Mike Stoops

Michael Joseph Stoops (born December 13, 1961) is an American football coach and former player, who is the inside linebackers coach at the University of Kentucky.

After high school Stoops attended the University of Iowa and played for the Hawkeyes (1982–1984) as a strong safety.

He played on the same team with quarterback Chuck Long and was a two-time all-Big Ten Conference selection.

Stoops was signed as a free agent in May 1985 by the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL), but was cut on August 27.

In February 1986 he signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Falcons, but he missed the Falcons May 9–15 minicamp with a ruptured gall bladder from an auto accident and was later cut by Atlanta.

In the summer of 1987, Stoops became one of the original 80 Arena Football League (AFL) players when he suited up for the Pittsburgh Gladiators.

Stoops was a key member of the Gladiators that season who went on to play in the inaugural ArenaBowl, losing to Denver, 45–16.

He was named Second-team All-Arena in 1987.

Stoops took time off from his job as a graduate assistant at Iowa to play as a replacement player for a limited time in 1987 with the Chicago Bears during the NFL strike.

Wearing #44, he played safety in three games with the Bears that year, suffering a concussion in an October 4 victory (35–3) against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Other former Iowa players who were members of the National Football League Players Association had harsh words for Stoops.

He responded, "I don't give a damn what they think. I wasn't trying to hurt anybody, and deep down, I think they know that. But if they feel that way, fine, don't ever talk to me again".

Returning to the Arena Football League, in the six-game AFL regular season, Stoops caught 22 passes, scored three touchdowns, made 15 tackles and recorded an interception, playing both wide receiver and defensive back positions.

Stoops held assistant coaching positions at the University of Iowa, Kansas State University and the University of Oklahoma.

It was the Wildcats' first bowl appearance since the 1998 Holiday Bowl.

Stoops also served as the head football coach at the University of Arizona from 2003 until his firing during the 2011 season.

He previously served as an assistant football coach at the University of Iowa, Kansas State University, and University of Oklahoma.

He is the younger brother of Bob Stoops, the former head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners football program, and the older brother of Mark Stoops, head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats football program.

With his hiring by Arizona in November 2003, Stoops became the school's youngest coach at hiring at age 41, since Larry Smith.

Upon taking over, he hired his brother, University of Miami defensive backs coach Mark Stoops, as defensive coordinator.

Stoops then followed and hired Texas Tech co-offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes after the 2006 season.

Dykes, named as winner of the All-American Football Foundation's Mike Campbell Top Assistant Award and later head coach at Louisiana Tech, California and SMU, has been cited as one of the country's brightest offensive minds and top ten college recruiters by Rivals.com.

After going 6–6 in 2006, the Wildcats lost three of their first four games in 2007, including a 29–27 loss at home to New Mexico.

In that game, Stoops gained a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for his behavior on the sideline, which led to a New Mexico touchdown.

Following a 2007, 21–20 home loss to Stanford, dropping the team to 2–6, local media began speculating as to whether Stoops would be fired.

However, subsequent statements by the athletic director and the university's president indicated that Stoops would return for an additional season.

At the beginning of the season, many believed this to be the year Stoops and the Wildcats would reach their first college bowl game in a decade; a winning season was considered a must in order for Stoops to remain as Wildcats head coach.

Under the direction of Stoops, Arizona scored 70 points in the season opener against the Idaho Vandals, falling just four points short of a school record for points scored in a game.

They went on to soundly defeat Toledo, UCLA, Washington, and California, but lost close games to New Mexico and Stanford.

They went on to defeat Washington State on the road to secure bowl eligibility at six wins, but lost to Oregon on the road after mounting a dramatic second-half come-from-behind rally, and to Oregon State in Tucson on a last-second field goal.

The Wildcats' final game of the regular season was a 31–10 victory on December 6 in Tucson against Arizona State in the annual Territorial Cup rivalry game.

With that win and a final regular season record of 7–5, Arizona accepted a bid from to the Las Vegas Bowl to face BYU.

Stoops' reputation in Tucson was mixed; while the Wildcats had a winning record and appeared in and won their first bowl game in ten years, many fans were divided during the season on whether he should be retained as head coach, as they expected Stoops to guide the team to an eight, nine or even ten-win season given the talent level and the offensive and defensive systems employed by the Wildcats (and with the overall talent level in the Pac-10 conference perceived to be not as strong as usual in 2008).

While Stoops brought the Wildcat football program to a level of respectability which was lost during the era of John Mackovic, some fans were disappointed the program was not at the elite level of Stoops' former program Oklahoma or of perennial Pac-10 football power USC.

However, Stoops was given strong votes of confidence by UA (later UNLV) athletic director Jim Livengood, by university president Dr. Robert Shelton, and by several prominent Arizona football boosters.

He returned to Oklahoma as the defensive coordinator in 2012.

He served in the position until he was fired on October 7, 2018.

After spending time at the University of Alabama as an analyst, he spent one season as the defensive coordinator of the Florida Atlantic Owls in 2021.

Stoops is one of six children born to Ron, Sr. and Evelyn "Dee Dee" Stoops in Youngstown, Ohio.

He attended Cardinal Mooney High School in Youngstown, Ohio, where his father was an assistant football coach and defensive coordinator.