Mark Stoops aiming to rediscover Kentucky’s blue collar culture
After 4-8 season ended the program's eight year bowl game streak
Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops looks to the Jumbtron during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Tennessee, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, in Knoxville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)
LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW)- Even after the transfer portal dust settled, Mark Stoops still feels like his job hasn’t slowed down.
“It feels like we have not stopped,” said Stoops. “It has been a hectic time. I will tell you, it feels like our feet have not hit the ground.”
31 new players are in the building preparing for Kentucky’s next season. 20 players are from the transfer portal and 11 are from high school.
They all make up the 24th ranked recruiting class in the nation according to 247 Sports.
While Stoops acknowledged that portal and high school recruitment has made his team better skill-wise, the biggest emphasis is culturally.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with what they have done thus far and just the attitude that they have had in the weight room, attacking the weight room, the first segment. We just had our first fourth-quarter program where we are pushing them mentally and physically,” said Stoops.
Since the day after UK’s loss to Louisville at home, Stoops and Company have been working to turn the team around. The ending of an eight game bowl game streak is fresh in everyone’s minds after a 4-8 record in 2024.
Stoops puts the culture crisis on his shoulders and says his staff has been working on reinvesting time into the players by teaching them about accountability and brotherhood.
A visual representation of rebuilding Kentucky’s culture has been in the weight room where players have been photographed wearing tee-shirts with the words “Blue Collar,” on the front of them.
“I think it is very important to be very upfront with them, be very clear, define what we’re looking for and hold them to those expectations and them holding themselves to the standards that we set for them,” said Stoops.
Kentucky opens the 2025 football season at home versus Toledo on Saturday, August 30.
