Mark Stoops coaching career: stats, notable records and more explored

Mark Stoops is the youngest of the three Stoops brothers who have made their names as college football coaches.

The oldest, Bob Stoops, was the legendary head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners between 1999 and 2016. Mike Stoops, older than Mark, served as the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats.

Mark has been the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats football team since 2013. In his 10 years as head coach of the Wildcats, he has stabilized the program.

He's led the team to consecutive winning seasons and won three out of six bowl appearances in his time in charge. He was recognized in 2018 as the SEC Coach of the Year after a 10-3 overall record and a win at the Citrus Bowl.

Exploring Mark Stoops' coaching career

After his college playing career as a defensive back for the Iowa Hawkeyes, Mark Stoops began his coaching career as a graduate assistant in 1990.

He was a graduate assistant at Iowa until 1991. His next appointment was as the athletic director and defensive backs coach at Nordonia High School in Macedonia, Ohio.

Stoops was in this role from 1992 to 1995. He became the defensive backs coach for the South Florida Bulls in 1996 and remained so until 1997.

Between 1997 and 1999, he was the defensive backs coach for the Wyoming Cowboys. In 2000, he followed his head coach at Wyoming, Dana Dimel, to Houston, where he served as co-defensive coordinator.

He left Houston in 2001 to become the defensive backs coach for the Miami Hurricanes. He left Miami in 2004 to join his brother Mike's coaching staff at the University of Arizona.

He remained with his brother until 2009, when he accepted the defensive back coaching role at Florida State. It was in this role that he got the appointment as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats in November 2012.

Mark Stoops was brought in by Kentucky to replace Joker Philips who had just led the Wildcats to a 2-10 season.

Stoops' first season at Kentucky also ended with a 2-10 record. However, he improved over the next two seasons, bagging consecutive 5-7 seasons.

The Wildcats had their first winning season under him in 2016 when they finished 7-6 after an initial 0-2 start to the season.

Stoops has been able to transform the Kentucky Wildcats football team into a decent and competitive team. This season, the team is 4-0 going into its Week 5 matchup with the Florida Gators.