Mark Stoops hopes roster turnover, staff continuity will provide a positive change

Coming off of an abysmal 4-8 season in 2024, Mark Stoops knew he had to do something. "We didn't want to just move past it. We really wanted to make sure we made the adjustments necessary," the Kentucky head coach said at SEC Media Days on Thursday. That's the mindset Stoops has instilled in his players this off-season, but Stoops had to make some more changes than just mindset.

Kentucky brought in a lot of transfers. It wasn't just the players on the field that has had change since last season, it was the staff, too. Mark Pope promoted Derek Shay to Tight End's coach after previously serving as the team's offensive analyst and run game specialist. He has experience coaching at the position, as he served as the TE's coach at Marshall in 2024 before arriving in Lexington. It wasn't just that, though, as Kentucky will have continuity with returning Offensive Coordinator Bush Hamdan, which is a position that hasn't seen continuity since Eddie Gran's last season in 2020. Stoops went in-depth about all of this on Thursday in Atlanta.

"We have 50 new players that are coming in. That's the most we've ever had in the transfer portal era, and 26 transfers that come in, 13 of those transfers have been starters, and eight of them have been starters at the Power Five conference. So I feel like we're bringing in a lot of fresh faces there, and I think that's something that's important for us. After coming off the year that we had, I think of our players know that we've been very consistent, we've done things right, we feel like we've got a lot of systems and processes in place to be successful , but we needed to change. I think the roster turnover this year was important for us, we needed that. I think there's a great balance for us, with the new faces, the fresh faces, the energy, the juice that these players are bringing and the experience that they have, but I also love the continuity that we have with our staff. This is the first time in a long time that the offensive coordinator is returning for the second season."Stoops on roster turnover, continuity.

The Wildcats have already had continuity on the defensive side of the ball, as Defensive Coordinator Brad White is entering his 7th season with the program, it has mainly been the offense where the inconsistencies have been prevalent. Now, they're getting the continuity back in 2025, looking to bounce back after a very disappointing year in 2024, and one in 2023 that had plenty of inconsistencies, too.

Can the Wildcats get back on track in 2025 after getting continuity on the staff and fresh faces onto the roster?