Kentucky has had solely 4 double-digit win seasons in virtually 150 years of soccer. Mark Stoops produced two of them, however on Sunday, he was fired after going 9-15 the previous two years on the tail finish of 13 seasons in Lexington.
Stoops leaves behind a bottom-half-of-the-SEC job, nevertheless it’s nonetheless an SEC teaching job, and meaning large assets and a much bigger price range. We’ve heard this one might be tempting for some sitting head coaches, particularly for the reason that pool of Energy 4 vacancies has rapidly dried up other than Penn State.
One Energy 4 man who is likely to be intrigued by Kentucky is Georgia Tech’s Brent Key. Sure, the 47-year-old is teaching at his alma mater, however it may be argued that any job within the SEC is a much bigger job than Georgia Tech’s. Key spent three years within the SEC at Alabama working for Nick Saban. He’s completed glorious work at Tech since incomes the job after a formidable run because the interim head coach. He’s 27-19 in 4 years and is having his greatest season but at 9-3. His groups are all the time bodily and well-coached. They’ve given arch-rival Georgia all it may deal with in every of the previous two seasons. Don’t be shocked if Kentucky makes a run at Key.
UNLV’s Dan Mullen has already confirmed he can win at a troublesome job within the SEC. In 9 seasons at Mississippi State, he went 69-46 with two Prime-25 finishes. He left Starkville for Florida, the place he had three top-15 finishes in 4 seasons, however the backside dropped out quick in 2021, and he bought fired. After a number of years on TV at ESPN, Mullen has completed properly in his first season at UNLV, with a 10-2 document and a berth within the Mountain West title sport. He’s a great offensive coach who would possibly make some sense for the Cats.
Two former head coaches to control are Alabama defensive coordinator Kane Wommack and Texas particular assistant to the pinnacle coach Neal Brown.
The 38-year-old Wommack has a giant character and has completed an excellent job because the Tide’s DC after a powerful run as the pinnacle coach at South Alabama (22-16 in three years). This system was 9-26 within the three seasons earlier than he took over. He most likely wouldn’t depart Alabama for simply any FBS head teaching job, however that is an SEC job and he’d possible have a tough time saying no.
Brown, 45, has a deeper connection to Kentucky. He was a receiver for the Wildcats from 1998-2000 and served because the Wildcats’ offensive coordinator for 2 seasons early in Stoops’ tenure. Brown left Lexington to change into the pinnacle coach at Troy and did a incredible job, going 35-16 (together with a win at LSU) and successful a Solar Belt title. He later took the West Virginia job and went 37-35, together with a 9-4 document in 2023. Brown has been within the combine for a number of head teaching jobs this cycle and was a powerful candidate at Colorado State, which finally employed Jim Mora.
Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein is a legit sizzling candidate. He grew up in Louisville and performed QB for the Cardinals, however his household used to have season tickets for UK video games. His dad is a former Kentucky participant. Stein is without doubt one of the prime play callers in school soccer and has been an incredible rent for Dan Lanning. Stein additionally has some robust recruiting ties, having been a former Texas highschool coach earlier than working at UTSA.
Ohio State OC Brian Hartline has been the very best place coach in school soccer for a lot of the previous decade. The caliber of wideouts that he has landed — and developed — is unmatched. He’s additionally completed an excellent job because the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator this season, with a first-time quarterback, new operating backs and a rebuilt offensive line. Stoops helped construct his program at UK with plenty of recruiting juice within the state of Ohio, and Hartline, an Ohio native, ought to have the ability to do related work there in addition to present a spark nationally. He additionally has robust ties to Kentucky. His brother Mike is a former Kentucky QB who has labored on Stoops’ workers as an assistant coach.
Georgia DC Glenn Schumann has been a part of six nationwide title groups as an assistant — 4 at Alabama and two at Georgia. He has labored his manner up the teaching workers in Athens and produced a bunch of stout defenses for Kirby Sensible. He might be a head coach sooner moderately than later. Count on him to get some consideration right here.
