Tuesday Headlines: SEC Coach Power Rankings

Good morning BBN.

Over at Saturday Down South, Matt Hayes released a power ranking of every SEC head coach, and Mark Stoops came in at No. 3.

Yes, you read that correctly. Kentucky football has a top-three coach in a conference that features Kirby Smart and Nick Saban on top, as those two have won the last two national championships.

Right behind Stoops is another title-winning in coach in Jimbo Fisher, followed by Brian Kelly, who’s been to a national championship game and the College Football Playoffs.

So yeah, Stoops being No. 3 here is a pretty big deal.

Here’s what Hayes had to say about Stoops.

3. Mark Stoops, Kentucky ($6.75 million): Why is Stoops a champion, you ask? Because anyone who wins 10 games at Kentucky (twice in 4 years), falls into that category.

UK is the prime example of how NIL can change the look of the game. Stoops just had a top-15 recruiting class, and is winning recruiting battles against SEC blue-bloods and neighboring Ohio State.

Athletic director Mitch Barnhart deserves a ton of credit for not only keeping Stoops at Kentucky, but not panicking after Stoops’ first 3 seasons produced 12 wins.

Since Barnhart stayed with Stoops after the 2015 season, Kentucky is 47-29 with a school-record 6 straight bowl seasons — and Stoops has 2 of the 4 10-win seasons since the school began playing football in 1892.

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Time to get Oscar Tshiebwe all the trophies.

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