Vince Marrow quickly learning life on other side of Kentucky/Louisville rivalry

Vince Marrow is still adjusting to being on the other side of the Kentucky vs. Louisville rivalry. During his radio tour this morning, Mark Stoops’ former right-hand man used “we” when referring to Kentucky and “them” while talking about Louisville more than once. After 12 seasons in Lexington, that is perfectly understandable, especially for someone who embraced the rivalry as much as Marrow.

Something else Marrow is also going to have to come to terms with: Kentucky fans treating him like the enemy. Once you turn that Ls Down into an Ls Up, that’s just what happens. In radio interviews this morning, Marrow talked about how much he enjoyed his time in Lexington, but he’s quickly learning that you can’t be friends with your ex, especially when you trade Kentucky blue for Louisville red. When Marrow’s comments about Louisville vs. Lexington started to make the rounds, he took to Twitter to let Big Blue Nation know that he didn’t mean any offense and will miss Lexington and Kentucky fans.

“BBN, I understand how you guys feel about me going to Louisville. I never said anything bad about Lexington, it’s one of the best cities I ever lived in hands down. I will miss the good people there.”

BBN i understand how you guys feel about me going to @university @LouisvilleFB . I never said anything bad about lexington it’s one of the best cities i ever lived in hands down. I will miss the good people there.

— CoachMarrow (@vincemarrow) June 13, 2025

Marrow may not want to read the replies because Kentucky fans are letting him know what happens when you replace the “UK” in your Twitter handle with a Cardinal logo. The Louisville chapter of the UK Alumni Association even got in on the fun, replying to Vince’s tweet with an Ls Down. That’s going to be a tough reality for a man who was treated like a rockstar in Lexington for over a decade.

“I really enjoyed 12 years there,” Marrow said on Just the Cats with Michael Bennett. “[The fans] really embraced my family. I had two daughters graduate from the University of Kentucky. I really, really, really, sincerely appreciated them during my years there; they need to understand that I’m working now for another good friend, and I just wish they would look and say, ‘Hey, I left the program better than when we got there.'”

Marrow has a lot of fond memories of his time on Kentucky’s staff. He shared one that he’s never told before, about how he teared up when he saw the huge crowd of fans that attended the Citrus Bowl pep rally in 2018, which made him realize how far the program had come since he and Mark Stoops arrived in 2013.

“I remember we went to the Citrus Bowl in 2018, and I’ve never told — I think I might have shared this with my brother. You know, I usually don’t get emotional, but I actually cried because I saw our fanbase very fired up, like 40-50,000 people at a rally, and I said, man, this is what I wanted these people to experience. And as we start kicking the tail out of a lot of people that were kicking the tail out of us, I really was excited for our fanbase, because I felt a lot of people took shots at them.”

Marrow said seeing the program grow to the point that fans had something to brag about is one reason he’s not trying to take the shots at him for his move to Louisville personally.

“That’s the one thing, the hard part for me — it don’t bother me like that they’re taking shots at me now, because I understand a little bit. But I always really enjoyed watching them boast and be happy, going to bowl games as we started beating people that we were used to [getting beaten by].”

Our on-field optimism may not be high, but Marrow’s move just added a lot more (trash bag) juice to the Kentucky vs. Louisville rivalry moving forward.

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— University of Kentucky Alumni of Louisville (@ukalumnilou) June 13, 2025