Would Mark Stoops the coach recruit Mark Stoops the player?

Mark Stoops and Vince Marrow have transformed the Kentucky Football program by focusing their recruiting efforts on the state of Ohio, with several stars coming from their hometown of Youngstown. Today on the SEC Coaches Teleconference, a reporter posed a fun hypothetical: would Stoops the coach recruit Stoops the defensive back, who played at Iowa in the 80s?

“Probably not, to be honest with you,” Stoops laughed. “Probably not. Things have changed. Guys are bigger, stronger, faster and it’s a good thing I came out in the 80s. I could hang a little bit. But I’m not sure I’d recruit myself right now. I’d hope not.”

What does Stoops remember most about his first game as an Iowa Hawkeye?

“Probably what I remember is that trot, our little trot that we had with [Iowa coach] Hayden Fry. I think they still carry it on to this day as a great tradition coming out of the locker room. Us guys were in a little pack together and trotted out all together and taking the field in that stadium and hearing the roars. Definitely a great memory and it was an exciting time. Seems like an eternity ago, that’s for sure.”

I did a little research and the trot tradition stems from Fry’s insistence that his players maintain their composure when coming out onto the field.

He told his players to watch their manners, ordering them to say “yes sir” and “no sir” and “thank you” and to dress for success. He even changed the manner in which they enter the field before a game, telling them that running out of the tunnel, jumping up and down and high-fiving each other was “an insecure type of energy.” He told them to trot onto the field, calm and confident.

[LA Times]

As Stoops said, the tradition continues (to some extent) today:

Back to recruiting; Stoops may not have recruited himself, but he’d be a fool to not go after Marrow: