Top contenders to succeed Mark Stoops/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72902135/usa_today_19095516.0.jpg)
There are rumors that Mark Stoops is going to Texas A&M. In the process of finding a replacement, Kentucky turns to Jon Sumrall.
According to reports, Mark Stoops will accept an offer to take over as head coach of Texas A&M football.
For the first time in more than ten years, Kentucky will need to find a new head coach if that is the case.
A new coach will need to take over as head coach of UK after Stoops was hired by Kentucky in 2012. Under Stoops’s tenure, UK saw both highs and lows.
If Stoops does indeed depart, Kentucky will have many possibilities, but let’s take a brief look at a few to get things started.
Jon Sumrall, who attended Kentucky from 2002 to 2004, is another player to watch out for. He was a graduate assistant, an inside linebackers coach, and co-defensive coordinator for Kentucky from 2019 to 2021. Since then, he has moved to Troy, where he has excelled. After going 12-2 in his debut season, he is already 10-2 this year. Brad White is another possible internal candidate for defensive coordinator, so if Kentucky makes this hire, you will probably be able to keep him.
Even though it’s really early, Jon Sumrall should be at the top of Kentucky’s coaching want list. The fact that athletic directors prefer to select coaches with whom they have had experience (i.e.Ross Bjork and Mark Stoops).
As the AD during Sumrall’s playing days and someone who worked with him from 2019 to 21, Mitch Barnhart perhaps has the best sense of what Sumrall is capable of.Dan Mullen might be a second contender. From 2009 to 2017, he led Mississippi State, which was thought of as a lower-tier SEC program, to success. Five seasons with eight or more victories, three with nine or more wins, and a 10-3 season in 2014 that concluded with an Orange Bowl loss to Georgia Tech were all part of that run.
Mullen most recently had an uneventful tenure at Florida from 2018 to 21. After going 21-5 in his first two seasons, winning the Peach Bowl and Orange Bowl, he finished the next two seasons 13-10 and was released. His lack of recruiting has drawn a lot of criticism. It would be a fantastic hire for Kentucky if he could attract talent at a high level.
Mullenis an ESPN analyst at the moment.
Whatever you think of Mullen, we’ll say this: Kentucky is unlikely to draw a coach with a better all-around Power Five coaching record than 103–61.
