Report: Vince Marrow likely leaving Kentucky football for archrival Louisville
Through 12 years of ups and downs there has been at least one constant on Mark Stoops’ Kentucky football staff.
Until now.
Associate head coach, recruiting coordinator and tight ends coach Vince Marrow, often credited with being a key figure in Stoops’ success at Kentucky, is likely leaving the program for a job at archrival Louisville, according to a report from ESPN’s Pete Thamel. The Herald-Leader had been informed of the negotiations but has not yet confirmed the deal is complete.
Offseason rumors about other programs trying to lure Marrow away from Kentucky have been a near annual occurrence over the last decade, but he had remained the only position coach to serve on Stoops’ staff throughout his UK tenure.
Now, instead of trying to recruit the next wave of talent to play for Kentucky, Marrow will apparently be recruiting against Stoops, his childhood friend from Youngstown, Ohio.
Marrow was one of Stoops’ first hires at Kentucky, joining the program after a stint as a graduate assistant at Nebraska. He quickly became the figurehead of the Wildcats’ recruiting efforts, using his deep ties across Ohio to help Stoops bring in the highest-ranked high school recruiting classes the program had seen in the recruiting website era.
That role gave Marrow the type of star status uncommon for position coaches even at powerhouse programs and attracted the interest of other teams. UK rewarded him with a series of contract extensions and raises, eventually making him one of the highest-paid non play-calling assistants in college football.
Marrow’s latest UK contract paid him $1.3 million annually and was set to run through the 2026 season. He would owe UK a buyout of slightly more than $400,000 to leave for another college assistant job, per the terms of his most recent extension. Marrow is not expected to serve as one of the position coaches on Jeff Brohm’s Louisville staff, instead serving in a role that focuses on program building in the revenue sharing era that began with the formal approval of the NCAA’s House settlement Friday.
Over the last year Marrow’s role on the Kentucky staff began to change. While the perception was once that Marrow had final say on all recruiting efforts, Stoops’ philosophy began to shift to give more power to each assistant to decide which recruits to pursue at the position he coached. After a much-hyped transfer portal class failed to live up to expectations in 2024, UK appeared to shift its strategy in recruiting transfers over the winter too, no longer prioritizing transfers that Marrow or other coaches had previously recruited out of high school.
For the sixth time in Marrow’s tenure, Kentucky signed a top-30 ranked high school class in 2025, according to the 247Sports Composite, but the Wildcats hold just two commitments in the 2026 class. Stoops has acknowledged the number of high school commitments Kentucky takes each year moving forward could vary due to a desire to fill holes with veteran transfers.
Still, it would be impossible to argue with the impact Marrow made in rebuilding the program from 2-10 in Stoops’ first season in 2013 to a stretch of eight consecutive bowl trips that included two 10-win seasons.
He was the lead recruiter for most of the Ohio prep stars who signed with the Wildcats, including future NFL players Benny Snell, Lynn Bowden, Mike Edwards, Luke Fortner and Darian Kinnard. Marrow eventually took over Kentucky’s in-state recruiting efforts as well and frequently was called in to help close recruitments of top targets across the country like now Detroit Lions lineman Josh Paschal out of Maryland.
Marrow welcomed the spotlight that came with his recruiting success, seeming to relish engaging with fans on social media and local radio shows. He was also not afraid to poke at Louisville as Kentucky was dominating the Governor’s Cup rivalry in recent years but has been complementary of Brohm dating back to his days as head coach at Purdue.
Brohm and Marrow were briefly teammates with the XFL’s Orlando Rage in 2001 and frequently went head to head against each other in recruiting top prospects from Louisville after Marrow took over Kentucky’s efforts there in the 2019 cycle.
There were rumors earlier this offseason that Louisville was pursuing Marrow, but he seemed to shoot those down in his normal signing day news conference in December.
“You cannot ignore what our season was like this year,” Marrow said referring to the 4-8 2024 record. “And, just like I told some coaches recruiting before, when we were 2-10 … you can bet your you-know-what this ain’t over. So, you better enjoy now.
“... I was telling my family, said I could finally celebrate Christmas relax some, because either we were packing on Christmas Day, packing the day after Christmas (to go to a bowl). So this would be a nice little enjoyment of Christmas, but I don’t plan on being at home on Christmas the next couple years. This whole team won’t. So looking forward to what we’re about to do with this.”
This story will be updated.
This story was originally published June 9, 2025 at 5:29 PM.