Mark Stoops (Vicky Graff Photo)
Vince Marrow is obviously more than just a little biased when it comes to Mark Stoops, the man he came to Kentucky to work for as soon as Stoops became UK’s head coach.
“I don’t think any other coach with so many challenges could have done what Mark Stoops has done here,” said Marrow. “The key was us going into Ohio and getting those guys (recruits), four-star guys. Maybe Benny (Snell) was only a three-star but he was really, really good. Ohio produces a lot of college and NFL players and we had to get in there with our ties to that state.”
The Kentucky recruiting coordinator says the UK administration deserves credit for giving Stoops time to build the program the way he wanted.
“I think they could see where it was going. A lot of big-time coaches would have failed here because they would not have had the blueprint to change this like we did,” Marrow said.
“At first we had some top recruits but not the overall bodies to compete. Once we started building depth, we took off. It still comes down to recruiting even now. You can go into different states to recruit and have NIL (name, image, and likeness) but you still have to be a good recruiter.”
Marrow said recruiting moved to a different level when Stoops brought in Liam Coen as offensive coordinator last year and recruits could see not only that receiver Wan’Dale Robinson had a huge year but Kentucky running backs and offensive linemen were still effective.
“It’s kind of like Cal (John Calipari) recruiting players to get them ready for the NBA,” Marrow said. “Now we have an offense geared to get players to the NFL and that won’t change with (new offensive coordinator) Rich (Scangarello).”
4 Responses
The Thesis that Coach Stoops is accomplishing something that no other coach could accomplish is supported by the history. UK has not been a ghost town for really good football coaches, and many of the coaches that have migrated in and out of the UK football program have been outstanding football men and coaches, successful at a high level at other places before and/or after their stint in Lexington.
As successful as Bear Bryant was here, there can be no question that he enjoyed more success after he left. Yes, it is fair to argue that he might have enjoyed that same success had he remained at UK, but that argument has strong counterarguments based on the history at the UK after Bryant left.
Blanton Collier was one of the best, but he could not sustain Bryant’s success and was shown the door. He became a legendary coach in the NFL thereafter.
Fran Curci was successful in Miami before coming to UK, and while he did enjoy some success here, including the magical 1976, 1977 run, he could not sustain it without cheating.
Jerry Claiborne was as good as it gets in the 1970s at Va. Tech and Maryland before he returned home to give UK some football success. He did produce some nice teams in the mid-1980s, but could not sustain it, and even his best teams did not really measure up to the field in the SEC. Furthermore, the BBN grew weary of his strong Wide Tackle 6 defenses, and Coach retired earlier than needed to get away from the near-constant criticism.
Bill Curry is a football man to his core, and he enjoyed success as a player in college and the NFL and came to Lexington from head coaching positions at Alabama and Georgia Tech where he enjoyed coaching success at the college level. Curry’s time at UK was marred by many things, but after disgruntled fans made death threats against Bill’s wife, he seemed to lose his interest in coaching at UK, and was soon history.
Hal Mumme was one of the college game’s great innovators, and he seemed to have the program on the rise until the cheating bug reappeared, and he was gone. He continued his innovations of the game elsewhere, and his ideas have literally changed the college game.
Rich Brooks is another football man to his core, and he also used his coaching prowess to elevate the UK program during his time, but as soon as he was gone, those improvements evaporated and exposed the program itself as void of real substance and demonstrated how Brooks’ own coaching and relationships with his players worked to get better results on the field.
The Joker experiment was a joke on the BBN, and as soon as his failure was evident, he was shown the door. He left the program in a pile of ashes.
I recall when Coach Stoops arrived I wrote something to the effect that UK has hired another real football man, and that if anyone could get this job done for the UK program and fans, it would be Coach Stoops, BUT given the history and the UK administration’s lack of real commitment to football during my entire lifetime, I could not see any way that even Coach Stoops could be successful when Coaches Collier, Curci, Claiborne, Curry, Mumme, and Brooks could not.
I believe two things changed when Coach Stoops arrived. First, and perhaps most importantly, the UK Athletics administration made a big-time commitment to building a real football program with major facility upgrades AND the funding to hire an array of coaching staff members who can work with Coach Stoops to give him the best chance to succeed. The second major change is Coach Stoops himself. He started this impossible journey with a lucid vision of the future he foresaw, and a tangible plan to get there. He went to work, never once showing any public view of discouragement. He forged ahead, one day, one week, one month, and one season at a time. He forged ahead one recruit, one player, and one team at a time.
It has been my belief that building a real football program at UK from the ashes that an uncommitted UK Athletics Association allowed to pile up over a span of over 60 years would require at least a generation to change the culture, and I believe that is still the case. That means Coach Stoops’ job here is about 1/2 done. I also believe Coach Stoops is committed to finishing the job he set out for himself, and for us.
Go get ’em Coach, and Thank you for your commitment to the UK football program and the football-loving Big Blue Nation!!!
"Kentucky is a football state" as Larry Vaught has reminded us all for as long as I have known Larry. Coach Stoops clearly saw this too. Perhaps he talked to Larry V. before accepting this challenge. 🙂
Happy Birthday Larry! Hope that you have had a great day! Glad to see interesting articles after a couple of, well maybe a few decades! Looking forward to the next 2 or 3 decades!
Also good response from TheProfessor! I agree with both of you. Brings back a lot of memories of football over the years. We have certainly been through a lot!
Oh, one last point, and comparison of Coach Stoops to Calipari is completely misplaced. I should not need to point out the differences.
Hey Larry put the professor on the payroll!