NCAAF teams
Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer 9y

Kentucky extends Mark Stoops

College Football, Kentucky Wildcats

Mark Stoops, who has Kentucky on the cusp of a bowl berth in his second season as coach, has been awarded with a raise and extension that will take him through the 2019 season and pay him an average salary of more than $3.6 million per year.

"I want to show my commitment," Stoops said Friday. "If you know anything about myself, about my family, past history, whether it be with my brothers and different people. loyalty's a pretty big thing with us, and I certainly feel the loyalty to this program, to our players and all the people that have been so involved and helped us get to where we're at and where we're going."

Effective Nov. 1, Stoops will earn a pro-rated sum of $3 million for this season, and that figure will increase by $250,000 each season through 2019. He will earn $3.25 million in 2015, $3.5 million in 2016, $3.75 million in 2017, $4 million in 2018 and $4.25 million in 2019.

Also, as part of his incentives package over and above his salary, Stoops stands to make an additional $250,000 for each win beginning with the seventh win each season.

"Mark is guiding our program in the direction we all want it to go, and we are proud to reward that," Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said. "I was confident Mark was right for this job when I hired him, but he has exceeded my expectations. From leading a group of young men, to recruiting, to fundraising, to becoming an important part of the Lexington community, Mark has embraced and excelled in all facets of being Kentucky head football coach."

Stoops, whose Wildcats (5-3, 2-3 SEC) travel to Missouri on Saturday, does not have a buyout, meaning he's free to leave for another job without penalty if he so chooses.

But recruiting at an unprecedented level for Kentucky, Stoops has said repeatedly that his focus is on making Kentucky a contender in the SEC. The Wildcats are currently 26th nationally in ESPN's recruiting rankings for the 2015 class, and their 2014 class was ranked 20th nationally.

On the field, Kentucky has already won more games this season than the previous two seasons combined. The Wildcats had lost 17 straight SEC games before ending that drought earlier this season with back-to-back victories over Vanderbilt and South Carolina.

"I am excited about the progress our team has shown on the field, but this is as much about the next five years as it is the last one and a half," Barnhart said. "As I've said before, I believe we can compete at the highest level in the toughest conference. Mark is the coach to take us there."

Barnhart added that Stoops' staff members would also receive new deals.

Two of Kentucky's three losses this year were close ones. The Wildcats lost in triple overtime at Florida and took No. 1 Mississippi State to the fourth quarter last week before falling 45-31. Kentucky is averaging 31.6 points per game this season, well ahead of the 17.9 points the Wildcats averaged in 2012, the season before Stoops arrived.

With Stoops joining the $3 million club in the SEC, that means all 13 of the head coaches at the league's public universities make $3 million or more per year. Vanderbilt is a private institution and doesn't release salary figures for first-year coach Derek Mason.

^ Back to Top ^