Mark Stoops Spoke to Harbaugh Directly re: Marrow

Submitted by alum96 on

There is a nice story here on what went down re: Vince Marrow this weekend.

I realize most here are dismissive of Kentucky and Mark Stoops in football but it's a massive overhaul situation not unlike what Jim faced @ Stanford and the records of Stoops and Harbaugh are not dissimilar the first 2 years.  Takes 3-4 years to really clean up that sort of mess and if you look through the depth chart of UK it's loaded with FR and SO, esp on offense.  They are now recruiting like a Tennessee level program (top 20 classes) and are in a weaker SEC East (insert joke about weak SEC West here) so I would not be surprised to see UK as a surprise top 25 team in the next 1-2 seasons.  At which point Stoops probably goes off to the next major blueblood program that has a coaching opening - and Marrow goes with him.  Or he could turn into the next Butch Jones of course and flatline at UK, but its far too soon to tell.  [Did a CC diary on Stoops back in October if you need some bathroom reading material]

Anyhow long story short - Stoops spoke with Harbaugh to confirm the legit interest and UK did what they needed to do.  Marrow was already making $275K which is pretty hefty for a position coach (that's at the high end of what programs like MSU and Iowa pay position coaches) and got a "substantial" raise.  Unlike all the other guys Harbaugh has been after there was no pre-existing relationship with Marrow so I can appreciate the loyalty to Stoops (granted, the $$$ help) even if it stinks for us.

Mark Stoops and the University of Kentucky football program might've just won their biggest recruiting battle yet. The school announced Monday that tight ends coach and recruiting coordinator Vince Marrow, who had been courted by Michigan, has agreed to a contract extension through June of 2018.

Financial details of the new deal were not immediately available, a UK spokesman said, but a source familiar with the situation said Marrow will receive a substantial raise from his $275,000 annual salary on the previous contract, which was set to expire in June of 2016.

Stoops met with Marrow throughout the weekend and with UK athletic director Mitch Barnhart on Sunday night to come up with a sufficient counteroffer after new Wolverines coach Jim Harbaugh tried to lure away Marrow, the Wildcats' primary Ohio recruiter who has cleaned up in that state. Marrow and Stoops ironed out the final terms of the extension Monday afternoon, a source said.

After reports that Michigan had offered Marrow a job, Stoops spoke to Harbaugh directly, a source said, and found that the interest in Marrow "was legit." Kentucky's coach was "pretty concerned" he might lose Marrow and made keeping him a priority.

In the last three classes, Marrow has landed 21 commitments from top Ohio high school recruits – six in the Class of 2015 – plus three Nebraska transfers who are Ohio natives. Included in that haul are 10 four-star recruits, as rated by Rivals.com.

In the 10 years before Marrow arrived, UK signed just five top-40 Ohio recruits. In three classes with Marrow, the Cats have landed landed 20 (including transfers). They've gotten 14 top-25 Ohio prospects and six top-10 players from the state. There were only four scholarship players from Ohio on Kentucky's roster when Marrow was hired.

Black Socks

January 5th, 2015 at 6:14 PM ^

I couldn't care less about Morrow personally but we need some dynamite African American coaches as well.  

Mr. Yost

January 5th, 2015 at 8:23 PM ^

By saying you don't care about Marrow personally before the end of your thought (kind of) makes you sound like you're saying you don't care about the qualifications of the coach - we just need some African American coaches.

 

ilah17

January 5th, 2015 at 6:18 PM ^

This is all fine and good. If his heart is really in building Kentucky with Stoops, great. But then why did he call Chris Clark? That's beyond disappointing. Don't contact a school's recruits until you are officially on staff. 

Mr. Yost

January 5th, 2015 at 8:16 PM ^

It doesn't make me feel better...I was one of few that had Stoops in my top 5 of CC, even though there was only ever really one on ALL of our lists.

My point in mentioning that is - I LIKE Stoops, I like Stoops more than most.

However, I like Michigan FAR more and our chief rival is The OSU. Marrow would've been HUGE versus The OSU and would've given Urban just a little more reason to stay up at night.

I want to beat those guys SO bad...every year. And this would've helped. In fact, I think this would've helped more than any realistic non-coordinator hire in the country.

So yes, huge blow. Not catasophic. Not program altering. But it definitely sucks.

Chi-City Wolverine

January 5th, 2015 at 9:30 PM ^

I don't understand why some posters are down about this rejection. Although Marrow is a very capable recruiter, it's not like Harbaugh is horrible about evaluations and brining in up-and-comers who can get the job done.

gte896u

January 6th, 2015 at 3:06 PM ^

i think you may be judging him a little prematurely after his second season. but i guess thats not surprising given that the last 2 M coaches got the same treatment.