Fresh off his team's upset victory over Louisville in the annual Governors' Cup game, Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops is taking himself out of the running for the coveted Texas A&M coaching vacancy. The news was first reported by ESPN Sunday morning and based on a social media post Stoops made just after 1 AM Eastern Time.

“After celebrating a big win against our rivals with players I love like family, I knew in my heart I couldn’t leave the University of Kentucky right now,” Stoops wrote in the post, adding, “I have a great job at a place I love, and I get to work with the best administration and greatest fan base in college football right where I’m at. I’m excited to say I’m a Wildcat!”

56-year-old Stoops, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, took over the Kentucky football program in 2013 after stints as a defensive coordinator at Arizona and Florida State. He is the all-time winningest coach in the program's history at 73-64. Under Stoops' leadership, the Wildcats have made seven consecutive bowl appearances with a 4-3 record in those games.

The team's 2023 bowl fate has yet to be determined. Before Saturday's win, many college football prognosticators had the Wildcats pegged for Duke's Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina, on December 27th or potentially the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 29th. But the team's thrilling comeback win against in-state rival Louisville —whose college football playoff hopes were all but destroyed in defeat, may have the Wildcats vying for a bigger bowl game.