On Saturday night, Kentucky lost their first game of the season as top-ranked Georgia blew the Wildcats out 51–13. While Kentucky has been a competitive program under coach Mark Stoops, this loss further showed the difference between them and the best teams in the conference.
Kentucky may not have the most rich football history, but fans have started to get tired of their inability to beat teams like Georgia. In response, during his weekly radio show, Stoops put the onus on the fans to help the team out.
“Fans have that right, I give it to them. I just encourage them to donate more, because that’s what those dudes are doing,” he said. “I can promise you that Georgia, they bought some pretty good players, you’re allowed to these days. We could use some help, that’s what they look like.”
Mark Stoops says Georgia has bought some pretty good players…
— Jon Tweets Sports (@jontweetssports) October 10, 2023
and that Kentucky fans should donate more so he can buy some pretty good players, too. pic.twitter.com/aYWQvmf12G
Stoops is, of course, referring to the new NIL landscape, which allows programs to use allocated endorsement money as a means of recruiting players. Some schools have bought into the idea of using NIL rules to bring in new players, especially transfers, but programs can only use money specifically allocated to NIL.
Therefore, if fans are unhappy with the product, Stoops says that they can literally put their money where their mouths are.
“I encourage anybody that’s disgruntled to pony up some more,” he said.
Stoops has been at Kentucky since 2013, and is on his way to producing his seventh winning season in the last eight years. However, that includes just two double-digit win seasons and one year where they were ranked within the top 10.
