Kentucky Wildcats Give Raise and New Title to Recruiting Ace Vince Marrow

The Kentucky Wildcats football program has experienced an unprecedented amount of recruiting success since Mark Stoops became the head coach one year ago. 

He brought with him a staff full of great recruiters, highlighted by former Nebraska tight ends coach Vince Marrow. 

His recruiting ties in the state of Ohio as a Youngstown native has led to him getting many of the state's top prospects to commit to Kentucky. Stoops was able to lure Marrow away from Nebraska, and he's been a valuable asset to the Cats. 

"

Before Mark Stoops/Vince Marrow, UK signed 5 of Rivals' top 40 Ohio prospects in 10 years. Cats have 10 top-40 Ohio guys committed for '14.

— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_CJ) January 23, 2014"

This year, UK has gotten commitments from 11 players from Ohio for the 2014 recruiting class, including seven of the state's top 25 prospects, according to Ben Roberts and Jennifer Smith of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Roberts also reports UK has just given Marrow a new contract on Saturday that will reward him for his hard work.

The new contract runs through 2016 and pays Marrow an annual salary of $275,000, a significant boost over his previous salary of $175,000 per year. As strong of a recruiter as Marrow is, this will help prevent bigger football programs from trying to pry him away from UK. 

Marrow will also have the title of "recruiting coordinator" for UK football, according to Ben Roberts of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

Kentucky and its fanbase know how important Marrow is. This afternoon at the basketball game against the Georgia Bulldogs, UK mascots Wildcat and Scratch brought Marrow out to half court during a timeout.

Marrow gave the ceremonial "Y" and the Rupp Arena crowd gave him a standing ovation, according to Jennifer Palumbo of WKYT:

"

When it comes to @vincemarrow, Y is for YAHTZEE! #BBN #StoopsTroops pic.twitter.com/oAaQbuFkfr

— Jennifer Palumbo (@JenNimePalumbo) January 25, 2014"

The Cats hope Marrow stays in Lexington for a long time while helping the program continues to reach heights it has never experienced before.

Jason Marcum is a student in the B/R advanced sports media program. You can find more of his work at Stripe Hype and follow him on Twitter @UK_Fans.