"Eddie" - a documentary film. 30 for 30?

[casdas]

Hello Wildcats, I hope I'm not breaking any board rules by posting this. And I realize the risk associated with this topic. I wanted to let you guys know about a film project a guy in Oklahoma has started working on.

Eddie Sutton is by any standard, a great basketball coach. As an OSU fan, my opinion is he might have singlehandedly saved Oklahoma State from falling to a place like Conference USA. I know about the scandal at Kentucky and all the controversy, and that there may still be hard feelings over what happened. As an outsider, I think you guys have recovered from it. OSU people think he deserves a spot in the Naismith Hall of Fame.

This film will document his history at Arkansas, Kentucky, and OSU, from a perspective of telling his story as a great coach with human flaws. I have met and talked to the director, a guy named Christopher Hunt (www.1577productions.com), and he is talking to the right people about the film possibly becoming a 30-for-30 episode on ESPN. He released the trailer today:



It's been 30 years and I hope the anger has subsided. Eddie is now in poor health. So if you think Eddie's story needs to get some attention, and that he deserves a spot in the HOF, please visit the film's IndieGoGo page and consider making a donation to fund the project.

https://igg.me/at/eddiesuttonfilm

Thanks for allowing me the visit!

 

[Mojocat]

Too soon.

 

[GonzoCat90]

It's a fascinating story, and one absolutely worth telling.

I also look around a college basketball landscape littered with blatant cheating and have a hard time figuring out just how everyone seems to differentiate between the rule breakers we ostracize and those we canonize.

 

[BlueBomb]

I think Sutton is actually one of the best basketball X&O coaches of all time. Maybe not top 5 but somewhere in the conversation. He just got into a situation at Kentucky that he couldn't manage. The drinking, of course, didn't help.

 

[Mojocat]

It's a fascinating story, and one absolutely worth telling.

I also look around a college basketball landscape littered with blatant cheating and have a hard time figuring out just how everyone seems to differentiate between the rule breakers we ostracize and those we canonize.

Just made the same point in the Crean thread. A whole lot of selective outrage, and of turning the head when it suits. It's not just fans who are inconsistent.

 

[GonzoCat90]

Just made the same point in the Crean thread. A whole lot of selective outrage, and if turning the head when it suits. It's not just fans who are inconsistent.

It's almost as if we're all outrageously and irreconcilably biased by the team's we're fans of.

 

[Ryan Lemonds Diary]

Nothing happened here that was any worse than what happened at UCLA with Gilbert, UNC with their current investigation or at Duke where there have been multiple instances of funneling money to parents in the form of high paying jobs they are not qualified to fill. The only difference is the selective enforcement of the rules.

 

[Mojocat]

It's almost as if we're all outrageously and irreconcilably biased by the team's we're fans of.

Heh. Yes. Fan, short for fanatic and all that. Which is why I don't usually get too motivated by any utterance of a fan, Kentucky or otherwise. Selective outrage by the professionals - that's a little harder to take.

 

[docholiday51]

Nothing happened here that was any worse than what happened at UCLA with Gilbert, UNC with their current investigation or at Duke where there have been multiple instances of funneling money to parents in the form of high paying jobs they are not qualified to fill. The only difference is the selective enforcement of the rules.

I think that is Gonzo's point and it is well taken.There has been and remains to this day cheating going on, some is ignored or danced around while other cases are held accountable maybe to a greater degree than they should .

 

[AzubuikeandFitch]

Hello Wildcats, I hope I'm not breaking any board rules by posting this. And I realize the risk associated with this topic. I wanted to let you guys know about a film project a guy in Oklahoma has started working on.

Eddie Sutton is by any standard, a great basketball coach. As an OSU fan, my opinion is he might have singlehandedly saved Oklahoma State from falling to a place like Conference USA. I know about the scandal at Kentucky and all the controversy, and that there may still be hard feelings over what happened. As an outsider, I think you guys have recovered from it. OSU people think he deserves a spot in the Naismith Hall of Fame.

This film will document his history at Arkansas, Kentucky, and OSU, from a perspective of telling his story as a great coach with human flaws. I have met and talked to the director, a guy named Christopher Hunt (www.1577productions.com), and he is talking to the right people about the film possibly becoming a 30-for-30 episode on ESPN. He released the trailer today:

View embedded media

It's been 30 years and I hope the anger has subsided. Eddie is now in poor health. So if you think Eddie's story needs to get some attention, and that he deserves a spot in the HOF, please visit the film's IndieGoGo page and consider making a donation to fund the project.

https://igg.me/at/eddiesuttonfilm

Thanks for allowing me the visit!

Nah. No championship with plenty of talent. He left the program in worse shape than when he got here. Sutton was responsible for putting us on probation and leaving a scar that has faded but to true fans will never be forgotten.
This program means so much to an enormous amount of people and he damaged it. I will never get over being a young boy and having to watch what few televised games I could on delayed broadcast bc of Sutton.

 

[JohnnyGentle]

WHAT IF I TOLD YOU an 80 year old man could down a 5th of bourbon in one gulp

 

[docholiday51]

WHAT IF I TOLD YOU an 80 year old man could down a 5th of bourbon in one gulp

It would mean that none of us should ever worry about our liver

 

[YourPublicEnemy]

I don't doubt wrongdoing but the Emory envelope was super shady and suspicious when you read the timeline of all of that.

So a package, just by chance, "opens" containing this money and unlike what you're taught to do (tape it back up and send it on its way), he contacts a newspaper and the driver who was to personally take it to the player's father takes an insanely long time to get there for some reason.

There's a reason why Casey got a huge settlement. But they couldn't even prove what was in that envelope or if he put it in there. Super shady all around on how that was handled.

 

[JohnnyGentle]

i've always though sutton was a great coach

gottlieb's constant pumping of him annoys me though

 

[G-PIP]

Nothing happened here that was any worse than what happened at UCLA with Gilbert, UNC with their current investigation or at Duke where there have been multiple instances of funneling money to parents in the form of high paying jobs they are not qualified to fill. The only difference is the selective enforcement of the rules.

Wait a minute, though. The UNC SCANDAL is so above and beyond any of those others it doesn't deserve to be mentioned as a parallel. Heck, the kids deserve money, even if it is against the rules. But they don't deserve to be taken advantage of and screwed out of any semblance of the education they (and their parents) were promised.

 

[Deli owl]

He was usually drunk after dinner. Was that included?

 

[ukalum1988]

Sutton was coach during most of my time at UK, and I have conflicted feelings about him. If OSU fans want to make a documentary about him, fine, they can knock themselves out.

Sutton clearly has had a lifelong alcohol problem, one that he tried to deny while at UK, but one that he eventually admitted to. As others have stated, the two primary factors that lead to UK almost getting the death penalty (the bogus Emery envelope full of cash for Chris Mills dad and Eric Manuel's questionable test score) are no worse than what we have seen go on at other schools since then.

One of the few good things to come out of the sorry saga was that the UK program was largely purged of the good ole boys and hangers on that created the perception of cheating.

Coming full circle I have forgiven Sutton. I will let others decide if he belongs in the HOF. Also I think I'll pass on making a donation to the project. Good luck with the project.

 

[MO_Blue]

........
I also look around a college basketball landscape littered with blatant cheating and have a hard time figuring out just how everyone seems to differentiate between the rule breakers we ostracize and those we canonize.

UCLA , in my view, is the biggest instance of Pay For Play sports in the history of college sports. It certainly resulted the largest number of championships, so it was also the most successful.
UNC has been described as the biggest academic fraud in American history, eclipsing all sports and nonsports scandals, and I agree with that description.
I'll never cease to be amazed at the selective blindness of some people to the faults of those programs.

 

[zannmann]

Drunk loser who got us on probation. His style was boring also, games constantly in the 50s and 60s. Remember the stupid rule he put in that they had to pass the ball 6 or 7 times before they could shoot?

 

[Ineverplayedthegame]

Never forget he was who named UL "Little Brother".
85-51.

 

[Elliott Tim]

Nothing happened here that was any worse than what happened at UCLA with Gilbert, UNC with their current investigation or at Duke where there have been multiple instances of funneling money to parents in the form of high paying jobs they are not qualified to fill. The only difference is the selective enforcement of the rules.

And this!

 

[Elliott Tim]

It would mean that none of us should ever worry about our liver

 

[preacherfan]

Nothing happened here that was any worse than what happened at UCLA with Gilbert, UNC with their current investigation or at Duke where there have been multiple instances of funneling money to parents in the form of high paying jobs they are not qualified to fill. The only difference is the selective enforcement of the rules.

That doesn't erase the fact that Sutton was a cheat and UK was full of wrongdoing. We need to admit it, unlike UNC, and accept what happened. As for Sutton, he never even tried to help EM. He let others take the fall. I have zero respect for the man.

 

[armchairpg]

Never forget he was who named UL "Little Brother".
85-51.

His most significant contribution.

 

[preacherfan]

Hello Wildcats, I hope I'm not breaking any board rules by posting this. And I realize the risk associated with this topic. I wanted to let you guys know about a film project a guy in Oklahoma has started working on.

Eddie Sutton is by any standard, a great basketball coach. As an OSU fan, my opinion is he might have singlehandedly saved Oklahoma State from falling to a place like Conference USA. I know about the scandal at Kentucky and all the controversy, and that there may still be hard feelings over what happened. As an outsider, I think you guys have recovered from it. OSU people think he deserves a spot in the Naismith Hall of Fame.

This film will document his history at Arkansas, Kentucky, and OSU, from a perspective of telling his story as a great coach with human flaws. I have met and talked to the director, a guy named Christopher Hunt (www.1577productions.com), and he is talking to the right people about the film possibly becoming a 30-for-30 episode on ESPN. He released the trailer today:

View embedded media

It's been 30 years and I hope the anger has subsided. Eddie is now in poor health. So if you think Eddie's story needs to get some attention, and that he deserves a spot in the HOF, please visit the film's IndieGoGo page and consider making a donation to fund the project.

https://igg.me/at/eddiesuttonfilm

Thanks for allowing me the visit!

Put me in the category of one who hopes this project is a total failure. I cannot cannot cannot support a project that is going to try and spin Sutton as a great coach or whatever. I don't wish him harm or pain, but I don't want to see the man glorified either.

 

[TankedCat]

I remember reading the book Raw Recruits.

Just keep in mind when evaluating Sutton that he came to a program that had a system of corruption already in place.

Joe B. Hall is a favorite son of UK and I don't want to cast shade on him, but I firmly believe a major reason the NCAA slammed us under Sutton was because we had turned into what UNC is today. We believed we were untouchable and years of pushing the envelope with them resulted in a payback.

Sutton came into a program that had "alumni" access heavily embedded into it, and he did little (assuming he was even able to) to stop it. I have no idea what kind of program he ran at Arkansas or Oklahoma St, but I have to believe that the pressure to run a program that is walking the edge day after day contributed to his drinking.

Even with the crippling sanctions, it was a challenge for Pitino to remove the hooks these people had in the program.

 

[YourPublicEnemy]

I remember reading the book Raw Recruits.

Just keep in mind when evaluating Sutton that he came to a program that had a system of corruption already in place.

Joe B. Hall is a favorite son of UK and I don't want to cast shade on him, but I firmly believe a major reason the NCAA slammed us under Sutton was because we had turned into what UNC is today. We believed we were untouchable and years of pushing the envelope with them resulted in a payback.

Sutton came into a program that had "alumni" access heavily embedded into it, and he did little (assuming he was even able to) to stop it. I have no idea what kind of program he ran at Arkansas or Oklahoma St, but I have to believe that the pressure to run a program that is walking the edge day after day contributed to his drinking.

Even with the crippling sanctions, it was a challenge for Pitino to remove the hooks these people had in the program.

The $100 handshakes was going on even under Rupp. We've had some scandals and we were in the wrong and we paid the price. I don't think many are going to deny that. We got leveled and if it wasn't for Pitino, who knows if we ever make it back from all of that.

Still, fair is fair and UNC has faced no consequences for their actions. We did.

 

[YourPublicEnemy]

Put me in the category of one who hopes this project is a total failure. I cannot cannot cannot support a project that is going to try and spin Sutton as a great coach or whatever. I don't wish him harm or pain, but I don't want to see the man glorified either.

He never won a title but he did go to the Final Four three times with two different programs. He's a pretty good coach. I wouldn't call him great nor does anyone here hold him in high regard considering he was the face of the team when we got our program nearly nuked.

What I do find interesting is how close we came to having Lute Olson as our coach. We had a deal in place and it fell through and Eddie came aboard.

 

[UKUGA]

I don't recall there being much "outrage" from KY fans when Sutton led OSU to the FF in '95, just 6 years after he escaped Lexington.

NBD.

 

[natchezrule]

I went to the UK/UGA game in Athens back when Sutton was coach. I was 18 years old. After the game, we got some autographs and coach Sutton was coming through the tunnel to get on the bus. He stopped and talked to us for what seemed to be 10 minutes. He didn't have to do that. It has always stuck with me how nice that was.

 

[bthaunert]

Not a fan of Sutton at all. Just a POS imo. No one ever talks about what he did at San Francisco to get his 800th win. Collaborating with the AD at USF to oust their coach mid season so he could limp in and win his 800th game is as low as it gets.

 

[preacherfan]

I went to the UK/UGA game in Athens back when Sutton was coach. I was 18 years old. After the game, we got some autographs and coach Sutton was coming through the tunnel to get on the bus. He stopped and talked to us for what seemed to be 10 minutes. He didn't have to do that. It has always stuck with me how nice that was.

My experience was the opposite. He was a total jerk in my only interaction with him.

I didn't want the guy in the first place, had that confirmed over and over when he was here and then completely confirmed when he left and didn't stand up for his players. Sorry, but people can rip Tubby for the way he left and maybe didn't say anything to his players but what Sutton did was reprehensible.

 

[phyrekat]

He really liked the SuperAmerica on Euclid in the wee hours

 

[UKUGA]

I remember reading the book Raw Recruits.

Just keep in mind when evaluating Sutton that he came to a program that had a system of corruption already in place.

Joe B. Hall is a favorite son of UK and I don't want to cast shade on him, but I firmly believe a major reason the NCAA slammed us under Sutton was because we had turned into what UNC is today. We believed we were untouchable and years of pushing the envelope with them resulted in a payback.

Sutton came into a program that had "alumni" access heavily embedded into it, and he did little (assuming he was even able to) to stop it. I have no idea what kind of program he ran at Arkansas or Oklahoma St, but I have to believe that the pressure to run a program that is walking the edge day after day contributed to his drinking.

Even with the crippling sanctions, it was a challenge for Pitino to remove the hooks these people had in the program.

Pitino mentioned in his podcast conversation with Cal that he sent Rock Oliver to talk to certain people around Lexington that he knew were providing benefits/discounts/etc. to his players.

 

[UKUGA]

Drunk loser who got us on probation. His style was boring also, games constantly in the 50s and 60s. Remember the stupid rule he put in that they had to pass the ball 6 or 7 times before they could shoot?

Even Norman Dale only required 4 passes.

 

[YourPublicEnemy]

Pitino mentioned in his podcast conversation with Cal that he sent Rock Oliver to talk to certain people around Lexington that he knew were providing benefits/discounts/etc. to his players.

This isn't surprising. Lord knows the extent of what Alabama fans do considering their players get Dodge Chargers and stuff.

But when Billy G was here, we worked at a store in the mall and if Patterson or some guys came in, we'd give them the employee discount. Stuff like that.

I went to a school out west that would be considered a mid major and crap went on there too. A booster loaned his car out to the starting forward who usually drove a bike. Stuff like that.