Since Mark Stoops took over the reigns as head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats, the school’s grid program has blossomed.
      Stoops, who played his prep bball at Cardinal Mooney High under the area’s most fabled high school coach, Don Bucci, is the winningest coach in Wildcat history, surpassing a record previously held by Paul ‘Bear’ Bryant.
      Entering his 12th season in command of the Wildcats in 2024, the retirement of legendary Alabama Head Coach Nick Saban makes Stoops the longest-termed active head coach in the SEC and the sixth-longest in the nation.
      Stoops has lengthened his school-record wins total to 73 and also holds the UK marks for home wins (50), SEC wins (35) and wins over ranked opponents (13).
      Called “the best program builder in all of college football” by ESPN analyst Tom Luginbill in 2021, Stoops’ success hasn’t come easily, but you could says the rich tradition of Mahoning Valley football has helped him along the journey.
      Serving as associate head coach, tight ends coach, recruiting coordinator and NFL liaison is Cardinal Mooney graduate Vince Marrow. He began his coaching career at his alma mater as an assistant coach for Don Bucci from 1990 through 1996, working with the running backs and defensive backs for the Cardinals. The program reached the state semifinals in 1990 and 1996. As a player, he was part of the Mooney squad that won the Division III State Championship in 1987.
      Frank Buffano, a Cardinal Mooney grad, enters his fifth season with the University of Kentucky football program in 2024.
      In his fourth season in the Bluegrass in 2023, Buffano helped guide a group of men that forced 18 turnovers through 13 games, which ranked third in the Southeastern Conference.
      Prior to UK, Buffano served as an assistant coach for three seasons at Youngstown State under Eric Wolford, coaching linebackers in 2011-12 after serving as the secondary coach in 2010.
      And back at UK this season is Wolford as offensive line coach. Wolford, a graduate of Ursuline High School, spent the last two seasons at Alabama under Nick Saban and is regarded as among the best o-line coaches in America.
      Before working with the Crimson Tide, Wolford spent the previous two seasons (2015, 2016) in the NFL as the San Francisco 49ers assistant offensive line coach.
      Prior to his time with the 49ers, Wolford logged 19 seasons as a coach at the collegiate level, including five (2010-14) as the head coach at Youngstown State University. After a 3-8 mark in his first season, the Penguins compiled a 28-18 mark over his final four campaigns, were ranked in the top-10 three times, and broke 32 school records during his tenure. Highlights included a 2012 win over Pitt – the first win over a BCS team in school history – and a 2011 win over top-ranked North Dakota State, while overseeing the squad’s highest GPA on record for four consecutive seasons. He finished 31-26 overall at the helm of YSU grid fortunes.
      Among Wolford’s players is a Mooney grad, Tino Merlo, a 6-2, 283-lb. sophomore offensive lineman who gained All-Ohio recognition with the Cardinals.
      Inside linebackers coach at UK is Mike brother, Mark, a 35-year collegiate coaching veteran who enters his third season with the Wildcats.
      Mike Stoops, like Mark, played college football as a safety at Iowa. Mike earned United Press International first team All-America honors in 1984. He also was a two-time first team All-Big Ten selection in 1983-84, and led the Big Ten in interceptions in 1983, totaling six in nine games. After graduation, he went on to play in the National Football League as a defensive back with the Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Iowa in 1986 before later moving to Kansas State from 1992-98.
      Before coming to the Bluegrass, Stoops most recently was at Florida Atlantic where he spent the 2021 season as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach. Prior to that he spent two seasons (2019 and 2020) at Alabama as an analyst on Nick Saban’s staff, highlighted by the 2020 national championship. He also was the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Oklahoma from 2012-18 and was the head coach at Arizona from 2004-11. He had a first term at Oklahoma from 1999-2003, including the 2000 national championship season (when another members of the famed Stoops’ family, Bob Stoops, was the Sooners head coach).