There was a time when Kentucky football seemed on the path to becoming a consistent SEC contender under head coach Mark Stoops, with the team reaching 10 wins in both 2018 and 2021. But that optimism has faded quickly.
After a 4-8 season in 2024 and a 2-2 start in 2025, calls for Stoops to be fired have grown louder. The problem with firing Stoops is his $38 million buyout, though one analyst believes there might be a way for Kentucky to work around it.
Can Kentucky Avoid Mark Stoops’ $38M Buyout?
Stoops became Kentucky’s head coach in 2013 and holds a 79-75 record, leading the Wildcats to four bowl wins out of eight appearances and posting two double-digit winning seasons.
But recent years have been rough. After a 7-6 campaign in 2023, Kentucky went 4-8 in 2024 and sits at 2-2 in 2025, with both losses coming as blowouts to SEC opponents.
The Wildcats have struggled across the board this season. Kentucky ranks 67th in the country on defense according to PFSN’s CFB DEFi metric, while the offense ranks even lower at 98th in the country according to PFSN’s CFB OFFi metric.
Most fans want Stoops gone, but his firing comes with a hefty $38 million price tag, due in a lump sum within the first two months, something Kentucky likely doesn’t want to pay outright.
However, FOX Sports’ Aaron Torres believes the Wildcats could work around paying the full amount at once. While they may not be able to avoid the $38 million entirely, Torres notes Kentucky could renegotiate the buyout and spread the payments out over time.
“You can renegotiate it in a lot of ways,” Torres said. “You can get the $40 million, maybe it’s the Bobby Bonilla $40 million over 40 years, I don’t know. Maybe you negotiate it to $20 million, and you give him $2 [million] for 10 years. I don’t know.”
This may seem unlikely, as Stoops would ultimately have to agree not to receive nearly $40 million all at once, which is hard to imagine anyone turning down.
However, Torres notes that Stoops likely isn’t too fond of his job right now and could want out of Kentucky as much as Kentucky wants him out, which in turn could make him willing to renegotiate the buyout.
“But what I do know, is that if it was me and I was Mark Stoops and I was almost 60 years old, and also I was living in a world where I knew nobody wanted me at the job, nobody wanted me in town, I don’t know that’d be like a thing that I would be super excited to show up for every day,” Torres said.
It’s an interesting point from Torres, and as he notes, Sam Pittman, who was relieved of his duties as Arkansas head coach earlier this week, agreed to negotiate his buyout, showing it’s possible Stoops could do the same.
One way or another, it’s clear Stoops’ time in Lexington is coming to an end. If Kentucky wants to move on before 2031, when his contract expires, they’ll have to pay some form of buyout. And if the head coach is willing to negotiate at all, it’s likely he’ll be fired by the end of the season.
