Larry Vaught Photo
If Kentucky fans were upset with the way Kentucky played against Georgia, Vince Marrow understood.
“Hell, I would be with them,” Marrow, UK’s recruiting coordinator/tight ends coach, said. “We have raised this program to a certain standard. It’s not like 2013 (in Mark Stoops’ first year) where we just showed up and played football.
“I understand their (fans) anger and I am probably right there with them. But trust me, Mark Stoops is the only coach that could do this and have us where we are right now. This is a hard league and where he has taken this team and where we are right now, fourth winningest coach in the league the last five years … if you had told me that when we first got here and what we are dealing with … I will hold that comment.”
Kentucky is 5-1 going into Saturday night’s game against Missouri and has become an annual winning program and bowl team. Marrow remembers when he arrived with Stoops that previous UK coaching staffs “for some reason” felt they could not recruit in Ohio.
“When we first got here Ohio was the one state that saved us and brought players in,” Marrow said. “Once we started winning and got credibility, players from other states started seeing these guys are coming.
“You have got to have some kind of connection in Ohio. You can’t just come in Ohio and recruit it.”
Stoops and Marrow were both Ohio natives and former Ohio high school football standouts. Both had numerous connections in Ohio.
“This was a tough job. I don’t know if it is now because I know we have credibility in the league,” Marrow said. “He was the right guy to come in and change it around.
“Georgia is a pretty good team that last time I checked. We did shoot ourselves in the foot. I thought on offense we were just as physical as them. We watched film and saw things we could have capitalized on.
“But yeah, I do believe he (Stoops) is the only guy that could do that (raise UK’s program to where it is now).”
7 Responses
Last Saturday was universally deflating for every UK football fan. The performance not only failed to meet expectation levels in every facet of the game, but the performance was the weakest of the season when the stage was grandest.
I cannot recount the years I have fought against listening to the off season hype, and I have trained myself to examine actual performance once the season starts and evaluate the performance against some established standards. But, this off season, I failed to fend off the hype and I bought into it. So my disappointment in last week’s game is much stronger for me personally than any close.
Tomorrow I believe we find out if the hype this year was just more of the same in which case, I experienced a major systems failure by buying into it this year.
One thing I believe has occurred too much with Coach Stoops is his teams sometimes let a disappointing loss turn quickly into two losses.
If this team has any chance to still have a magic season, it must win tomorrow.
Hope that the hype contains some truthful elements.
Man you need to check yourself! Seriously! I have been a UK football fan for over 40 years and I’m thrilled with where we are now. Dude you have to much pride in your ignorance.
I am with you Greg. Some people are too quick to forget where we were before Stoops. I have been watching UK football for over 50 years and I NEVER thought UK would be where they are now…NEVER!!!! I still believe UK will continue to get better under Stoops and any fan that is critical of Stoops needs to find a new team to root for. Go Cats!!
Well, I guess there is no concern about tonight’s game among real fans.
The Professor is usually right on the money. We have feasted on Popcorn States and lower tier SEC schools for the past 3 years. Now that we have to play the better SEC teams we are finding that we were not as good as the soft part of our schedule made us look.
I sure am glad that a couple of real fans who have such a commanding appreciation for the current state of this football team have set me straight.
I bow to your clearly superior fandom and lengthy tenure.
How many more games should I expect this team to win this season?
Inquiring minds want to know.
I doubt this UK football team is mentally ready to face the Vols now from what I have seen these past two game. I hope they prove me wrong.
Kentucky’s offense is one dimensional now. Seems like UK is in 2nd and long or third and long all day long and generally can’t convert. What happened to all these pass catching TE’s we have in that room too? The way I see it, the Kentucky defense must return to form or this team is finished. The forward pass is becoming a real gamble, and still is even after 7 games. If I were Stoops, I would lean heavy on the run against the Vols and indeed the rest of the year. Build the game plan around Davis, and the RB’s.
Reality, UK could well finish 5-7. That is a scary thought after all the hype we all heard coming out of their fall camp. This Kentucky football team needs to suck it up and have some pride. Coach does not seem to be able to motivate his teams when adversity comes. The great ones can. Beat Tennessee and UK’s season could well have a happy ending, and Coach can relax then. Kentucky must come out against the Vols on a mission from start to finish. Go Cats!!!