Mailbag: Fans calling for change, yet a Mark Stoops buyout still highly unlikely

[Matt Dillon]

Things are getting ugly in the weekly UK football mailbag.

Any bit of momentum that was established in the comfortable win versus an overmatched Eastern Michigan team quickly evaporated with a fourth consecutive loss to South Carolina on Saturday. Considering this space has included calls for Mark Stoops to be fired even after the two wins this season, it should come as no surprise that when the Herald-Leader took to social media to ask for fan input following the South Carolina loss the overwhelming majority of the responses dealt with demands for change in the program.

Mailbag: Fans calling for change, yet a Mark Stoops buyout still highly unlikely?

[CATHYnKY]

I think he’s gone. I know several that didn’t renew tickets and stay at the tailgates. Don’t think it should be before the end of the season.

[WeWant9]

Guess we will see with a stadium either empty or filled with opposing fans.

[Matt Dillon]

I believe he'll be gone at the end of the season. I think he wants out as much as the fans want him out. He'll probably sit down with Mitch and offer to take less money or have what's coming to him spread out over several years.

[UKWILDCAT2004]

I'm just wondering if we can make two QBs quit the game of football in back to back seasons.

[CATHYnKY]

I believe he'll be gone at the end of the season. I think he wants out as much as the fans want him out. He'll probably sit down with Mitch and offer to take less money or have what's coming to him spread out over several years.

He should take less money. He will get a job somewhere. Maybe not as much $$, but will be coaching.

[Pete Hogwallop]

Much like I had wished for with Calipari, perhaps he will negotiate to walk away for a smaller amount.

[Simple_Man]

It's my hope that a buyout is negotiated for a much smaller cost and that Kentucky can hire a coach that at least can be a consistent winner each season.But you can probably throw all of this out the window because I don't have any confidence that Barney can get it done.

[UKWILDCAT2004]

Mitch is so good at negotiating he goes to the car lot and pays above sticker price and requests a higher interest rate.

[WeWant9]

The only way he gets the buyout is if he is fired, right? If some team wants him (or he just retires), then isn't UK off the hook like they were with Cal's buyout?

[CrimsonCats]

People keep mentioning that like a realistic possibility that happens routinely, but has a coach ever negotiated away a big chunk of their buyout when it became clear they were on the hot seat? That really doesn’t happen, and I see no reason Stoops would be any different. Maybe if he gets tired of being here, he would consider retiring or finding a different job ala Cal or Tubby, but firing him for less than what we’ve already foolishly agreed to isn’t happening.

[40bill]

Welllllllll....
Just imo if coach was gonna do a favor it wouldve been end of last year.

I dunno the particulars on his contract. I really wonder about some of the more highly publicized player misdeeds not being thrown in on him to at least take the buyout down a notch.

Right now with Stoops getting 30 million there's likely another 10, 15 million in other coach buyout ( coordinators, assistants, etc).

Gonna take some serious money to convince any name coach to come.
Then their staff...

So we are likely looking at 75, 80 million all said and done.

But if we are going to lose I would rather lose while we are making some progress.
It seems like we are in the quicksand pit now.

[Los Gatos]

Welllllllll....
Just imo if coach was gonna do a favor it wouldve been end of last year.

I dunno the particulars on his contract. I really wonder about some of the more highly publicized player misdeeds not being thrown in on him to at least take the buyout down a notch.

Right now with Stoops getting 30 million there's likely another 10, 15 million in other coach buyout ( coordinators, assistants, etc).

Gonna take some serious money to convince any name coach to come.
Then their staff...

So we are likely looking at 75, 80 million all said and done.

But if we are going to lose I would rather lose while we are making some progress.
It seems like we are in the quicksand pit now.

I suspect Mark actually believed he could turn things around. (He may still believed he can.) Thus he would not have offered to do us a favor last year. Maybe he will after this year, maybe not.

I've read most of the contract, some sections multiple times. However, I'm not an attorney and don't feel qualified to correctly interpret all the ins and outs. Having said that, I doubt any of the player problems are sufficient to fire him for cause. My main reason for the doubt is that, surely, by now multiple people who are qualified to interpret this section have look at it. They don't seem to have found a valid reason to fire Mark for cause.

I don't have any data on the additional cost of firing the staff but seem to remember someone estimated it last year at under 5M.

Yes, it will take some serious money to recruit a name coach. However, I seriously doubt Barney will recruit such an expensive coach. Seems more likely he will get one for 5/7M. Since we would no longer have to pay Mark 9M a year we actually save money. So overall I'd put the total incremental cost of firing Mark significantly less than 70-80M.

[Los Gatos]

The only way he gets the buyout is if he is fired, right? If some team wants him (or he just retires), then isn't UK off the hook like they were with Cal's buyout?

Yes, actually if he chooses to leave for another coaching job, he would owe UK money. Don't hold your breath waiting for it.

[Davidmack]

Barney and Stoops need to be fired together.