Vicky Graff Photo
While there have been no official statements from Louisville or Kentucky regarding UK associate football coach Vince Marrow joining the Louisville football team as general manager, many others are sharing their thoughts on the Mark Stoops-Vince Marrow breakup.
The two childhood buddies have been together at Kentucky since Stoops took over and helped rejuvenate the UK program before last season’s 4-8 debacle, which contributed to Marrow’s career shift.
SEC Network host Paul Finebaum put Stoops on the hot seat last season after UK’s disappointing performance, and he’s not pulling punches about what Marrow’s loss means.
“If you’re a Kentucky football fan, you know the most valuable person on your staff is Vince Marrow,” Finebaum said on his show. “He’s been the best recruiter, incredible recruiter, and Kentucky has done everything imaginable to keep him there.
“Guess what? He’s leaving to become the general manager at Louisville, right down the road, finalizing a three-year deal. This is an absolute body blow to Mark Stoops’ Kentucky football program.
“That was already a football program that was bleeding. The last two years have been abysmal for Mark Stoops, so this could not have come at a worse time. It is a significant story. This is the guy that literally ran the football operation there in terms of personnel. It’s a very big story.”
Yes, it is, and that is not going to change any time soon because, right or wrong, Marrow had become the face of UK football because of the way he was always so visible and willing to talk about UK football.
“Vince Marrow was the backbone for Kentucky football’s rise the last decade, and key recruiter on some of the best players they ever landed,” FoxSports’ Aaron Torres posted on social media. “Him leaving – let alone for their biggest rival – is a pretty good indication that he doesn’t expect Mark Stoops to be in town much longer.”
That obviously will depend on this season, but also don’t forget Stoops will still have a $30 million buyout when this season ends.
CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah wrote that while Kentucky had always been a difficult job, it was “teetering on impossible now” with a stacked schedule and UK athletics having to decide how to fund football and men’s basketball.
He compared that to Louisville coach Jeff Brohm being a rising star.
“It’s hard to view this as anything less than Marrow tying his career to Brohm as Kentucky football falters,” Jeyarajah wrote.
14 Responses
Gotta be something dark in Stoops closet that would appreciably lower his payout upon resignation. Hate to be so dark, but he has enough 💰💰 now to retire comfortably.
No other member or even a few of them on the UK FB staff or in the program could have made such a major impact upon leaving.
Vince Marrow turned down offers, even as HC, staying at UK and helping build the program from a heap of collapse into a program tapping st the upper level of the SEC.
It would be hard to find many fans defending Stoops in this loss.
Marrow most likely left because Stoops was listening more to Eddie Gran for advice on who to recruit resulting in Marrow’s input as being just an afterthought. Stoops has brought this calamity upon himself. He should do the honorable thing and resign as no other team will want him.
You could now say that Kentucky’s football program could be compared to a car without an engine. It has a big price tag and looks pretty, but it’s not going anywhere.
Hahaha
I feel sorry for Stoops. He is causing his own destruction and doesn’t seem to even know it. He talks about wanting his players to be tough, loyal, etc. Then he turns around and hires coaches like Cohen (twice), who used UK like a swinging door to the NFL, causing even more instability. He hired an OL coach that threw dirt in his face by recruiting players for his new school while still working for UK. Then he rehired him and expects things to be better.
He hired Gran from Cincinnati where he had a tremendous passing game. After he got to UK, he forgot how to do that part of the game. Or Stoops wouldn’t allow it, which is most likely. Stoops even fired an OC because he wanted to score too quickly (Shannon Dawson) and complained that his defense was getting tired.
Stoops is his own instability!!
You’re right about that Old fan
I am stunned. I was hoping some day that Morrow would be our coach. Unbelievable. The buzz is that Stoops would never, ever listen to Morrow (lately I assume) and that he (Stoops) is hard headed and also he does not take his staff’s suggestions. After last year’s debacle, it is Stoops who must go. But who then will want the UK job? It’s tough and makes me so sad. Just stunned. I usually end my posts with "Go Cats" but somehow my heart just isn’t in it. Of course, I shall be rooting for the team, but, I am just stunned.
STunned is a fair word Kathy
Tumble weed will blow through Kroger Field this fall.
Well this is our chance to see what Stoops would be without Vince Marrow. I don’t think he would have been Kentucky’s coach for more than 4 years without Marrow. We shall see. I do think this his Stoops last rodeo in the sec. He should do whatever he can to give his team the advantage. Like I said I would love to hire Jon sumrall as the coach and Neal Brown back as the offensive coordinator that is 2 alumni that would love to be back and bring our program at least back to the middle of the pack in the sec. I don’t think its possible for us to ever be a team at the top of the sec for multiple seasons. We might have our one year were we could make a playoff but that will never happen back to back years at Kentucky. You would have to have a young team make it to the playoffs then return when they are all a year older but I doubt we ever make a playoff playing in the sec. We don’t recruit good enough and we don’t utilize players the right way. We need a coach who actually cares if Kentucky football is a great program and it doesn’t seem like Stoops cares anymore. His ego has won out. His ego got bigger with every 7 win season he had. If you really think about it Stoops had Kentucky relevant when South Carolina Florida and Tennessee were all down. Now all 3 teams are rising in the rankings and Kentucky can’t keep up. Even when Tennessee was down we could hardly beat them. Even the years they were terrible and we were fair we couldnt get the job done. Florida we started owning them until last year the same can be said for South Carolina and Vanderbilt now that all these teams have improved from the transfer portal and were still stuck in neutral.
Summral & Neal Brown are winners.
When Brown left in the early years of Stoops, that was one of the first red flags for Stoops. Stoops is incoherent regarding offense and is too stubborn to let the real OC’s have control.
Coen came back to Lexington, where his family was delighted to establish themselves in a place they really liked. Coen did not intend to leave but I believe Stoops did not act according to his promises to Coen, which would have primarily been to have full control of the offense and basically remove the headphones from Stoops when UK had the ball and when Coen & Marrow were recruiting.
Stoops must have a fear of seeing the ball in the air. It could be something which is a serious issue. It’s just obvious he does not want to pass the ball.
The comment about Stoops complaining about UK scoring too fast reminds me of chjoker. It is an award winner for being one of the dumbest plans in history – “don’t score too fast!”
Coen left UK and could have been a key to helping Stoops adapt to the NIL & transfer mess. He is young enough to not get set in his ways and wants to win. His next stop in the pros launched him into becoming the HC for Jacksonville. UK had a good DC D so it was a perfect chance for UK to be strong in both sides of the ball.
Neal Brown & Summral are great choices of UK is going to have any chance to bounce back in 4 to 5 years instead of 10 or more.
Lots of food comments in this thread – by Wren, Oritchett, Old Fan, UKfanfromWildwest, and others.
I suppose there will be no statements from anyone on either side until the lawyers finish reviewing and determine if there will be any lawsuits. I’ve been a big fan of Marrow and think he deserves a lot of the credit for the success of the football team the past decade but I can’t give him a pass for making this move at this time of year. He should’ve left in the winter or swallowed his pride and left after this season. On the other hand, it is mind boggling how little effort has been made by Stoops and UK Football to try and keep the fan base engaged since last season. It seems like they don’t care whether the fans are on board or not. If you are in charge and making $9M/year, do 100% of the job (including interviews and PR) or move on. What a mess.
So true!