Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops appeared all set to become the next head coach at Texas A&M, at least for a brief couple of hours on Saturday night. Then something changed.
It's not clear exactly why — whether driven by the outrage from Texas A&M fans or cold feet from the coach himself — but Stoops is now out of the mix for the vacancy in College Station.
Pete Thamel and others confirmed reports that the Stoops deal is dead. He will stay at Kentucky.
Kentucky's Mark Stoops will not be the next Texas A&M coach, ESPN can confirm.
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) November 26, 2023
Texas A&M coaching search continues after Mark Stoops detour and Aggies fans couldn't be happier
Stoops is now confirmed to be staying at Kentucky. Thank you lord. Our work here is done. #GigEm
— Texas A&M Recruits (@tamurecruits) November 26, 2023
A story in 3 acts #Aggies #Stoops pic.twitter.com/QfhUkaBj8G
— Larry FooteSack (@atxhobogrl) November 26, 2023
Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Stoops pic.twitter.com/GGO47CLKfx
— The 3rd & Long Pod (@3rdAndLongRDR) November 26, 2023
Wow I am going to have whiplash before this is over.
— Kyle Lovinggood 🌵👍🏼 (@kloveaggs) November 26, 2023
Stoops is not going be Texas A&M’s head coach. 😂
Aggies should be happy now… https://t.co/4CZrshc0Lc
That was honestly the most organized and together I’ve ever seen Aggies and Aggie Twitter on anything 😭😭😂
— John Patterson (@johnpaulp) November 26, 2023
Elijah Robinson is the man for the job
— CFBTalkDaily (@CFBTalkDaily) November 26, 2023
Amazing recruiter and defensive mind
A veteran OC would make this a dangerous Aggies staff pic.twitter.com/8W65p1vbkz
It wouldn't be a saga involving Texas A&M without a bit of chaos. The Aggies fired Jimbo Fisher despite a massive buyout because the former national title winner couldn't get the Aggies into the upper echelon of the SEC. They were rumored to be after big names like Ryan Day of Ohio State or Dabo Swinney of Clemson. So when the Stoops link came out, fans felt a bit duped.
There was definitely some emotional whiplash for Texas A&M and Kentucky fans on Saturday night. One minute, Stoops was definitely going to A&M, the next the deal was off.
Eventually, the actual story of how it all went down will have to come out. That should be an interesting story to say the least. For now, Texas A&M needs to figure out where they go from here. There is a strong push in the fanbase to elevate interim head coach Elijah Robinson to head coach. The defensive coordinator is highly respected as a recruiter. He stepped in with two games remaining and led a victory over Abilene Christian before engineering an upset big against LSU that ultimately fell short.