Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops during his team's Week 2 game against Ole Miss Photo Credit: ESPN
By Reice Shipley on

Coming off of a 4-8 season in 2024, it’s no secret that longtime Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops may very well need a bounce-back year in 2025 to save his job. And according to ESPN college football broadcasters Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy, Stoops’ decision making, particularly when it comes to clock management, could very well result in him potentially losing his job.

Trailing 17-13 near the end of the first half, Kentucky looked to potentially cut into the deficit on the final drive of the half. Unfortunately, Stoops opted to use all three of his timeouts earlier in the half, which led to a litany of issues for the Kentucky offense after getting into Ole Miss territory.

Kentucky would be called for an ineligible man downfield penalty that was caused by several players on the Kentucky offense being unsure of where to line up. This would push them out of field goal range, and ultimately result in Kentucky not even getting a chance at a kick before the end of the half.

Calling the game, Sean McDonough and Greg McElroy were incredibly critical of Stoops and the rest of the Kentucky coaching staff. McDonough in particular even went as far as suggesting that the poor clock management due to having no timeouts is something that “gets you fired if you are on the hot seat,” as Stoops may very well be.

“Again, we just chronicled Mark Stoops’ tenure and it’s, for the most part, been a very successful tenure,” McDonough said shortly after the penalty. “It’s turned south the last couple of years. But these are kinds of things that if you are on the hot seat, they get you fired. It just does not look like a well-coached football team in terms of the management of the operation. They do a lot of things really well. They obviously play great defense, they coach great defense. But for the offense and the game management is an issue, at least recently.”

“And he is lighting up members of his offensive staff,” added McElroy. “I mean, he should be. He’s not the one calling the plays, calling the formations. That’s coming from Bush Hamdan, the offensive coordinator, and the rest of the offensive staff. I mean, that is on the offense.”

“Doesn’t someone have to say in his headset, ‘We don’t have another timeout. We can’t run another play in bounds. Just take the snap, throw the ball out of bounds, and we’ll take a field goal from 57 yards with six seconds to go,'” added McDonough.

“Especially with the direct-to-player communication,” McElroy further added. “You can walk your quarterback through it quickly. Just spike it if nothing else. Just really self-inflicted down the stretch.”

It’s obviously an incredibly harsh critique to suggest that Stoops could lose his job based on a single instance of poor clock management. But little things like this certainly do make the difference in a win and a loss. And if they persist throughout a season, they can make the difference in a winning and a losing season.

Despite the poorly managed end of the first half, Kentucky would keep it close throughout against Ole Miss. But ultimately, the Rebels that would come away with a 30-23 victory.

About Reice Shipley

Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.

View all posts by Reice Shipley