Mark Stoops on NIL hiatus – Georgia ‘bought some good players’

Kentucky coach Mark Stoops publicly called for more financial support for his program after the Wildcats’ 51-13 loss to Georgia on Saturday, highlighting the NIL gap between his players and those of the No. 1 Bulldogs.

“I can promise you — Georgia, they bought some good players,” Stoops said Monday in response to an angry fan on his weekly radio show. “You’re allowed these days, and we could use some help. This is what they’re like, you know what I mean, when you have 85 of them. And I encourage anyone who’s disgruntled to come forward with more.”

Asked what Stoops said after Georgia’s practice on Tuesday, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart wasn’t looking to engage in any verbal sparring.

“There’s no reaction. There’s a lot to do for nothing,” Smart told reporters. “I think Mark is trying to attract interest and money from his fan base for his group, and we’re all trying to do the same thing in terms of trying to get money for the group. Mark and I talked about NIL before the game, and we talked about it in our meeting. I don’t bite on that.”

Stoops’ comments had echoes of Alabama’s Nick Saban saying last year that Texas A&M had “bought out every player on its team” — a comment that set off a tiff between Saban and Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher that continued all the way to a tight end. The Crimson Tide’s victory in October of that year.

Kentucky entered the Georgia game with an undefeated 5-0 record and a No. 2 ranking in the Associated Press Top 25. But the Bulldogs stomped on the Wildcats, taking a 34-7 halftime lead and outscoring their SEC East opponent 608-183.

Georgia has won 14 straight games against Kentucky, most recently losing to the Wildcats in November 2009.

After the game, Stoops seemed to take the blame and said that Georgia “beat us in every area.”

“I don’t feel good,” he said on Saturday. “I told the team the good news is that it’s one game. We have to respond and respond. I’m going to put this game on my shoulders. We weren’t prepared in any area.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.