It makes sense that a 51-13 beatdown doesn’t go away overnight. When Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops spoke on a radio show on Monday, it was clear the loss to Georgia still weighed him.
He said his team won’t make excuses or complain about the performance, and he added that Wildcat faithful have the right to complain about the loss. But he did offer a solution for his frustrated fans.
“I just encourage them to donate more, because that’s what those dudes are doing,” he said. “I can promise you Georgia, they bought some pretty good players. You’re allowed to these days. We could use some help.”
An article from the Lexington Herald-Leader said Stoops grew frustrated earlier in the show when a fan pointed out he’d only beaten two SEC teams who finished with a winning conference record.
“You’re climbing the ladder in the SEC,” Stoops said in response. “You think it’s easy? I sat here and watched a bunch of people try to do it. It’s not easy at a lot of different schools.”
Since 2018, Georgia has finished no lower than 4th in 247Sports’ Composite Recruiting Class rankings, with multiple No. 1 classes and another seemingly on the way in 2024. Kentucky has finished inside the top 25 in the nation just once, when they were 14th in 2022.
In an undoubtedly new era of college football, this is one of the first instances of a coach calling for a fanbase’s financial assistance in the recruiting game.