Vince Marrow leaving Kentucky for Louisville is a crazy, but telling development for the SEC’s longest-tenured coach
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Like many, I always assumed that Vince Marrow would be at Kentucky for Mark Stoops’ final day on the job. No matter what that looked like, I wasn’t alone in assuming that the Day 1 Kentucky assistant would never leave the ship that he helped Stoops build in Lexington, despite seemingly annual rumors that he could be on the move.
I mean, he literally said in front of a crowded restaurant of UK fans back in 2020 that “I’m never leaving this place.”
So yes, when the SEC’s longest-tenured head coach lost the first person that he hired 12.5 years ago, it’s fair to say that the official breakup of the Youngstown natives was a noteworthy development. The fact that Marrow left Kentucky in June — that’s now the most important month of the recruiting calendar — to take the general manager position at rival Louisville was, dare I say, a stunning development on Monday afternoon.
It’s telling, though.
For those who followed Kentucky, you knew that things haven’t exactly been “business as usual” during the last 3 years of the Stoops era. Even as Stoops passed Paul “Bear” Bryant to the top spot of the school’s all-time wins list, UK has looked more like a program that was coming apart at the seams than a program that was ready for the next step in the expanded SEC. Marrow’s exit confirmed that.
If you read and listen to people at Kentucky Sports Radio, who developed a close rapport with Marrow, you knew that somewhere during the last few years, his relationship with Stoops had soured. Once considered the glue guy to Kentucky’s blue-collar recruiting approach, KSR reported that other assistants had the head coach’s ear more than Marrow in recent memory. Mind you, this was the guy who recruited UK stars like Benny Snell, Wan’Dale Robinson and Lynn Bowden.
(I remember talking to Bowden about the time when he knew that the in-state Buckeyes were showing up to his high school to try and make a late push for him after he committed to Kentucky. Bowden intentionally ditched school that day because he didn’t want to hear the recruiting pitch from Urban Meyer’s staff. That’s how loyal he was to a fellow Youngstown guy like Marrow.)
Marrow’s title at UK might’ve been “tight ends coach,” but that never defined his role
He recruited, he put out internal fires and ultimately, he made life easier on Stoops. It’s why Marrow was paid handsomely at $1.3 million annually as the UK coach’s right-hand man. Marrow was the 16th-highest paid assistant in the SEC in 2024 (via USA Today), which doesn’t sound significant until you realize that all 15 SEC assistants who were paid more than him held some sort of “coordinator” title. He made $50,000 more than any non-coordinator assistant in the SEC because of how valuable he was to Stoops.
Some would argue that Marrow’s departure for Louisville to be Jeff Brohm’s first general manager — a role that suits his skill set well given the region of the country that he’ll continue to recruit in — won’t impact UK in wins and losses in 2025. After all, it wasn’t like UK set the world on fire in its tight ends room. Plus, the Wildcats went 7-17 vs. SEC competition the last 3 years. Since Stoops’ extension was announced in Nov. 2022, Kentucky is 6-17 vs. Power Conference competition. That includes 2 home losses to Vanderbilt, and 8 losses by 3 scores or more.
Not great, Bob!
Unlike Mark Stoops’ brother, longtime Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, a relatively graceful exit after a decade-plus on the job doesn’t feel imminent. A graceful exit didn’t exactly feel imminent before Marrow’s departure, either. The fact that Stoops’ most loyal assistant not only left, but left in June under those circumstances was more noteworthy than any previous staff development the last 3 years. You know, like Liam Coen’s awkward return to the NFL after the 2023 season. Or like how Stoops only opted for 1 on-field staff change after 2023 even though UK went 2-6 post-September (Stoops technically didn’t fire anyone but he didn’t renew the contract of wide receivers coach Scott Woodward after he spent 3 years in that role).
Shoot, Marrow leaving for Louisville might be a more “sign of the times” move than Stoops’ near-departure for Texas A&M after that 2023 season. One could’ve assumed that Stoops would’ve brought multiple members of his UK staff to College Station if that move had gone through hours after a historic upset of No. 9 Louisville to close a strange regular season. Knowing how loyal Stoops has been to assistants like Marrow and Eddie Gran — KSR reported that Marrow and Gran were often “at odds” after the latter was re-hired in 2021 — it’s not the type of move that’s made unless there was some sort of falling out.
Keep in mind, UK won’t even get a buyout kickback from Marrow’s mid-summer move because his contract only stated that would happen if he left Kentucky for another on-field role. By accepting the increasingly popular general manager role instead of a spot as a position coach, Louisville won’t owe Kentucky anything for poaching Marrow (H/T Matt Jones).
Let’s call the move what it is — spite.
If this isn’t the last Stoops season in Lexington, I’ll be shocked
After a 4-8 season, which was the worst since Year 1 of the Stoops era, Marrow could’ve likely made a lateral move elsewhere if he was dead set on leaving in December. He was asked point blank if he was returning to UK, and his delayed response was telling.
“Yes. Yep. Yes.”
Maybe a significant factor was that after reportedly making multiple attempts to poach the decorated UK assistant the last couple years, Brohm finally had a pitch to Marrow that was attractive enough with the GM role. Louisville has sneaky Playoff buzz and Marrow, who is all about his relationships, has known Brohm since they were XFL teammates in 2001.
But I come back to this — if Marrow thought that Stoops and UK were in for a bounce-back year that would turn around the vibes in Lexington, this move wouldn’t have happened. Coaches are, by nature, control freaks. That means controlling their futures and not being the band on The Titanic.
Plenty of recent signs point to Kentucky being a sinking ship. Stoops’ path to sail off into the sunset is narrow for someone who is under contract through the 2030 season with a buyout that was most recently at $44.4 million after the 2024 season (via USA Today).
Whether Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart will view Marrow’s departure as another knock against Stoops’ future after 2025 remains to be seen. Paying the program’s all-time wins leader around $37 million not to work within 60 days of his firing (per the terms of his contract) isn’t the way any AD would draw it up, especially at a program that endured a 40-year stretch without a winning record in SEC play from 1978-2017. That doesn’t include the millions of dollars that would be owed to Stoops’ remaining staff, either. That’d be a ton of money to shell out at the start of the revenue sharing era. Will there be enough booster urgency to make that move after 2025? Time will tell.
What’s undeniable is that coaches in the SEC usually don’t keep their jobs after 3 consecutive disappointing seasons in the SEC. The oddsmakers setting an over/under of 4.5 regular season wins (via FanDuel) would suggest that a 4th consecutive disappointing season is more likely than not. Unlike the last 3 seasons, Kentucky won’t have some splashy former QB transfer to raise expectations. With all due respect to the well-traveled Zach Calzada, he hardly fits that description. If he’s the Stoops savior, it’ll go down as one of the most surprising developments of the 2025 season.
Marrow leaving Kentucky for Louisville certainly qualifies as one of the most surprising developments of the 2025 offseason. He entered the decade as synonymous with a head coach’s emergence as any assistant in the country. Now, he’s starting over.
One can’t help but think it’s only a matter of time before Kentucky does the same.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
