by Sophia Waldridge

After 13 seasons Mark Stoops brought historic stability to Kentucky and led four 10-win campaigns in 2018 and 2021. He also showed the team eight consecutive bowl games and two top-25 finishes. But after too many losing streaks and a 41-0 loss to Louisville on Dec. 1, Kentucky fired him. Will Stein is the new Kentucky coach.

Many Louisville fans are happy because they want real change and challenge. Senior Kaeleb Hayes, who is a die hard Louisville fan, said that Kentucky “needed to do it” and that the team would be “better off without Stoops and the team will get along so much better with the leadership and the stability of Stein.”

But others do not agree with Hayes and think that Stoops should not have been fired. Sophomore Eli Tate, “I think that we will have better prospects but at the same time he was a good coach and I don’t think that this one game should have caused him to be fired.” 

Sophomore Cali Smith agreed with Tate and is also a Kentucky fan; she said that the team will have to come up with new critical thinking skills and “learn to adapt with a new coach with different teaching styles.”

Freshman Harper Gordon also said that the Wildcats will have to adapt and thinks that it was a good thing because “Stoops has been a bad coach for three years and gave us a horrible season.” She said the new coach Stein is better for the team because he will push them harder.

Kentucky fans aren’t too happy, but most of them are rallying for the new coach and can’t wait to see how he trains the team differently and if they’ll get any better under different and new leadership.