How long are the bosses going to tolerate a coach if they continue disappointing them? A long-standing program might be leaning increasingly towards a multi-million dollar figure if this one particular coach fails this season. Year after year, it all ends with the same story. Now, the program is dangerously close to showing this coach the exit door. And now that another sport is emerging as more attractive, the hope dims for the school’s football program.

It’s going to be a winning season or the boot for Mark Stoops in Kentucky. It’s beyond time for the Wildcats’ HC to make a difference for the program. From 2013 to 2024, Stoops has finished with a double-digit score only twice. It seems like Kentucky has entered a perennial slump during his tenure. Almost every season, near finishes put the program just over 5 wins. He’s been on the hot seat for a long, long time. But now is when the heat will get to Stoops. The usual 7-6 finish dropped down to 4-8, which makes 2025 a make-or-break season. OutKick’s Trey Wallace thinks that maybe Stoops not having the HC job anymore will be the best for both Kentucky and the coach.

He said in a July 25 episode of That SEC Podcast, “It’s like Mark Stoops is almost begging Kentucky, ‘Hey man, fire me. Fire me.’” Another major reason why the situation is so grim for Mark Stoops is because of UK’s rumored rev-share strategy. The established norm now, after the House settlement era, is that schools are singling out 75% of the $20.5 million for football, while 15% is given to men’s basketball. Reportedly, Kentucky is giving around 45% of the funds to basketball. That puts the very program of Kentucky Wildcats football in danger, and thereby Mark Stoops’ future.

“A lot of that money is going towards basketball. And if you’re not funneling it to football, it’s the same damn problem that we had, Stoops talked about three years ago, where he couldn’t have NIL money… Well, you damn sure ain’t getting it now,” Wallace added. Sources from the Wildcats football and basketball teams have told the news that the numbers about the rev-share strategy are not accurate. But it won’t be entirely improbable to imagine a scenario where Mark Pope gets more money instead of Mark Stoops. Pope has a .637 success rate and took the basketball squad to the Sweet 16 round last season. And this was all in just one year at Kentucky.

Stoops, on the other hand, has been here for more than a decade, still around after putting forward a lacklustre show. He failed terribly last season with an incapable roster, and then he lost his longtime assistant, Vince Morrow, to Louisville. Despite the pressure, Mark Stoops is taking it in stride.

Mark Stoops has hope for 2025, despite being backed into a corner

The Wildcats’ HC has some feats he can take credit for. He has taken Kentucky to a heap of bowl games–a trend that’s not in the record of most previous UK coaches. He also has a high number of career wins among his predecessors. But he hasn’t yet been able to make a splash in college football, truly cementing Kentucky as a notable CFB program. “I feel an obligation to this great university that’s been so loyal and so good to me and our fan base. That’s what I care about,” he told ESPN.

Stoops joins Brent Venables as one of the top SEC coaches on the hot seat. Stoops’ buyout is at a debatable $37.5 million after 2025. That’s a number that’s going to have the top brass scratching their heads about whether to break the bank if Stoops fails. With Mark Pope emerging as the better coach with Kentucky basketball, the higher-ups can consider sending off Stoops with his due amount.

Kentucky football does not deliver anything to be excited about for its 2025 season. Stoops finished below the top 25 in recruiting for most years. Once again, he will be deploying a squad that’s new on almost all fronts, including the QB. It’s truly hazy to picture how Stoops could save his career at Kentucky with all these unproven factors, for the 13 time in a row.