Why UK’s Mark Stoops insists he has no animosity for Vince Marrow after exit
In his first interview since the departure of longtime recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow for archrival Louisville, Kentucky football coach Mark Stoops continued to take the high road.
“Anybody that’s making a decision to leave the program, I don’t think there’s any perfect way to do that, so I don’t hold any animosity towards that at all, or towards Vince,” Stoops said Thursday morning in his first interview during Kentucky’s appearance at SEC Media Days. “I greatly appreciate our friendship and what he’s done to help us build this program for 12 years, and he was instrumental in a lot of ways. But with that — I say the same thing about myself, about everybody in our program — I mean, it’s about the program. It’s about so many individuals and so many people that I think that’s what the focus is on.”
In June, Marrow left Kentucky after 12 seasons on Stoops’ staff to be the executive director of player personnel and recruiting at Louisville. In his new job, Marrow will not serve as an on-field coach, instead focusing on roster building in the revenue sharing era that began on July 1.
Rumors of Marrow being pursued by other programs were a near annual occurrence at Kentucky, but before this spring, they all ended the same way, with Marrow staying at Kentucky, often with a new title and raise to reward his loyalty. That constant chatter made it seem inevitable at times that Marrow would eventually leave Kentucky, but the fact that he left UK for its archrival was a shocking end to his tenure given his long relationship with Stoops.
“It was crazy, especially Louisville,” said safety Jordan Lovett, who was recruited to Kentucky by Marrow. “It was crazy, but I wish the best for him. Good luck to him. And when we see him, we see him.”
The relationship between Stoops and Marrow dates to their adolescence in Youngstown, Ohio. Marrow, then a graduate assistant at Nebraska, was one of Stoops’ first hires at Kentucky after being named head coach in December 2012. Stoops and Marrow used those Ohio roots to overhaul UK’s recruiting efforts, piling up on Buckeye State talents to help build the program from 2-10 in 2013 to a run of eight straight bowl games.
Among the Ohio stars Marrow helped bring to Kentucky were program legends Benny Snell, Lynn Bowden, Mike Edwards, Luke Fortner and Darrian Kinnard. He eventually took over in-state recruiting as well, and was often used as a closer on top recruiting targets from other states.
“This program and these student athletes and everybody, we’re resilient,” Stoops said. “You just got to pick up and move on quickly. And so I greatly appreciate him, I still think the world of him, but we moved on quickly.”
In the wake of the 4-8 2024 season, Stoops appeared to make changes in his recruiting philosophy, though, giving position coaches more leeway about which prospects they pursued at their positions. Marrow’s involvement in recruiting UK’s most recent transfer portal class was smaller than previous years as well.
Stoops downplayed that storyline Thursday, saying position coaches have always had a key role in the recruiting process, but he did acknowledge the recruiting landscape had changed over the last few years due to the transfer portal and need to negotiate name, image and likeness deals during the recruiting process.
“We have to be very detailed, very precise, on who we’re bringing in,” Stoops said.
Marrow confirmed in a radio appearance on ”The Deener Show” shortly after his Louisville hiring was confirmed that news broke of his departure before he had discussed the decision with Stoops.
While Stoops dismissed the suggestion that there might be any hard feelings about how Marrow handled his exit, the timing does seem to have hurt Kentucky in its ability to replace him for 2025. Coaching moves are uncommon in the summer with staffs across the country for the upcoming season mostly finalized.
Stoops quickly promoted analyst Derek Shay, a former tight ends coach at Eastern Illinois, Bowling Green, LSU and Marshall who had previously worked with offensive coordinator Bush Hamdan at Missouri, to tight ends coach. UK has yet to release Shay’s contract for the new position, but a term sheet he signed after the promotion obtained by the Herald-Leader through the state’s open records law, reveals his deal will be a short-term one that runs through Feb. 15 with the option to return to his analyst position at that point.
All other position coaches on the staff have deals that run through the end of June, coinciding with the university’s fiscal year. Shay will be paid $25,000 per month as tight ends coach, equating to a $300,000 annual salary. If Shay and Stoops decided to return him to the analyst position, his salary would drop to $125,000 per year.
“He has a lot of experience with the tight end position, obviously,” tight end Josh Kattus said of Shay on Thursday. “... He knows what he’s doing. He’s already taught us so much, and I really like his coaching demeanor. I think I’m really excited to get a full season under him.”
This story was originally published July 17, 2025 at 10:13 AM.