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fixes empty view field issue Coach Stoops, holding a headset, looks up during a game. He is wearing a blue UK polo shirt and UK baseball cap. The background and foreground are both blurred.
fixes empty view field issue Coach stoops, wearing a gray jacket, leads a team of Kentucky football players onto the field. He has a whistle in his mouth and is wearing a UK baseball cap.
In order to lead an active team, Coach Stoops needed to be able to move, pain-free.
fixes empty view field issue A UK football player lifts Coach Stoops off the ground in a huge hug on the sidelines of a football game.
Thanks to his knee surgery, Coach Stoops can celebrate victories pain-free.
fixes empty view field issue Coach Stoops talks to his team inside the UK football practice facility. He is surrounded by players, who are kneeling down around him.
“I highly recommend UK Orthopedics. It's not just for elite athletes, it's for everybody.”
  1. EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE
Mark Stoops

Elite Care for All

“I highly recommend the UK Orthopaedic folks. It's not just for elite athletes, it's for everybody, and I'm quite sure that anyone will be much better off after you get that surgery done.”

Mark Stoops led the University of Kentucky football team from 2012-2025. He was just about as active on the sidelines as the players on the field.

So when his knee pain, which he’d been experiencing for years, made that level of activity impossible, he decided to undergo knee replacement surgery at UK HealthCare Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine. It’s a choice that proved vital for his job as well as his quality of life.

Coach stoops, wearing a gray jacket, leads a team of Kentucky football players onto the field. He has a whistle in his mouth and is wearing a UK baseball cap.
A UK football player lifts Coach Stoops off the ground in a huge hug on the sidelines of a football game.
Coach Stoops talks to his team inside the UK football practice facility. He is surrounded by players, who are kneeling down around him.

Stoops had dealt with knee pain and related issues since his college days playing football for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Since college, he had undergone multiple knee surgeries to correct those issues, but continued to experience severe pain and discomfort in his adult life and throughout his coaching career.

“Prior to the surgery, my knee was a little bow legged,” said Stoops. “I had over-corrected medial collateral and no ACL, so my knee was all bent up.”

Dr. Jeff Selby, an orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in knee replacements, performed Stoops’ surgery in 2015. Recovery from knee replacement surgery can be challenging--while most can return to normal life after six weeks, some full recoveries take up to six months to completely recover. For patients like Stoops, though, the results are worth the wait.

Coach Stoops, wearing a suit, holds his son’s hands as his son flips through Coach’s arms. His son is upside down, mid-flip, and is wearing a gray sweatshirt gray pants and blue sneakers.
Grinning broadly, Coach Stoops runs out onto the field after a victory. He’s surrounded by extremely excited Kentucky football players.
Coach Stoops runs out onto the field ahead of two National Guardsmen in uniform, one holding a flag, as well as another uniformed person. The football team is behind them.
“It was definitely a big change for me. I think I grew an inch or two after I had it done. The surgery definitely straightened me out and just helped my quality of life immensely. I’m much more active and have a lot less pain now. I’m so grateful to have that behind me.”

While Stoops and other members of the University of Kentucky Football family throughout the years have benefited from the expertise of UK Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine, he’s the first to recognize that this quality of care is for everyone in the Big Blue Nation, not just for elite athletes.

“UK HealthCare is so talented and can help in all areas and all levels. I think a lot of people dread going in when they hear the word surgery, and it's definitely no small feat, but these folks are so talented and can do so many things. The doctors and the surgeons, they are the real heroes over there. They are changing people's lives every day, and we greatly appreciate them and what they do for the Big Blue Nation and what they do for our community.”
Produced by UK HealthCare Brand Strategy

Topics in this Story

  1. Big Blue Nation
  2. Orthopaedics

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