LEXINGTON, Ky. — I was on the SEC Network’s “Paul Finebaum Show” on Tuesday when guest host Braden Gall asked me an unexpected question.
“Would you be shocked if Mark Stoops retired at the end of the season?”
I had to pause for a second.
I finally responded that I didn’t expect Kentucky football’s 57-year-old coach to call it quits at the end of the 2024 season. I added I wouldn’t be totally shocked if he did, however. Surprised, yes. Shocked, no. These days, no sudden coaching retirement should come as a surprise.
Name, image and likeness issues. The transfer portal. Revenue sharing with college athletes who play the sports. Media demands. Booster demands. The never-ending recruiting calendar. Staff changes. It’s a lot.
“I thought we could have a hell of a team next year,” Alabama coach Nick Saban told ESPN after his surprise retirement in January at age 72, “and then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I’m going to play because they’re thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?”
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Coaches are paid a lot of money, of course. Kansas basketball coach Bill Self is making $53 million over a five-year contract. Clemson football coach Dabo Swinney will make $11.5 million this season. Georgia’s Kirby Smart will make $10.7 million.
Coaches can be fired at a moment’s notice, too. Gene Chizik won a national football title at Auburn in 2010. He was fired in 2012. Les Miles and Ed Orgeron each won national football titles at LSU. Miles was fired four years later. Orgeron was out in two.
So will we ever see the longevity (and loyalty) of past coaches?
Mike Krzyzewski was head basketball coach at Duke for 42 seasons before retiring in 2022 at age 75. Roy Williams was head basketball coach at Kansas for 15 seasons and North Carolina for 18 when he retired in 2021 at age 70. They may be the last of their kind.
Only five Division I college football coaches have been at their respective schools longer than Stoops. Kirk Ferentz has been at Iowa for 24 seasons. Mike Gundy has coached Oklahoma State for 19. Same for Kyle Whittingham at Utah. It’s 15 seasons for Swinney at Clemson. Then comes Dave Doeren at North Carolina State and UK’s Stoops, each entering season No. 12.
The oldest coaches in college football, basketball
At 73, North Carolina’s Mack Brown is the oldest D-I head football coach. Iowa’s Ferentz turns 69 on Aug. 1. At 62, Arkansas’ Sam Pittman is the SEC’s oldest football coach. Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton, the former UK assistant, is the oldest D-I head college basketball coach. He turns 76 on Aug. 4.
Hamilton’s old boss at Kentucky, Joe B. Hall, retired at age 57. UCLA basketball legend John Wooden was 64 when he retired. The iconic Bear Bryant was 69 when he retired as Alabama’s football coach in 1982. Bryant died of a heart attack four weeks later.
Adolph Rupp was a mere 29 when he coached his first basketball game at Kentucky in 1930. Rupp was forced into mandatory retirement at age 70 in 1972. Rick Pitino was 37 when he coached his first UK game in 1989. The St. John’s coach is 71 and still going strong. Tubby Smith was 46 when he succeeded Pitino in 1997. Smith retired in 2022 at age 70.
Then there’s Bob Stoops. Mark’s brother retired in 2017 at age 56 after 18 seasons at Oklahoma. At the time, a source told ESPN that (a) Stoops did not want to be in position where he was forced out by the school and (b) Stoops’ father, Ron Sr., had died of a heart attack after coaching a high school football game. He was 54.
Mark Stoops celebrated his 57th birthday Tuesday. One thing I do know, he loves coaching football. I’m confident he could do it, and do it well, for many more years. As for how many years he will want to coach, that is anybody’s guess. These days, the same could be said about any coach.
