Kentucky’s Mark Stoops is now the longest-tenured head football coach in the SEC, but he might not have been had the offseason turned out differently.

After 11 years with the Wildcats, Stoops’ name surfaced during Texas A&M’s search to replace Jimbo Fisher before the Aggies ultimately hired Mike Elko. Asked at SEC Media Days Thursday in Dallas “how close or not close” he came to leaving Lexington for College Station, Stoops demurred.

“I was pursued pretty aggressively by them and we’ll just leave it at that out of respect for everybody involved,” Stoops said. “… It was very brief. I was pursued, I had a job to do. … There’s only been 19 coaches in the history of the SEC that have been 12 years at their institution. I’m proud to be a member of that group. I’ve been grinding it in Kentucky for a long time and very proud of that and want to continue to do that.”

The 57-year-old Stoops is 73-65 at Kentucky, including 7-6 in 2023. As SEC commissioner Greg Sankey noted Thursday, the Wildcats are one of just three programs in the conference — with Alabama and Georgia — to participate in a bowl game the last eight seasons (new SEC member Oklahoma is also on that list).

Stoops became the “dean of SEC coaches” upon the retirement of Alabama’s Nick Saban after 17 years in January. Among league head coaches, only Stoops and Georgia’s Kirby Smart — entering Year 10 — have been in their current jobs more than five years.

“It’s an accomplishment by a lot of people,” Stoops said. “Our administration has been very support for a very long time. There’s a lot of coaches that have come and gone that have worked tirelessly to help put us in this position, and a lot of players that have dedicated a lot. I feel very fortunate, very blessed.

“I want to continue to succeed. I don’t look down on some of the things we’ve done. There’s only three (SEC) schools that have more wins than us since 2018. Again, that’s not nothing. But we want more.”

Kentucky opens the season Aug. 31 at home vs. Southern Miss.