Entering one of the most important weeks on Kentucky's football schedule this season, Mark Stoops found himself dealing with a distraction on Monday.

Just hours after Florida State announced that it was parting ways with head coach Willie Taggart, the UK boss emerged as a popular replacement candidate on many national websites.

Stoops was defensive coordinator for the Seminoles from 2010-2012 before taking over the UK program. During his last three years with the Wildcats, he's won 24 games and taken the team to three consecutive bowl games. He was SEC Coach of The Year last season after leading UK to its first 10-win season since 1977 and a Citrus Bowl victory over Penn State.

That kind of sustained success in Lexington has made him an inevitable prospect during coaching carousel season, although the timing is not optimal as Kentucky (4-4, 2-4 SEC) prepares to face resurgent Tennessee (4-5, 2-3 SEC) on Saturday night at Kroger Field in a key game for both teams.

"You know, it's something that you don't really want to address in-season," Stoops said Monday during his weekly press luncheon. "I guess it's better than the alternative, so, for us, for myself, it's 100% concentration on Tennessee. That's all I want. That's all I want our team to focus on. That's all you can do. I guess, with success, you're going to have some of that."

Stoops joked that he's no stranger to coaching rumors at UK.

"For me, this is six and a half years, I sit there and listen to Coach Cal, and every year he's going to the NBA, right?" he said with a smile. "You just dismiss it and concentrate on the things that you can control. I'm not going to get into speculation. I'm going to talk about University of Kentucky and Tennessee."

Asked if the rumors could prove to be a distraction for UK's players, Stoops said: "I can promise you the guys in our building, they're not going to worry about anything except getting ready for Tennessee. All the folks that feel it will be a distraction, I can promise you that it won't."

Stoops did acknowledge, however, that it may be situation that the UK staff needs to address with recruits. The Cats are currently putting together what he has described as his best class in Lexington to date, and the rumors find their way to top prospects in the blink of an eye via social media.

"I don't mean to (sound) so old that I can't understand all that," Stoops said, "but it gets a little bit absurd how fast things go and people like to get out in front of their skis really far in that world.

"That needs to be addressed, but nothing that we can't handle."

CBS Sports on Sunday suggested that Stoops' brother, former Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, might be the top candidate. Former Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer was also listed before a group of other candidates that was led by Mark Stoops and also included Washington State's Mike Leach, Minnesota's P.J. Fleck, and Clemson defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

ESPN added names like Notre Dame's Brian Kelly, Oregon's Mario Cristolbal, and Memphis' Mike Norvell to the speculation pool.