Should you thought Texas A & M couldn’t stoop any decrease after paying Jimbo Fisher a file quantity to scram, you thought incorrect as a result of they did simply that on Saturday evening, as all indicators pointed to the Aggies hiring Kentucky’s Mark Stoops. Experiences by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and Nicole Auerbach kicked off a brush hearth and threw the Texas A&M fanbase right into a tizzy. The smoke permeating from Texas A&M on X (previously Twitter) wasn’t a celebration, it was an indication of revolt from followers burning their jerseys.
A&M message boards burst into flames because the deal was on the verge of changing into official. Within the meantime, Stoops had a recreation to win towards in-state rival Louisville. After securing a season-defining win over the tenth ranked Cardinals, Stoops was driving excessive into the sundown. At 10 pm, Stoops was nearly as good as gone.
Nevertheless, round midnight, ESPN’s Pete Thamel threw chilly water on the rumors that Stoops can be assuming the reins at Texas A&M. Whether or not Texas A&M was gauging the general public response or media reviews jumped the gun, it quickly turned obvious that Stoops to Texas A&M was not in reality a accomplished deal.
At 1 am EST, Stoops lastly put the rumors to mattress by saying his intention to stay the Wildcats head coach, ending a chaotic day on the teaching carousel.
For his troubles, Stoops wasn’t even awarded monetary incentives to remain. If this was a play by his agent, Jimmy Sexton, to earn him a pay increase with Kentucky, it failed miserably. You’ll be able to guess opposing coaches are going to make use of this towards Stoops on the recruiting path.
In the meantime, Texas A&M finally ends up proper again the place they began — just a little bruised from the hassle. The revolt that led A&M and Stoops to nuke the alleged deal serves as a reminder of what plagues the Aggies. Mark Stoops is the second-best Stoops brother. He’d be excellent for the Aggies in the event that they ever understand they need to cease making an attempt to chase 10s within the teaching relationship pool.
A&M nonetheless has the Johnny Manziel-era overconfidence permeating by the pores of its followers, who thought Ryan Day can be enthusiastic about abandoning his put up and the lofty annual expectations at Ohio State for the calm, cheap fanatics at Texas A&M. No coach with out a nationwide championship or a playoff look on his resume is nice sufficient to educate their esteemed program, so you possibly can perceive why they had been shedding their minds over Stoops.
It is a program that has by no means actually been within the hunt since becoming a member of the SEC. They had been barely an element within the Massive 12 over the last decade and a half. Over in actuality, they’re a middle-of-the-pack Massive 12 program masquerading as an SEC powerbroker. Their confidence has led them to imagine {that a} coach of Day’s caliber can be banging on the A&M door. A month in the past, the Aggie trustworthy had been drooling over the Deion Sanders advertising machine.
A&M needs to be focusing on up-and-coming teaching prospects of substance. As a substitute, their delusions of grandeur have led them to imagine {that a} coach in Mark Stoops who’s generated electrical energy at a “basketball faculty” inside a bottom-rung SEC program which was profitable two video games a yr previous to his arrival. There have been intermittent 10-win seasons, however for probably the most half, Stoops has overseen the longest interval of success Kentucky soccer has ever skilled.
With one-tenth of A&M’s sources, Stoops has constructed a program that has logged an equivalent profitable proportion to Texas A&M’s. Since 2018, Fisher has a 47-28 file, in comparison with Stoops’ 46-26, file file throughout that span.
As a substitute, A&M’s Napoleon Complicated has led them to imagine that they should proceed making large swings, regardless of how badly they whiff and humiliate themselves.
Observe DJ Dunson on X: @cerebralsportex
