Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Stoops and MVP quarterback Lynn Bowden Jr. Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Mark Stoops employes a different player’s first mentality for Kentucky football.
Early on in John Calipari’s tenure at Kentucky, fans were introduced to the phrase “players first.” It’s a line he’s uttered consistently over the course of the last 12 years. He even included it as part of the title of a book he wrote in 2014. But Kentucky football has a different take.
This phrase is most commonly associated with the idea that a player’s success is equally, if not more important than team success; measured by the first-round draft picks against NCAA Tournament wins.