year’s Football Wildcats set the tone for the year on September 8 when Stoops’ troops won at Florida — the Wildcats’ first victory over
the Gators in 32 years — resulting in UK being named the National Team of the Week by the Football Writers Association of America.
By the end of the season Stoops had “put together a masterpiece. Ten wins, a victory over Florida for the first time since 1986, a 46-point blowout over Louisville, and a Citrus Bowl win over Penn State – it was a special coaching job,” wrote Pete Fiutak
of CollegeFootballNews.com, who put Mark Stoops atop his list of the nation’s best coaching performances of the 2018 season. All totaled, the 10-3 record was Kentucky’s best season in 41 years and only the third 10-win season in school history. UK was Number 11 in the final USA Today coaches’ poll and Number 12 in the final Associated Press tabulation, the school’s first appearance in the final rankings since 1984.
Stoops was well-recognized for
Kentucky’s breakthrough season. In addition to the Number 1 listing from CollegeFootballNews.com, he was named SEC Coach of the Year by the league coaches, Athlon Sports, and The Associated Press. His name also appeared on watch lists for National Coach of the Year honors.
Stoops’ individual accolades also
extended to his players. Linebacker Josh Allen earned three National Defensive Player of the Year Awards and was a unanimous first-team All-American. Offensive guard Bunchy Stallings also was a first-team All-American, and running back Benny Snell earned second-team All-America while becoming UK’s all-time leading rusher.
The 2018 season continued a remarkable trend – since Stoops took over as coach of the Cats in 2013, UK is the only school in the nation that has tied or improved its win total in each of the last six seasons.
True to his blue-collar roots in Youngstown, Ohio, the methodical advancement made by Stoops’ teams is a reflection of the coach’s rock-steady work ethic, tireless recruiting, and ability to adapt.
Stoops’ ability to adjust when necessary shone its brightest at
the beginning of the 2016 season. After losing the first two games of the schedule and seeing his starting quarterback out for the season with an injury and seeing his defense struggle in the early stages, Stoops didn’t retreat. The Wildcat coach chose determination over despair and went back to work, revising the offense for a new quarterback while becoming more involved in helping coach the defense.
This year brings Coach Stoops a whole new set of challenges as he deals with the loss of Josh Allen, Benny Snell and 12 other starters from last year’s squad. On Thursday he’ll tell us how he plans to adapt.
–Adapted from UKAthletics.com

 

For additional information, or to attend this meeting, please contact Peggy Trafton at [email protected]. 

401 West Main Street • Suite 305 • Lexington, KY 40507 • (859) 389-8100

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