Why did Bear Bryant leave?

[BoulderCat]

Interesting thread guys. I tried quoting a lot of it, and got an error telling me to make my post less than 10,000 characters, lol

I was fortunate to be a UK student during Curci's best seasons. That's probably as close to both the basketball and football programs being successful at the same time since the late 40's and early 50's. UK won the SEC title in football, and the national title in basketball during my 4 years in Lexington. I remember an early December day in 1977 when the Kernel had a front page story about UK being ranked #1 in basketball, and #5 in football in the same week. That SEC title was our last since, almost 40 years ago! How in the world did we get to where we are now, SMH.

 

[El Gato Calvo]

Interesting thread guys. I tried quoting a lot of it, and got an error telling me to make my post less than 10,000 characters, lol

I was fortunate to be a UK student during Curci's best seasons. That's probably as close to both the basketball and football programs being successful at the same time since the late 40's and early 50's. UK won the SEC title in football, and the national title in basketball during my 4 years in Lexington. I remember an early December day in 1977 when the Kernel had a front page story about UK being ranked #1 in basketball, and #5 in football in the same week. That SEC title was our last since, almost 40 years ago! How in the world did we get to where we are now, SMH.

BBall AD's who didn't give a damn about football.

 

[ram1955]

Interesting thread guys. I tried quoting a lot of it, and got an error telling me to make my post less than 10,000 characters, lol

I was fortunate to be a UK student during Curci's best seasons. That's probably as close to both the basketball and football programs being successful at the same time since the late 40's and early 50's. UK won the SEC title in football, and the national title in basketball during my 4 years in Lexington. I remember an early December day in 1977 when the Kernel had a front page story about UK being ranked #1 in basketball, and #5 in football in the same week. That SEC title was our last since, almost 40 years ago! How in the world did we get to where we are now, SMH.

Remember it well. Before that season, I was bball first and Football second. That season taught me how exciting winning big in Football could be. From that point on, I was a Football guy first and foremost.

 

[ram1955]

BBall AD's who didn't give a damn about football.

Possibly could have kept the Bear. Could have kept Collier or at least one of his assistants that ended up in the pros. Could have had Schnellenberger twice. Could have had Pat Summit. Goes to show you how AD's have focused primarily on one sport.

 

[SanAntonioCat]

Possibly could have kept the Bear. Could have kept Collier or at least one of his assistants that ended up in the pros. Could have had Schnellenberger twice. Could have had Pat Summit. Goes to show you how AD's have focused primarily on one sport.

You have no idea how right you are.

 

[shutzhund]

Interesting thread guys. I tried quoting a lot of it, and got an error telling me to make my post less than 10,000 characters, lol

I was fortunate to be a UK student during Curci's best seasons. That's probably as close to both the basketball and football programs being successful at the same time since the late 40's and early 50's. UK won the SEC title in football, and the national title in basketball during my 4 years in Lexington. I remember an early December day in 1977 when the Kernel had a front page story about UK being ranked #1 in basketball, and #5 in football in the same week. That SEC title was our last since, almost 40 years ago! How in the world did we get to where we are now, SMH.

UK Administration which includes most past and present ADs. You've got to put a financial gun to their heads to get their attention.

 

[SanAntonioCat]

UK Administration which includes most past and present ADs. You've got to put a financial gun to their heads to get their attention.

Amen

 

[ukalum1988]

That was Larry Ivy, C.M. Newton's top choice to be AD. And, we wonder why UK football continued to spiral downward.

You can thank Larry for "C. M. Newton Field", one of the worst abominations in UK FB history.

 

[BoulderCat]

You guys are right I'm sure, but like Ram1955 I got a taste in my time at UK of what it was like to see our football program succeed at a very high level. I'd like to sample that taste again, and while I still have quite a few left hopefully I'm running out of years. I would have never imagined it could be nearly 40 years later with that still our last SEC title. At least the admin has recently shown some support, but we were so far down at a time when the SEC is on top of the college football world, and more competitive than ever. It's tough to envision an SEC title, even a SEC East title anytime soon. We can hope though because it's all we have. Maybe Barker turns out to be the real deal, our D improves, Boom runs wild, and we exceed the expectations of most of 5 wins this year. That'd be a good start.

 

[SanAntonioCat]

You can thank Larry for "C. M. Newton Field", one of the worst abominations in UK FB history.

True

 

[fuzz77]

BBall AD's who didn't give a damn about football.

You mean to say that Bernie Shively was a "BBall AD"?
The same Bernie Shively that prior to being AD was the head football coach at UK?
He is the guy that hired Bryant, Collier, and Bradshaw. He died before Bradshaw left.

 

[WildCard]

There is one other possible aspect of the Bear's departure that I don't believe has been mentioned in this thread...his possible relationship with Happy Chandler's daughter. A good friend of mine is quite close with a former well known Kentucky based sports writer of that era who swears Happy used his considerable political clout and contacts to hasten the Bear's departure. You might find some oblique reference to that somewhere on the web but I'll let it go at that.

Peace

 

[SanAntonioCat]

There is one other possible aspect of the Bear's departure that I don't believe has been mentioned in this thread...his possible relationship with Happy Chandler's daughter. A good friend of mine is quite close with a former well known Kentucky based sports writer of that era who swears Happy used his considerable political clout and contacts to hasten the Bear's departure. You might find some oblique reference to that somewhere on the web but I'll let it go at that.

Peace

I didn't want to discuss that aspect of Bear's relationship with Happy Chandler's daughter as there is no credible source left to confirm if the friendship was more than being friends. This may have played a role in Bear leaving, but likely a minor one. However, the main reasons were Herman Donovan breaking promises on the future of the football program and the knowledge of Bear's "slush fund" buying (recruiting) players. All other reasons discussed in this thread are of value to Bear's departure as well.

 

[jauk11]

There is one other possible aspect of the Bear's departure that I don't believe has been mentioned in this thread...his possible relationship with Happy Chandler's daughter. A good friend of mine is quite close with a former well known Kentucky based sports writer of that era who swears Happy used his considerable political clout and contacts to hasten the Bear's departure. You might find some oblique reference to that somewhere on the web but I'll let it go at that.

Peace

So, could the Chancellors (or regent or?) wife have been partially responsible for Strong leaving for Texas? Too bad he didn't have to testify in court in the divorce, might have been interesting. Maybe instead of UL having two of a kind they had three of a kind.

 

[SanAntonioCat]

So, could the Chancellors (or regent or?) wife have been partially responsible for Strong leaving for Texas? Too bad he didn't have to testify in court in the divorce, might have been interesting. Maybe instead of UL having two of a kind they had three of a kind.

This has nothing to do with this thread, but Charlie's 2016 Longhorns (despite picking up four Baylor recruits) are picked 5-7 once again. According to what magazine is projecting, the Horns are looking at the bottom half of the Big 12.

 

[tholleyt]

Hypothetical question here. Did Adolph Rupp cause Kentucky to become a one sport dynamo at both Kentucky and Alabama being basketball and football powers and how would history be written if the Bear never left?

Would Bama be Bama and Kentucky be a football power? The thought of financial commitment to these two giant coaching legends must have been too large for the school. Was Rupp worried about Bear overshadowing him?

Who cares?!

 

[U Go UK]

Hypothetical question here. Did Adolph Rupp cause Kentucky to become a one sport dynamo at both Kentucky and Alabama being basketball and football powers and how would history be written if the Bear never left?

Would Bama be Bama and Kentucky be a football power? The thought of financial commitment to these two giant coaching legends must have been too large for the school. Was Rupp worried about Bear overshadowing him?

My father was student body president at the time and I once asked him about the possibility of Rupp being fired. Here's his recollection on the matter.

This season was right after my graduation and after all that happened on the Athletic Board when I was a member. The SEC demanded that Rupp be fired, but UK refused. President Donovan told me on a train that they had conducted an extensive investigation -- using more than one major detective agency --- and found NO EVIDENCE that would implicate Coach Rupp.

 

[SanAntonioCat]

My father was student body president at the time and I once asked him about the possibility of Rupp being fired. Here's his recollection on the matter.

This season was right after my graduation and after all that happened on the Athletic Board when I was a member. The SEC demanded that Rupp be fired, but UK refused. President Donovan told me on a train that they had conducted an extensive investigation -- using more than one major detective agency --- and found NO EVIDENCE that would implicate Coach Rupp.

True.

 

[BigBluePhantom]

Who cares?!

Quite a few of us considering that you asked this silly question in post number 56 of this thread. smh

 

[SanAntonioCat]

Who cares?!

There was no animosity between Rupp and the Bear nor fear either would overshadow the other. The point shaving scandal was a major issue in the 50s especially at Kentucky. The ramifications affected every sport at UK including football. As mentioned in earlier comments then president Herman Donovan was a sports advocate, but also highly principled man. What he likely did not know (when ordering restrictions on sports) were the ramifications especially on football. Basketball recovered rather quickly, but football began what turned out to be a decades long decline still present today.

 

[PlutoDroid]

Who cares?!

Its the off-season and this being a UK message board it is potentially the defining moment of the football program. We won't ever know how history would have changed had he stayed but it's conceivable it could have altered Kentucky's course.

Many consider him to be the G.O.A.T and he coached at UK. Relate that to having Saban or Meyer roaming the sideline this fall. It would have also affected Alabama's history in theory but that's just a practice of futility to contemplate their course had he never coached there.

 

[KentUcKy-Kats]

You can thank Larry for "C. M. Newton Field", one of the worst abominations in UK FB history.

Don't even get me started on this. Makes me want to run through a wall every time I see the name inside the stadium.

Had our chance to make it right too. Last year, when we pulled up the natural grass. Could have very easily slid in another name for the introduction of the field turf and moved the other name to one of the new restroom doors.

 

[shutzhund]

Don't know why he left but just by looking around it seems like he made a darned good decision.

 

[PlutoDroid]

Don't know why he left but just by looking around it seems like he made a darned good decision.

Well he is a czar at Alabama. Would he be as revered had he stayed at UK? My guess is there would be a nice BIG statue outside the football stadium with more banners inside. Just a guess but like I said I'm just a fan on a message board...not Miss Cleo.