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By Brett Hudson

No families are divided like the Stoops family. And the two kids involved are not making things any easier.

Bob, the head football coach for the Oklahoma Sooners, had some less-than-glowing remarks for the Southeastern Conference, the new home for his brother Mark, taking over for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Mark ensured there are no hard feelings between the two at SEC Media Days.

“I certainly understand him defending his conference,” Mark said. “I don’t think anyone has to defend what’s going on in the SEC right now.”

Stoops has his worries placed elsewhere, more concentrated: from the 11 states of the Southeastern Conference to just two: his own of Kentucky and the neighbors to the north, Ohio.

“We want to start (in Kentucky) and recruit there first and foremost,” Stoops said. “We certainly need to expand into Ohio. It just makes sense, with where southern Ohio is and my ties through the state of Ohio, growing up in northern Ohio.”

So far, his focus has come through with key commitments early in his tenure with the Wildcats.

“Somewhat of a pleasant surprise, the success we’ve been having in that region,” Stoops said.

The problem with the recent recruiting success comes in keeping expectations reasonable as Stoops tries to build the Wildcat football program from the bottom up.

“We all get caught up in the momentum,” Stoops ssaid. “I feel good about the recruiting momentum here.

“They all know what we have. They all know what we did last year. They have to believe in where we are going. I’m very honest with those guys.”