How Eric Wolford’s new UK contract might protect Mark Stoops from being jilted again

Mark Stoops insists he and new offensive line coach Eric Wolford have moved past any hard feelings resulting from Wolford’s 2022 departure from Kentucky, but Wolford’s contract with Kentucky appears to add an insurance policy to prevent a repeat of that drama anyway.

According to the term sheet signed by Wolford on Friday, the assistant coach would owe UK $500,000 for each year remaining on his contract if he leaves Lexington for another coaching job again. Wolford’s contract has not been finalized and released by UK’s Office of Legal Counsel, but the term sheet, which outlines the parameters of that contract, was obtained by the Lexington Herald-Leader through the state’s open records law.

That buyout figure is significantly higher than the other assistant coaches on Stoops’ staff.

Of the seven coaches returning from the 2023 season, only offensive coordinator Liam Coen has a buyout of more than $150,000 per year. Coen’s buyout ($250,000 per year remaining on his contract) is still half of Wolford’s required payment if he leaves UK for another job.

Wide receivers coach Daikiel Shorts, who Stoops hired in December, would owe UK $500,000 if he left for another job before June 2025, but Shorts’ buyout drops to $150,000 per year, like most of the other coaches on staff, after he completes his first full year in Lexington.

Wolford, a Youngstown, Ohio, native like Stoops, coached the offensive line at Kentucky for one season in 2021 before leaving for a job on Nick Saban’s Alabama staff. Wolford was not retained at Alabama when Saban retired and was replaced by former Washington coach Kalen DeBoer.

In an interview with BBN Tonight, a production from WLEX-TV, UK’s paid television partner, Stoops confirmed reports that he and Wolford did not part on the best of terms in January 2022. Wolford was recruiting for UK shortly before accepting the job at Alabama, where he then recruited many of the same players that he had been selling UK to only days earlier.

“Anytime when somebody leaves your program there’s always a little bit of hurt or regret or whatever you want to call it, especially when somebody is only there a short period of time,” Stoops told BBN Tonight. “I’ve learned things since Eric left about that transition. There’s things I could have done better. There’s things he could have done better. I think both of us understand that.

“The big thing is in our business there’s no room for being sensitive. You’ve got to have thick skin. You can’t be sensitive. You have to do what’s right at all times. Ultimately, you have to make tough decisions sometimes. I think that separation was difficult on some people, including me, but you learn things. I’m sure there’s things he would tell you if he could change he would, about the separation. The bottom line is he’s one heck of a football coach. I know what he can do. I know how he can help this program. Ultimately, that’s very important.”

Wolford’s term sheet outlines a two-year contract that would keep him on Stoops’ staff through the 2025 season. He will be paid $350,000 for the 2024 season and $800,000 for the 2025 season.

The lower 2024 salary – likely a result of severance payments Wolford will still receive from Alabama this year – offsets some of the financial hit UK took from the unusual timing of the move.

Kentucky signed former offensive line coach Zach Yenser to a one-year contract extension in November, even though his current contract wasn’t set to expire until June 30. Since UK fired Yenser after the extension had been finalized, it will have to pay him up to $650,000 in monthly installments from July 2024 to June 2025. That payment can be reduced if Yenser accepts another coaching job in the next year.

Yenser was fired on Jan. 24, two days before Wolford signed his term sheet, according to a written notification of termination obtained by the Herald-Leader through an open records request. That letter confirmed the terms of the extension signed on Nov. 30 were still binding even though it did not kick in until July 1.

The move came just less than two weeks after reports emerged that DeBoer was bringing his Washington offensive line coach with him to Alabama and not retaining Wolford.

“I don’t know if there is good timing,” Stoops told BBN Tonight. “I also contemplate a lot of things at the end of the season and evaluate everything. But I also want to make sure I don’t just make rash decisions if I don’t have a very good succession plan. I just don’t want to make moves to make moves and disrupt continuity if I don’t have a better plan in place. Read between the lines on the timing on that.”

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