This Saturday No. 9 Kentucky will host a team from Youngstown after Mark Stoops surpassed Bear Bryant to become the winningest head coach in program history. None of it would be possible without Youngstown.
The city that shaped Mark Stoops helped the Wildcats cultivate an identity with lasting power at a place few thought football would ever succeed. As he guides the Kentucky football program through uncharted waters, the Youngstown native is still Youngstown through and through. Vince Marrow, his old friend and righthand man for a decade in Lexington, describes that mentality that connects Stoops, Youngstown, and the Kentucky football program.