Yes, you read that right. Kentucky Football Head Coach, Mark Stoops, has been added to the watch list for the American Heart Association’s 2021 Paul “Bear” Bryant Coach of the Year Award. Stoops is one of twenty one coaches that made the prestigious list.
I know all of Big Blue Nation believes that Mark Stoops deserves this recognition for the job he’s done not only this season leading the Wildcats to potentially their best season in the schools history, but, it is nice to see the country giving Stoops the respect he finally deserves.
After only two games into the 2016 season, Stoops’ record was 12-26 but since then he has gone 43-25 (.632) since. Overall, Stoops is now 55-51 at Kentucky and is nearing Paul "Bear" Bryant's school-record of 60 victories. Mark Stoops currently holds several records at UK; most home game wins (40), total SEC wins (28) and total games coached at UK (106). We knew he had the potential but I don’t know if many of us could have guessed that this is where we would be just 5 years later.
The Coach of the Year Award will be announced live from Houston's Post Oak Hotel on Wednesday, January 12, 2022. The Coach of the Year award is voted on by the National Sports Media Association, current NCAA College football coaches, former Coach of the Year Award winners, the Bryant Awards' Executive Leadership Team and the Bryant Family. It is worth mentioning that the Coach of the Year award is the only college coaching honor selected after all postseason bowl games and the National Championship have been played.