LOUISVILLE, Ky. – At this point in time, Jeff Brohm has already proven that he is among one of the most underrated head coaches in all of college football. During his first two years at Louisville, he has guided the Cardinals to a 19-8 record, made an appearance in the ACC Championship Game, and taken down blue bloods Notre Dame and Clemson in the process. Not to mention his time at both Western Kentucky and Purdue.
From a coaching standpoint, it’s hard do to much better than what Brohm is currently doing. When it comes to the recruiting aspect, while Louisville has done well in this area since Brohm took over, he believed that the Cardinals could do better. If UofL was going to go from making the conference title game and occasionally upsetting top-25 teams, to actually winning the ACC and potentially making a run in the College Football Playoff, Brohm believed that improvements needed to be made in this area.
So he went out and made a splash hire that not only delivered what he wanted, but simultaneously continued to shift the in-state dynamic in favor of Louisville.
Last week, Brohm was finally able to lure Vince Marrow away from Kentucky, hiring him to be Louisville’s Executive Director of Player Personnel and Recruiting. Previously, Marrow had spent the past 13 years with the Wildcats, including the past 12 as their recruiting coordinator.
“We’re definitely excited about the newest addition to our staff,” Brohm said Friday during Marrow’s introductory press conference. “I think coach Vince Marrow definitely has a reputation around the country as a football coach and as a recruiter. … Definitely what he brings to us is someone who can build relationships with players, with recruits, with their families. It’s genuine. He’s been there, he’s done that. He has a great gift to bring people in, and make them feel welcome, and come through for him on helping them achieve their goals.”
Considering that the two have a friendship stemming from their time as teammates in the XFL, even during his time at Purdue, Brohm has tried multiple time to bring on Marrow to his staff. Not only Brohm, but over the years, several schools have inquired about pulling Marrow out of Lexington.
There’s a big reason why, as Marrow is one of the top recruiters in all of college football, especially in the Midwest. All 12 of UK’s recruiting classes while Marrow was their recruiting coordinator ranked in the top-40 of the 247Sports Composite. Four of them ranked in the top-25, and his best class came in 2022 when it was the No. 14 class in the nation.
Of the 25 highest-ranked recruits of the modern era (since 1999) to commit to Kentucky, 19 of them came while Marrow was in Lexington. In fact, 66 four-star prospects committed to Kentucky during Marrow’s tenure, including 14 top-200 prospects and five in the top-100.
For Brohm, he believes an asset such as Marrow can help push Louisville even further up the college football hierarchy.
“As we try to continue to improve our team, how can we acquire the best talent across the country? How can we find ways to bring them into our university, and to play at the highest level?,” he said. “I think where we’re doing that, that’s definitely a strength of coach Marrow. It’s definitely something that he’s just really natural at. He’s really good at it. I’ve seen it from afar, I’ve seen it up close, and I’ve been around him. I know exactly how talented he is at what he does, and I know he’s excited to be here. I know he has goals to to win at the highest level as well, and he wants to help us try to get that done.”
Brohm isn’t the only one that thinks Marrow’s addition can help Louisville take the next step. In a radio interview last week after his hiring was made official, Marrow went as far to say that he believes he can help Brohm and the Cardinals win a national championship. During his introductory presser, Marrow reinforced that belief.
“I’m really excited to see where we’re going to go with this,” he said. “I really do believe this guy’s a really good coach, and I knew that even when he was at Purdue. I watched what he did to Ohio State, a state that I’m from, and he has some average talent, and he’s going in there beating an NFL roster. You give this guy some players, I really, really believe that- I won’t be surprised, but you guys will be excited to see where it’s going.”
In his new role, Marrow has the chance to become and even greater recruiter than he was at Kentucky. This is because, during his entire stint with the Wildcats, he also served as their tight ends coach. Even without the responsibilities that come with being a program’s lead recruiter, being a position coach is time consuming enough.
At Louisville, Marrow doesn’t have that added responsibility of being a coach. He has exclusively an off-the-field role, and every single aspect of his job revolves around recruiting – whether that be high school prospect of players in the transfer portal. Because of this, he believes it will ultimately assist him in recruiting capabilities.
“The way this thing is going, you have to spend more time evaluating, and mainly more in the transfer portal,” he said. “You can take guys that really don’t fit your culture, because you really didn’t do homework. … I really believe that the time that I ended up spending coaching, I can just spend a lot of time evaluating guys, and getting that background stuff. It makes us better, and it makes the whole team better.”
Marrow has barely been on the job for over a week, but him impact is already starting to be felt. Since this past Sunday, the Cardinals have landed four addition commitments to their 2026 recruiting class, and are trending toward stealing a fifth from their arch rival. Additionally, he’s already started to familiarize himself not only with UofL’s players and prospects, but their coaching staff as well. While some fans have been wary about the prospect of welcoming a former UK staffer, Louisville’s coaches have welcomed him with open arms.
“Our staff knows what we’re good at, and what we need a little help at,” Brohm said. “I think they’re fired up to acquire someone of his caliber, that can do a lot of things that maybe we’re okay at, but he might be great at. They know the value of us as coaches doing our part, and then to be able to recruit at the highest level is something that just, it sounds easy, but it requires a lot of work. It requires a lot of time, requires a lot of effort, and I know Vince is is a natural at it.”
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(Photo of Vince Marrow: Jeff Faughender – Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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