Vince Marrow named one of College Football's Most Valuable Assistants

What Mark Stoops has done over the past decade at Kentucky is remarkable, but it wouldn’t have been possible without Vince Marrow. Stoops’ longtime friend left Nebraska to come to Lexington in 2012 and built the program’s recruiting pipeline to Ohio. “The Big Dog” is as synonymous with Kentucky Football as Stoops to fans and as the Cats continue their rise, the national media is taking notice.

ESPN senior writer Adam Rittenberg has Marrow on his list of the six most valuable assistants in college football. The list is headlined by Ohio State receivers coach Brian Hartline, brother of former Kentucky quarterback Mike Hartline.

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.

Adam Rittenberg, ESPN

Since this is a Vince Marrow appreciation post, I want to make sure you saw this video of Marrow listening to Elton John on the field before Kentucky’s game vs. Youngstown State because it’s wonderful.

If Stoops gets a statue, I hope we get one of Marrow eating Fritos too.