OutKick The Tailgate: Will Mark Stoops Stay At Kentucky Even If A Bigger Program Comes Calling?

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Mark Stoops is a hot name in college football, with the Kentucky head coach in the rumor mill for possible head coach openings. Many are speculating whether the 54-year-old would leave Lexington for a more luxurious opportunity, including the crew at OutKick The Tailgate.

Joined alongside Jonathan Hutton, Chad Withrow and Jill Savage, OutKick founder Clay Travis outlined his reasons for why he could see Stoops stay at Kentucky. Travis cited the possible expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams, in which the Wildcats would have a much better shot in competing for a national championship.

"If I'm Kentucky and I'm Mark Stoops, this year might be an example, 'can I be in the top four or five and make the College Football Playoff and feel like I have a chance to advance there?', that to me factors in," Travis said.

Travis used the argument that if the playoff expands to 12 teams, there's a chance that we could see four or five SEC teams in the hunt every year to get in. Travis said the goal for every SEC team moving forward is to be in the mix for the playoff at least once every five years. That would certainly apply to Kentucky this season, who is 6-0 and No. 11 in the AP Poll.

Stoops has built the Kentucky program up from the bottom since his arrival in 2012, garnering the Wildcats' first 10-win season since 1977 in 2018. Kentucky is also 6-0 for the first time since 1950, when the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant roamed the sidelines of Lexington. Stoops' program is arguably still ascending with a massive upgrade in stadium and facilities over the past five years and the best recruiting classes that Kentucky has ever seen coming in. Stoops also makes a cool $5 million at Kentucky, 15th highest in the nation.

You can tune into OutKick The Tailgate with Travis, Hutton, Withrow and Savage every Saturday morning at the site of the biggest game in the SEC that week. You can stream the show live on OutKick’s official YouTube page and on OutKick.com.