Kentucky Sports Radio
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
[Moderated by Matt Jones, Drew Franklin and Tyler Thompson]
Mark Stoops coached his final game as Florida State’s defensive coordinator last night. The most notable thing on display other than the solid play of his defense, was the admiration and adoration the Florida State community has for Mark Stoops. Some coaches slink off to other programs. Stoops made no mystery of his decision and as a result, was given a touching farewell last night following the ACC Championship.
For those who watched the game, a neat moment occurred at the very end. The FSU players ran over and dumped a bucket of Gatorade on Mark Stoops. The action is usually saved for the head coach, but it was obvious that the players were doing it as a send off to their beloved defensive coordinator. According to Coley Harvey (not the offensive coordinator Coley, but the Orlando Sentinel football beat writer), the marching band shouted from a distance “Thank you, coach! Thank you, coach! Thank you, coach!” as Stoops left the field with his former team for the final time. Stoops smiled, and even teared up a bit at the gesture.
“We’ve come a long way,” Stoops said late Saturday night, speaking to reporters as he basked in the glow of FSU’s 21-15 ACC Championship game win over Georgia Tech. “Each and every week, we grew… After all that hard work, they deserved this championship.”
Stoops went on to talk about the difficult decision not to finish the season with the Seminoles and coach them in their BCS Bowl game.
“I do not want to distract anymore and there’s a lot or work to be done on both sides,” Stoops said. “But I never want to turn my back on this program and these kids. Our players, they deserved it. That’s a special group to coach right there… But again, these guys were genuinely excited for me. They felt like it was the right time and I was prepared to go do it (be a head coach).”
One of Stoops’ defensive players, sophomore safety Karlos Williams, expressed his excitement for his coach.
“I’m very happy he’s going to Kentucky,” Williams said.
The outpour of support for Stoops and his coaching move shows a lot about just how highly he was regarded while at Florida State. Not all assistant coaches get send offs quite as memorable and touching as he did.
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Bill Keightley Report : Never to be forgotten.
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December 2nd, 2012 at 9:06 am
Hmmmm seems to me they were happy to get rid of old Mr. Stoops…..TED FOR PREZ !!!!
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:15 am
Hopefully James Coley is walking through that door at Bluegrass Airport!
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:23 am
Gotta say that I never thought we’d get a head coach of such quality. I honestly think we’re going to end up better than the other 3 SEC teams looking.
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:25 am
FSU is a top class program. One of the best if not THE best. Welcome Stoops.
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:28 am
A bit classier than Joker’s send-off
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:29 am
‘Turd’ Nugent?
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:51 am
@6 its TED sorry for the misprint i was in my tree stand taking a huge 10 point
December 2nd, 2012 at 9:54 am
I love Stoops!!! I’m beyond excited for him and our football team’s future!! I seriously believe that we will start to seriously compete in the east and sec as a whole!!
December 2nd, 2012 at 10:09 am
I’m super excited. It will be a long few years before Kentucky is consistently competitive in the SEC from one game to the next. But, after seeing FSU play a couple of times this year, Stoops’ defense comes to games ready to play and ready to fight. If nothing else, I’m excited to see some passion and fire return to UK on the field.
December 2nd, 2012 at 10:20 am
I WANT TO EXPRESS MY RESPECT AND ADMIRATION TOWARD THE PLAYERS AT FSU.IT IS NOT OFTEN THAT YOU HEAR EVERY PLAYER FROM A TEAM WITH A DEPARTING COACH SAY GREAT THINGS ABOUT THEIR COACH,THESE KIDS ARE GENUINELY EXCITED AND HAPPY FOR THEIR COACH,NOT ONE SINGLE PLAYER HAS SAID OR ACTED IN A NEGATIVE MANNER ABOUT A VERY ADULT SITUATION(LOSING YOUR COACH).I HAVE TO GIVE IT UP TO THESE KIDS, THEY HAVE HANDLED THIS IN A VERY GROWN UP MANNER AND ARE TO BE COMMENDED FOR THEIR ATTITUDES.
December 2nd, 2012 at 10:29 am
Any word on whether or not the Gatorade dumped on him was Kentucky blue?
December 2nd, 2012 at 10:46 am
That Karlos Williams quote was deep.
December 2nd, 2012 at 10:55 am
He looks like Bobby Petrino at first glance, I can only hope he has the same game and results!!
December 2nd, 2012 at 11:16 am
He does not look like Bobby Petrino. WTF is it with the Petrino crap. That guy is a straight doucher! We all knew it when he was at UL. He aint coming here, not as HC OC QB coach…nothing. So stop saying his name on here. It makes us look weak. We are gonna be a strong FB program now. Lets move forward and support the great new regime that is coming with all of our might. Lets prove that this is a destination program for any coach wanting his dream job!
December 2nd, 2012 at 11:32 am
Awesome gesture by the FSU Band. As an FYI, The Director of Bands for the Marching Chiefs at FSU is Patrick Dunnigan. He is from Frankfort and a UK alumni.
December 2nd, 2012 at 11:38 am
@12 i agree it almost got me teary eyed
December 2nd, 2012 at 12:08 pm
1,7 – way to represent the blue neck nation.
December 2nd, 2012 at 12:15 pm
Classy move to coach this game. Jerks like brian Kelley and doeren at ncstate abandoned their kids.
December 2nd, 2012 at 12:28 pm
Hhmmm…That is impressive. Makes me wonder why the offensive players didn’t to the same for Cooley but, then again Cools isn’t leaving to be a HC. Cooley is officially coming to UK, right?
December 2nd, 2012 at 1:46 pm
PETRINO!
December 2nd, 2012 at 1:55 pm
Much respect to the Seminoles.
Can you imagine the Clemson or Duke fans doing that?
In addition to the band guy being from UK, remember their head basketball coach won a ring with Kyle Macy back in ’78, as an Assistant Coach to Joe B. (Leonard Hamilton).