5 candidates to replace Manny Diaz as Miami football coach

2. Mark Stoops, Kentucky head coach

The Wildcats got a tougher test than expected from Chattanooga on Saturday in a 28-23 win, but they are 3-0 heading into SEC play with an eye on a sixth straight bowl bid (three straight wins).

Into his ninth season as head coach at Kentucky, Stoops has a 52-50 record. But he’s built things up, from 2-10 in his first season and back-to-back 5-win seasons before the current run of bowls started. Last year’s 5-6 mark was a bit disappointing until a closer look reveals losses to Auburn, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The Wildcats ended the pandemic-impacted campaign with back-to-back wins.

Stoops is a tie to the last of Miami’s glory years as a football program. He was defensive backs coach under Larry Coker from 2001-2003, a run over which the Hurricanes went 35-3. Miami has one 10-win season since then (2017 under Mark Richt). Stoops went on to be the defensive coordinator at Arizona (2004-2009) and Florida State (2010-2012) before getting his first head coaching job at Kentucky.

Hurricanes’ fans may clamor for another Stoops to replace Diaz, as in Mark’s brother Bob–the former Oklahoma coach and current FOX analyst. But among realistic candidates, prying Mark Stoops from Kentucky will be far easier.