What Mark Stoops is pushing for to improve Kentucky football

With several big-time coaching openings throughout college football, Mark Stoops is about to get paid.

Whether it’s with the Kentucky Wildcats or another school remains to be seen, but it sounds like he’ll be sticking around in Lexington if several reasonable demands are meant.

No, Stoops isn’t just looking to break the bank. He’s also pushing for some much-needed improvements in terms of overall recruiting budget and a new indoor practice facility, according to KSR’s Matt Jones.

Between the openings with the LSU Tigers and Oklahoma Sooners, Stoops could have a lot of bargaining power to get these changes made.

Back in September, Stoops was asked about getting a full 120-yard indoor practice facility in place for the football team.

“We need an indoor (facility),” Stoops stated. “You can do the research on how many teams don’t have an indoor (facility).

Currently, indoor practice field is inside of Nutter Field House, which has a track around it as well. Due to the layout, the track cuts off 20 yards from a normal field. UK and Vanderbilt are the only two SEC programs without a full-sized indoor facility, so it’s past time for an upgrade if the school wants to truly compete with college football’s elite programs.

As for the recruiting budget, Mitch Barnhart has consistently shown he’d open up the checkbook to keep Stoops happy and also retain key assistants like Vince Marrow, who’s been heavily pursued by big-name programs throughout his tenure in Lexington, only to get a pay raise each time from UK.

If Stoops remaining in Lexington truly comes down to Barnhart committing to a new indoor facility and a bigger recruiting budget, I think UK will do what it takes to ensure he doesn’t leave anytime soon.

The ball in Mitch’s court. Will he come through again as he’s done throughout his tenure as the school’s athletics director?