Vince Marrow says the formula Mark Stoops is using at Kentucky works. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Youngstown State head coach Doug Phillips could not say enough good things about Kentucky coach Mark Stoops, a Youngstown native, last week when UK hosted Youngstown and beat the Penguins 31-0. Phillips is also trying to use the blueprint of what Stoops has done at Kentucky to elevate Youngstown’s program.
“I have tremendous respect for what coach Stoops has done. It’s almost like 10 years ago, they said, ‘You know, Kentucky can’t compete in the SEC,’” Phillips said. “Like us, I hear day in and day out, ‘Why do we play in such a tough conference?’ Well, guess why? Playing a tough conference is going to prepare you nationally, just like they have at Kentucky.”
“Look at Kentucky, they’re in the top 10 now and they compete in the SEC, they go to bowl games, they win. And their next step is to win the SEC. So it’s kind of a blueprint, you know, can we do the same thing here at Youngstown State in the Missouri Valley? Can we recruit to what we need to?”
Phillips is obviously hearing that Youngstown State can’t do that much like Stoops and associate head coach Vince Marrow, another Youngstown native, heard when they came to Kentucky 10 years ago.
“They had to recruit the players at Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, and then develop those young men to be able to compete week-in and week-out because, their schedule, guess what? They don’t have any soft ones, just like we won’t have any soft ones,” Phillips said.
Marrow said Stoops is “doing something great here” as shown by the recent win at Florida, UK’s second in five years at Florida and third in five years against the Gators.
“Recruits and coaches in other states see this foundation is good. They don’t listen to the noise of those picking against us,” Marrow said. “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. When you get punched, then you see how serious a program is.”
“I had all kinds of friends hitting me up after the Florida win. Everybody can be frontrunners in the preseason and talk about other programs. I know what we got here. How do you not want to come here and play? We run a NFL offense and defense. We project guys into the league. The formula we are using works and wins like the one at Florida just validate that.”
