:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67810130/1176708825.0.jpg)
The Kentucky Wildcats are not having the season that we all expected in 2020 as they get set to face the No. 1 team in the country on Saturday.
However, Mark Stoops has done a phenomenal job of building this program and taking it to a level that I am not sure many believed was possible.
Since becoming the head coach at Kentucky, Stoops has led the Cats to a 47-48 record after a 3-4 start to the 2020 season. However, he has led Kentucky to a Citrus Bowl win over Penn State, ended the Florida streak, and the Tennessee road streak while also recruiting at a very high level.
With that being said, Stoops began his football career not as a coach, but a player for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1986-88. He then got into coaching as a grad assistant for Iowa from 1990-91.
Giving his strong connections with the school, would Stoops consider taking the head coaching job at Iowa if it opened up?
Recently, 13 former Iowa players filed a lawsuit against the Iowa football program, including head coach Kirk Ferentz for “targeted discriminatory behavior.”
There is no current indication that Ferentz will lose his job over this lawsuit, but the possibility remains that the Hawkeyes coach since 1999 could be leaving in some form or fashion.
Iowa is not a bad job for a football coach and Steven Godfrey of Banner Society believes Stoops “could be lured ‘home’ despite his own sweetheart deal in Lexington.”
“That’s a much more desirable job than folks might realize,” an industry source told Godfrey. “[Iowa has] always been viewed as a coach’s school, where if you fit there, you can build something very long-term. They aren’t going to meddle; they’re reasonable about expectations. It’s not like a lot of other Power 5 jobs, especially where you can go to the Rose Bowl.”
As of right now it is unclear what the situation at Iowa will turn into but it is still something to keep in the back of your mind if Ferentz is let go down the road and the head coaching job becomes vacant.