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EXCLUSIVE
CONTENT
7:00
AM ET (September 21, 2022)
Adam Rittenberg | ESPN Senior Writer
Vince
Marrow, Kentucky
Vince Marrow has been head coach
Mark Stoops' right-hand man at Kentucky. Jeff
Moreland/Icon Sportswire
Titles: Tight
ends coach, associate head coach, recruiting coordinator
Background: A tight end at Toledo, Marrow
spent four seasons on NFL rosters and later had stints as both a player and
coach in the World League. He spent a year coaching tight ends at Toledo and
another as a high school head coach in Ohio before heading to Nebraska where he
coached for the XFL's Omaha Nighthawks before becoming a graduate assistant for
Nebraska. Marrow grew up with Kentucky coach Mark Stoops in Youngstown, Ohio,
and joined Stoops at Kentucky in 2013.
Why he's so valuable: Marrow has been Stoops' right-hand man as they've built Kentucky into a
consistent winner in the SEC. They capitalized on their connections to
Ohio and the school's proximity to a state that still produces a good number of
Power 5 prospects. Marrow is the lead recruiter
for most of Kentucky's prospects from Ohio, and the program has hit big on
players, such as Lynn Bowden Jr.
and Benny Snell Jr., and current starters, such as
defensive Tyrell Ajian and Carrington Valentine,
and tight ends Brenden Bates and Keaton Upshaw. "You got Ohio sitting right
there," Marrow told me this summer. "It's the fourth-producing state
for NFL players, it's the third- or fourth-producing state for D-I football
players. How do you not go there? You've got to have connections, but there's a
lot of players there, and we have strong connections." Kentucky has rewarded Marrow with several significant
raises, and this year he's earning $1.1 million, a once-unthinkable salary for
a non-coordinator.
