Vince Marrow talks David and Goliath ahead of first Governor's Cup on the other sideline: 'I'm Louisville now'

It’s Vince Marrow‘s first Louisville Hate Week on the other sideline, trading out the blue as Mark Stoops‘ longest-tenured assistant for red as Jeff Brohm‘s general manager. In his 11 head-to-head matchups against the Cardinals as a Wildcats, the Big Dawg went 6-5, including a run of five straight victories between 2018-23 and six of seven moving that timeline up to 2016.

Between 2011-15, it was all UofL. Then he became the David to his bitter rival’s Goliath, as he puts it, taking over the state. Now, he’s the David to Kentucky’s King Saul as his popularity (and the ensuing jealousy) grows — or at least that’s what Marrow hinted at in a sitdown interview with the Louisville Courier Journal ahead of this year’s Governor’s Cup.

“Now, I’m not saying Louisville is the Philistines,” Marrow told Payton Titus of the CJ. “I’m just saying David left and was taken in by the No. 1 people who really hated him and found pasture.”

Kentucky is 5-6 and just one win away from bowl eligibility, but coming off an embarrassing loss at Vanderbilt to dull the shine of its three-game winning streak. Meanwhile, Louisville is 7-4 on the year, but falling apart with three straight losses — including a 38-6 defeat at SMU, most recently. The Cardinals are also decimated by injury with skill talent dropping like flies ahead of the finale.

It’s certainly not the most anticipated rivalry battle between the blue and red as both teams limp across the finish line. Marrow expects the temperature to rise and emotions to get back where they need to be as we inch closer to kickoff in the 502.

“I just don’t see anybody laying down this game,” he said. “There’s gonna be passion on both sides. And, let’s not kid ourselves. You don’t think them dudes gonna wanna beat me?”

Mark Stoops said Monday he had “very short” conversations with Marrow since he left about “some personal things, briefly,” but that storyline doesn’t need to be played up too much. The Wildcats aren’t motivated to beat their old coach, necessarily, but rather to simply earn bowl eligibility and state bragging rights.

Especially coming off the team’s letdown effort in Nashville last weekend, putting it all on the line this Saturday down I-64W.

“I don’t know if you need any (extra), truthfully, in this situation. It feels like so long ago that there is a lot that has transpired between now and then,” Stoops said. “The game is important, the response is important. There are a lot of things that are important and that personal touch on it, I think, no. I don’t think there is anything there.”

For Marrow, he disagrees — especially for the kids he recruited to play for Kentucky, no one taking the bait on bulletin board material with nothing but well wishes thrown his way.

“Come on, man,” he said. “… They’re gonna play it down. That’s the way you should do it. But I knew. I know how they really feel about me.”

After an awkward transition of recruiting against Louisville for over a decade to now throwing Ls up as the voice in the trenches in a single offseason, it all leads to this matchup. He talked about coming out of L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium on the winning side plenty as a Wildcat, leaving with some road kill.

Now, though it snuck up on him, he’s ready to be on the winning sideline as a Cardinal.

“I knew this day was coming,” Marrow said. “It seemed like it was far away, but now it’s getting real close. … I feel their passion now. I feel who they are. And I’m ready to go to war and raise my sleeves up no matter who we play.”

Could a win for Louisville be the end of Stoops’ time at Kentucky, officially closing that chapter of their lives together in Lexington with no one left? Marrow doesn’t think so — nor does he think his old boss’ job was ever in jeopardy, no matter what rumors were out there about the 13-year coach’s seat being red-hot.

“I do know Mitch Barnhart, I do know a lot of the administrative people there. And I never thought his job was on the line,” he said.

Whether that’s the case anymore no longer affects his job. He can only control what he can control as a Cardinal through and through.

Marrow felt it for the very first time at the UK vs. UL basketball game at the KFC Yum! Center a few weeks back. That one didn’t favor his old school.

He hopes for the same result on Saturday, sending the blue and white home disappointed for a change.

“I’m Louisville now,” he said. “And I’m a competitor. So I was like, ‘Man, is this gonna be a glimpse into what two weeks (from now) is gonna be?’ I’m very curious.”

Time for Stoops to ensure Marrow made the wrong choice transitioning from friend to enemy.