Louisville took an enormous swing into the center of its rival program, hiring Kentucky affiliate head coach Vince Marrow as its new common supervisor for soccer, CBS Sports activities’ Chris Hummer confirms. Marrow has been an on-field place coach at Kentucky since Mark Stoops took over this system in 2013.
Marrow is taken into account one of many premier recruiting assistants in school soccer, and he has a particular connection in his residence state of Ohio. Below Marrow’s work as recruiting coordinator, Kentucky put collectively basically each one of many prime recruiting courses in program historical past and produced 4 first-round NFL Draft picks.
His relationship with Stoops extends again to their time as highschool teammates at Cardinal Mooney Excessive College in Youngstown, Ohio. A number of faculties have focused Marrow through the years, together with Mel Tucker’s Michigan State and even Invoice Belichick’s North Carolina. Marrow additionally interviewed for teaching jobs at Bowling Inexperienced and Southern Miss. Through the years, he has by no means wandered.
Nonetheless, Marrow now leaves for a important off-field place at a rival program proper because the revenue-sharing period kicks off in school athletics. Marrow signed a $1.3 million contract in September 2024, however Cats Pause 247 stories that he may doubtlessly exceed that mark with incentives at Louisville, a sign of the rising marketplace for personnel staffers.
Louisville has been a resurgent program since former quarterback Jeff Brohm got here again to take over this system. The Cardinals posted a 19-8 file in Brohm’s two seasons, together with a run to the ACC Championship Sport in 2023. This system will combine USC switch quarterback Miller Moss to the place in 2025 and initiatives among the many prime groups within the ACC. Louisville obliterated Kentucky 41-14 in Marrow’s ultimate sport on the Kentucky sideline final season.
Altering roles
Marrow’s personnel chops have been much-needed for Kentucky as this system underwent a historic interval of success below Stoops. In line with 247Sports information, Marrow was credited with recruiting 37 four-star prospects, together with among the finest gamers in trendy program historical past.
The times of a conventional recruiting coordinator may be coming to a detailed because the revenue-sharing period begins. As a substitute, the overall supervisor and their personnel workers are way more more likely to exist in an off-field capability to establish and recruit gamers. The final supervisor should additionally handle wage cap figures.
Beforehand, these roles have been primarily dealt with by Brohm’s chief of workers. Now, Marrow would be the first full-time govt making these choices for the Cardinals.
Cracks within the basis
Stoops has been some of the revered and constant coaches of the twenty first century at Kentucky, main the Wildcats to an unprecedented seven profitable seasons in eight years. After the 2023 season, although, Stoops awkwardly tried to depart his job for Texas A&M earlier than getting handed over for Mike Elko; the Wildcats went 4-8 in 2024. The shifts in school soccer over the following yr helped clarify why.
Kentucky has at all times been a troublesome job, however the state of affairs is teetering on unattainable now. A 16-team SEC means way more stacked schedules than ever earlier than, and Kentucky faces its fair proportion of SEC contenders this fall. The brand new revenue-sharing mannequin additionally signifies that Kentucky’s athletic division should work out how you can finest divvy up {dollars} between soccer and males’s basketball; the soccer group figures to rank among the many lowest share within the SEC.
Louisville has a few of its personal inquiries to reply with a purpose to finest handle funds between soccer and each profitable basketball applications. Nonetheless, Brohm is a star on the way in which up. He led Purdue to 17 wins in his ultimate two seasons, posted a 30-10 file at Western Kentucky and now has Louisville within the ACC race. It is onerous to view that is something lower than Marrow tying his profession to Brohm as Kentucky soccer falters.