Eddie Sutton Years

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

It’s a slow week and I’d love to hear some insights from some of you who witnessed the Eddie Sutton years.

For context, my first memory of UK basketball was at the barber shop with my grandpa. As we waited, all the men were glued to the small TV where UK was playing Notre Dame. I can remember 3 things about that day ….. UK won, LaRon Ellis scored 14 points and seemed to have a breakout game, and I became a UK fan for life. After searching for box scores, I believe the date would have been Jan 31, 1988. Boxscore http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Statistics/Games/19880131NotreDame.html

I also remember the Villanova game that year in the tournament. After that, my next memories seem to be Rick Pitino arriving as coach and the probation years, where I became a huge fan at 10 years old. My question is …… where did it go wrong for Eddie Sutton? I’ve heard people say he was a drunk, but i was too young to remember. I just rewatched some of those games. He had a talented roster. He seemed to be a decent bench coach. Was it just scandal? Was he in over his head? I’d like to hear the comments of you who lived it rather than Google for articles. Thanks!

 

[bbncal02]

It’s a slow week and I’d love to hear some insights from some of you who witnessed the Eddie Sutton years.

For context, my first memory of UK basketball was at the barber shop with my grandpa. As we waited, all the men were glued to the small TV where UK was playing Notre Dame. I can remember 3 things about that day ….. UK won, LaRon Ellis scored 14 points and seemed to have a breakout game, and I became a UK fan for life. After searching for box scores, I believe the date would have been Jan 31, 1988. Boxscore http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Statistics/Games/19880131NotreDame.html

I also remember the Villanova game that year in the tournament. After that, my next memories seem to be Rick Pitino arriving as coach and the probation years, where I became a huge fan at 10 years old. My question is …… where did it go wrong for Eddie Sutton? I’ve heard people say he was a drunk, but i was too young to remember. I just rewatched some of those games. He had a talented roster. He seemed to be a decent bench coach. Was it just scandal? Was he in over his head? I’d like to hear the comments of you who lived it rather than Google for articles. Thanks!

Hall was coach when I was born, but I of course don't remember much of him. Sutton was coach until I was 6, but but again, I have very few memories of him. I didn't come into true fandom until i was 8-9 and was getting into sports and have more permanent memories.

From what dad mentioned of Sutton, he did have a drinking issue. And remember this was in the day before social media, so, it had to be somewhat pronounced. We'd come off a little bit of a decline from Hall's last years and he just didn't quite have it. The scandal of course sealed the deal. The following season Sutton had the worst record in UK history up to that point (and still has claim to the most losses in a season) at 13-19. That was game over.

 

[H00SIER-Cat]

It seemed like for a while uk was stuck in a cycle of up year then down year. Sutton's first year was up, Kenny Walker was a senior and we couldn't beat LSU four times. Next year was down, Rex was a freshman. Next was up, senior Rob lock was playing well, Eric Manuel was good, but lost to Villanova. Emery airfreight in the off season and Rex went pro.

I thought he was a great coach. I think he commented at some point that he never should have left Arkansas. Possibly the Kentucky job pressure cooker really wasn't something he was prepared for?

Edit: looking at the box score from the link in the post above, I hadn't realized Cedric Jenkins had passed. RIP.

 

[BlueBomb]

I was at UK during the Sutton years. Saw him drunk one night at a gas station. Good times.

 

[saxonburgcat]

I'm older than some of the others who posted. The knock on Sutton was alcohol, erratic behavior, and accusations of racism. According to the story, Rex Chapman was dating a black co-ed and some of the boosters were unhappy so Sutton told him to cut it off. Rex has pretty much confirmed the story in recent years.

 

[Kybluedude]

Great coach. Probably the best last 3 minute coach in UK history. Nice man. Was terrific at all his coaching stops and never needed to cheat. Certainly didn’t need to resort to it at UK.

Live and let live. No reason to disparage him.

Never believed that Emory crap. All a set up.

Got to take what Rex says with several grains of salt. Known to fabricate … remember the Cal to the Lakers. Sutton never had a problem with black players. In fact he excelled coaching them up. Loved his “Triplets”.

Was on the verge of a UK dynasty when things unraveled. Had he been at Kansas or UNC no punishment would have been administered. No concrete evidence in the alleged Emory case ever produced.

 

[ruppcat]

Great coach. Probably the best last 3 minute coach in UK history. Nice man. Was terrific at all his coaching stops and never needed to cheat. Certainly didn’t need to resort to it at UK.

Live and let live. No reason to disparage him.

Never believed that Emory crap. All a set up.

Got to take what Rex says with several grains of salt. Known to fabricate … remember the Cal to the Lakers. Sutton never had a problem with black players. In fact he excelled coaching them up. Loved his “Triplets”.

Was on the verge of a UK dynasty when things unraveled. Had he been at Kansas or UNC no punishment would have been administered. No concrete evidence in the alleged Emory case ever produced.

I recall reading the SI article (?) on this. IF they cheated as claimed it was a master stroke of doing so.

And for an Emory package to come unglued and opened and it just happened to be found by a USC fan.....yeah.....not buying that.

 

[Jamal Mercer]

Sutton years are when I fell in love with UK basketball. Chapman, Davender, Lock, Jenkins, Manuel, Bennet…

Don’t care what happened on his watch, Sutton was a good coach.

My first cry from a UK game was the loss to Villanova in the sweet 16 in…..88?

 

[Ky_Bred_Cat]

I was playing pick up games at that time at the Seaton Center. Eric Manual was a great player. Chris Mills was a man among boys and went on to a solid NBA career. Sutton was on his way to producing a title contender. But Emory had something to say about that.

 

[Pelosigalore]

The Eric Manuel situation with the fake ACT score put a big damper on it.

 

[ssorg]

Eddie Sutton was a great coach but fell into the Maker's bottle. I think he was quoted as saying
he would crawl to Lexington to coach Kentucky. He along with Dwayne Casey got screwed on the whole Emory
thing although Casey got a good settlement from a resulting lawsuit. Had a killer roster until it fell apart over
Emory and Chris Mills..... Eric Manual and Shawn Kemp who took Shawn Sutton's necklace then went straight
to the NBA. He was successful before UK and after............ Just couldn't take the pressure.
If not for all the crap going on Rex would have probably stayed another year and be a Wildcat legend.
A title or two may have been on the horizon.

 

[BC_Wader]

I was playing pick up games at that time at the Seaton Center. Eric Manual was a great player. Chris Mills was a man among boys and went on to a solid NBA career. Sutton was on his way to producing a title contender. But Emory had something to say about that.

Didn't Mills have the first triple double in program history?

 

[BC_Wader]

It’s a slow week and I’d love to hear some insights from some of you who witnessed the Eddie Sutton years.

For context, my first memory of UK basketball was at the barber shop with my grandpa. As we waited, all the men were glued to the small TV where UK was playing Notre Dame. I can remember 3 things about that day ….. UK won, LaRon Ellis scored 14 points and seemed to have a breakout game, and I became a UK fan for life. After searching for box scores, I believe the date would have been Jan 31, 1988. Boxscore http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/Statistics/Games/19880131NotreDame.html

I also remember the Villanova game that year in the tournament. After that, my next memories seem to be Rick Pitino arriving as coach and the probation years, where I became a huge fan at 10 years old. My question is …… where did it go wrong for Eddie Sutton? I’ve heard people say he was a drunk, but i was too young to remember. I just rewatched some of those games. He had a talented roster. He seemed to be a decent bench coach. Was it just scandal? Was he in over his head? I’d like to hear the comments of you who lived it rather than Google for articles. Thanks!

A lot of good and bad with Sutton obviously. Not much to be said here that hasn't already. But know that when you here UL referred to as Little Brother, that came from Sutton I believe.

 

[FurdTerguson]

I can hear his voice in those radio commercials to this day. "This is coach Eddie Sutton (big drawl kicks in) of the You Kay Wiiiildcats."

 

[tug1543]

In my view the Eddie Sutton era was surrounded with controversy from day 1. Immediately after Coach Hall retired, speculation from numerous sources was that Lute Olson, the Univ of Arizona coach, was to be named his replacement. A few days later it was reported that Cliff Hagen, UK's AD, and Olson had a rift over control of the BB program and Olson was "backing out" and would remain at Arizona with a hefty pay raise. A short time later Sutton was named head coach.
His first summer in Lexington rumors began to circulate that Sutton had been picked up on New Circle Rd by the Lexington PD for DUI but it was covered up by the "Legal System." There was a second DUI rumor that summer and reportedly Sutton was told this was his last " free pass" and any future violations would be prosecuted. I know of no documentation or evidence to verify any of this and have no idea whether it was true or not, but the rumors were widespread.
Sutton's more deliberate style of play which involved walking the ball down the court and making 6 passes before taking a shot was very unpopular with many of the fans. Also his flippant, curt responses to questions he received during his radio shows also turned a lot of the fan base off.
During his first year as coach I was stationed at Fort McPherson in Atlanta and traveled to many of the games in the Southeast with members of the Atlanta UK alumni club. A couple of the guys were friends with Dwayne Casey, Sutton's asst coach. Casey was very friendly and down to earth whereas Sutton was a rude condescending jerk who would respond with a frown and maybe a grunt when fans spoke to him.

I freely admit that my opinion of Sutton is tainted because I never liked his style of play nor his prima donna persona. The final straw for me was when Sutton stated that he was innocent of any wrongdoing in the recruiting scandals and he hoped everyone else on his staff were innocent, Sorry Eddie it doesn't work that way! You are the man in charge and as such you are responsible for everything they do in an official capacity or fail to do. He would never man up and take responsibility for the program falling apart.

 

[BC_Wader]

In my view the Eddie Sutton era was surrounded with controversy from day 1. Immediately after Coach Hall retired, speculation from numerous sources was that Lute Olson, the Univ of Arizona coach, was to be named his replacement. A few days later it was reported that Cliff Hagen, UK's AD, and Olson had a rift over control of the BB program and Olson was "backing out" and would remain at Arizona with a hefty pay raise. A short time later Sutton was named head coach.
His first summer in Lexington rumors began to circulate that Sutton had been picked up on New Circle Rd by the Lexington PD for DUI but it was covered up by the "Legal System." There was a second DUI rumor that summer and reportedly Sutton was told this was his last " free pass" and any future violations would be prosecuted. I know of no documentation or evidence to verify any of this and have no idea whether it was true or not, but the rumors were widespread.
Sutton's more deliberate style of play which involved walking the ball down the court and making 6 passes before taking a shot was very unpopular with many of the fans. Also his flippant, curt responses to questions he received during his radio shows also turned a lot of the fan base off.
During his first year as coach I was stationed at Fort McPherson in Atlanta and traveled to many of the games in the Southeast with members of the Atlanta UK alumni club. A couple of the guys were friends with Dwayne Casey, Sutton's asst coach. Casey was very friendly and down to earth whereas Sutton was a rude condescending jerk who would respond with a frown and maybe a grunt when fans spoke to him.

I freely admit that my opinion of Sutton is tainted because I never liked his style of play nor his prima donna persona. The final straw for me was when Sutton stated that he was innocent of any wrongdoing in the recruiting scandals and he hoped everyone else on his staff were innocent, Sorry Eddie it doesn't work that way! You are the man in charge and as such you are responsible for everything they do in an official capacity or fail to do. He would never man up and take responsibility for the program falling apart.

I remember the possible Olson hire and I wanted him bad, but Sutton wasn't a terrible coach by any stretch though his first season was his best.

 

[saxonburgcat]

Got to take what Rex says with several grains of salt. Known to fabricate … remember the Cal to the Lakers. Sutton never had a problem with black players.

I heard the story about Rex dating Shawna and how Sutton handled it at the time it was happening. The fact that Rex confirmed the story many years later pretty much convinced me it was true. I was also hearing about the drinking issues and saw first hand his erratic behavior toward fans. The drinking issues were also confirmed when he got in trouble at Oklahoma State.

All that aside, what gets me most is that Sutton never took any responsibility for the issues going on at UK and was allowed to move on to another job. Others, like Eric Manuel were thrown under a bus. Casey was also thrown under a bus but came out vindicated in the end.

 

[kats23]

Sutton was a hell of a coach that just couldn’t handle the limelight and pressure at UK. He’s certainly not alone in that.

 

[SmyrnaCatFan]

The permed hair always made me suspicious of him.

 

[JDHoss]

* Good coach
* Alcoholic
* Ran a loose ship
* Job overwhelmed him
* Should have never been hired

 

[katwest]

Sutton was a great coach, there's no denying that. I remember when people were talking about him becoming coach here, some liked the idea, and some didn't. One person said we like our coach's hair and our Bourbon straight, people were laughing about that. Towards the end of his time at Kentucky I knew there was some sort of problem when after a game Kentucky lost in the last seconds to LSU, Sutton criticized Rexs shot selection. Then during an interview after the game, Rex told Cawood or Ralph that his dad always told him in order to be the hero, you have to take a chance on being the goat. I knew then Rex would be leaving soon.

 

[bthaunert]

What he did at San Francisco was a POS move. Worked with the AD to get a current coach ousted so he could come in mid-season and get his 800th win. Never liked him for what he did at UK and he closed out his career in a total a-hole move.

 

[gojvc]

And for an Emory package to come unglued and opened and it just happened to be found by a USC fan.....yeah.....not buying that.

You damn near need a stick of dynamite to get one of those things open. The idea that it just popped open by accident is absurd.

 

[Walt_McCartys_Attorney]

kind of funny to see folks that think the program was not, erm, bending the rules.

The guy who skates on what all the boosters had put together is Cliff Hagan. What he did with the football program is what helped blow up the basketball program. The NCAA wanted a basketball counter part for SMU and they had wanted it to be UK since the point shaving scandal.

 

[Catluv]

I had a buddy that worked at pizza delivery. When Sutton called for a pizza the guys would argue over delivering the pizza. He said if the pizza was 19.95 he would give you 20$ and wait for his nickel back. No tip for u!!

 

[CatFanInIlliniLand]

In my view the Eddie Sutton era was surrounded with controversy from day 1. Immediately after Coach Hall retired, speculation from numerous sources was that Lute Olson, the Univ of Arizona coach, was to be named his replacement. A few days later it was reported that Cliff Hagen, UK's AD, and Olson had a rift over control of the BB program and Olson was "backing out" and would remain at Arizona with a hefty pay raise. A short time later Sutton was named head coach.
His first summer in Lexington rumors began to circulate that Sutton had been picked up on New Circle Rd by the Lexington PD for DUI but it was covered up by the "Legal System." There was a second DUI rumor that summer and reportedly Sutton was told this was his last " free pass" and any future violations would be prosecuted. I know of no documentation or evidence to verify any of this and have no idea whether it was true or not, but the rumors were widespread.
Sutton's more deliberate style of play which involved walking the ball down the court and making 6 passes before taking a shot was very unpopular with many of the fans. Also his flippant, curt responses to questions he received during his radio shows also turned a lot of the fan base off.
During his first year as coach I was stationed at Fort McPherson in Atlanta and traveled to many of the games in the Southeast with members of the Atlanta UK alumni club. A couple of the guys were friends with Dwayne Casey, Sutton's asst coach. Casey was very friendly and down to earth whereas Sutton was a rude condescending jerk who would respond with a frown and maybe a grunt when fans spoke to him.

I freely admit that my opinion of Sutton is tainted because I never liked his style of play nor his prima donna persona. The final straw for me was when Sutton stated that he was innocent of any wrongdoing in the recruiting scandals and he hoped everyone else on his staff were innocent, Sorry Eddie it doesn't work that way! You are the man in charge and as such you are responsible for everything they do in an official capacity or fail to do. He would never man up and take responsibility for the program falling apart.

I appreciate all the insights that have been posted.

Some of my older relatives said he was a jerk as well. Always wondered if it was a BCG type personality or what? His coaching and roster makeup seemed a lot better than BCG’s though.

 

[catlogic15]

Sutton was never in control of the program. Cliff Hagan and out of control boosters lead to a rogue program and I think Sutton felt minimized and started drinking heavily. Just my opinion anyway.

 

[crestcat]

kind of funny to see folks that think the program was not, erm, bending the rules.

The guy who skates on what all the boosters had put together is Cliff Hagan. What he did with the football program is what helped blow up the basketball program. The NCAA wanted a basketball counter part for SMU and they had wanted it to be UK since the point shaving scandal.

Doubting the Emory Freight scenario is not necessarily being in denial, there is nothing about it that passes the smell test. The envelope popping open, who found it and then how it was handled. It cost Emory a wad of money.
That being said, I have no knowledge of UK cheating, they could have been. I’ve heard about NCAA basketball at the time,”if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying “. If UK was cheating they weren’t doing it best. There was a lot of people we were recruiting hard that we didn’t get.

 

[LordEggForgotHisPassword]

alcoholics are very rarely charming, lovable personalities. Not saying there aren't a few, but the exception proves the rule. Add alcoholism to high pressure, self-importance, and a bad hair-do, and you get a mess. I do agree the AD and boosters had more to do with it (likely) than Sutton. The 80s, man, was a helluva era.

 

[Walt_McCartys_Attorney]

Doubting the Emory Freight scenario is not necessarily being in denial, there is nothing about it that passes the smell test. The envelope popping open, who found it and then how it was handled. It cost Emory a wad of money.
That being said, I have no knowledge of UK cheating, they could have been. I’ve heard about NCAA basketball at the time,”if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying “. If UK was cheating they weren’t doing it best. There was a lot of people we were recruiting hard that we didn’t get.

UK never denied sending the money when cooperating with the NCAA, and Casey’s lawsuit against Emory was basically a negligence/breach of contract claim. Was it a weird story and were people from UCLA involved in sabotaging UK? Yes absolutely. That’s why Mills ended up at Arizona.

Jerry Tarkanian has a chapter in his book about recruiting Sam Bowie, and what he was up against when it came to UK. Worth the read, and should shed some light on the extracurriculars our players got.

 

[BBNinSC]

Eddie Sutton was a great coach but fell into the Maker's bottle. I think he was quoted as saying
he would crawl to Lexington to coach Kentucky. He along with Dwayne Casey got screwed on the whole Emory
thing although Casey got a good settlement from a resulting lawsuit. Had a killer roster until it fell apart over
Emory and Chris Mills..... Eric Manual and Shawn Kemp who took Shawn Sutton's necklace then went straight
to the NBA. He was successful before UK and after............ Just couldn't take the pressure.
If not for all the crap going on Rex would have probably stayed another year and be a Wildcat legend.
A title or two may have been on the horizon.

I was just going to mention the crawl to Kentucky comment. I remember Sutton when he was at Arkansas, UK beat his team in the 1978 Final Four. Sidney Moncrief was a great player on that team

 

[Whoppercat]

…so Sutton told him to cut it off.

Pretty “stiff” penalty. Effective, though.

 

[Emarc]

Eddie in charge of nothing. knew he was an outsider moment he signed contract. UK old boy/booster network ran the show.

 

[jeffky]

Eddie Sutton was a great defensive coach should have been in the final four his first year at Kentucky with walker Bennett and harden very fun team too watch unfortunately it went down hill from there with the Emory package Shawn Kemp stealing Sean Sutton necklace and his drinking my favorite player was the master blaster I know Rex was everyone's favorite but I like the master blaster

 

[Eagles_Ball]

UK never denied sending the money when cooperating with the NCAA, and Casey’s lawsuit against Emory was basically a negligence/breach of contract claim. Was it a weird story and were people from UCLA involved in sabotaging UK? Yes absolutely. That’s why Mills ended up at Arizona.

Jerry Tarkanian has a chapter in his book about recruiting Sam Bowie, and what he was up against when it came to UK. Worth the read, and should shed some light on the extracurriculars our players got.

Man, it was the absolute Wild West back then. Tark commenting on not being able to recruit someone due to the benefits they were getting somewhere else is irony at its finest. And 100% accurate all at the same time.

 

[jeffky]

Man, it was the absolute Wild West back then. Tark commenting on not being able to recruit someone due to the benefits they were getting somewhere else is irony at its finest. And 100% accurate all at the same time.

That's funny the quote about tark here is another one if you have a team finishing last in there conference there not paying enough

 

[kennyskywalker34]

Didn't Mills have the first triple double in program history?

Yes

 

[the nail at the foul line]

They sucked.

 

[On-On-UK]

I remember when Sutton signed 6'10" Mike Scott. An interviewer ask him to describe Scott's skills and what positives he brings to the team. "Well, uh... uh..." Sutton said awkwardly, "he has soft paws."

 

[FurdTerguson]

SI did a story on either UK or O of L and Crum was so pissed that Sutton called them Little Brother he said "he was probably drunk when he said it." Then we beat them 85-51.