Everything about Kentucky Wildcats totally explained
Paul "Bear" Bryant Era
As a member of the football-heavy SEC, they compete against many of the top college football programs in the nation. They play at
Commonwealth Stadium, which replaced
Stoll Field in 1973.
Paul "Bear" Bryant was Kentucky's head football coach for eight seasons.
Under Bryant the Wildcats won the 1947
Great Lakes Bowl, lost the 1950
Orange Bowl, won the 1951
Sugar Bowl and the 1952
Cotton Bowl. In final AP polls, the Wildcats were ranked #11 in 1949, #7 in 1950, #15 in 1951, #20 in 1952 and #16 in 1953. The final 1950 poll was taken prior to the bowl games; Kentucky then defeated undefeated and #1 ranked Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl and claims that this win earned them a national championship for the 1950 season, since they were ranked #1 in the Sagarin Ratings. The NCAA recognizes Kentucky as a co-national champion on its Past Football Bowl Subdivision National Champions Web site.
Fran Curci Era
The 1976 Wildcats retroactively claimed a share of the
Southeastern Conference championship under coach
Fran Curci via a loss later forfeited by Mississippi State (and despite losing at home to conference champion Georgia) and won the
Peach Bowl, finishing #18 in the final AP poll. The 1977 Kentucky team went 10-1 and was undefeated in SEC play but, despite finishing the season ranked #6 in the AP poll, didn't play in a bowl game due to NCAA sanctions. Kentucky finished at #6 and Penn State at #5 despite the fact that Kentucky defeated Penn State at Penn State during the regular season.
Jerry Claiborne Era
Coach
Jerry Claiborne led the Wildcats to the 1983
Hall of Fame Bowl. In 1984 Kentucky returned to the Hall of Fame Bowl and defeated a ranked Wisconsin team to finish the season with a 9-3 record and a #19 ranking in the final AP poll.
Bill Curry Era
The Wildcats played in the 1993 Peach Bowl under coach
Bill Curry.
Hal Mumme Era
Coach
Hal Mumme led the Wildcats to the 1998
Outback Bowl and the 1999
Music City Bowl but the program was hit with severe sanctions for infractions during Mumme's tenure.
Guy Morriss Era
Under coach
Guy Morriss the Wildcats posted a 7-5 record in 2002 but were not eligible for postseason play due to NCAA sanctions.
Rich Brooks Era
The team's current coach is
Rich Brooks, who led the team to an 8-5 regular season record in
2006, including a memorable upset over the defending SEC champion Georgia, snapping a nine-game losing streak to the Bulldogs. Brooks also led the football team to its first bowl game since 1999 and its first bowl game victory since 1984, as Kentucky defeated the
Clemson University Tigers 28-20 in the Music City Bowl.
(External Link
) On September, 15 2007. Brooks led UK to a 40-34 upset win over #9
Louisville. This marked UK's first win over Louisville since 2002 and the first win over a top 10 team since #4 Penn State in 1977. The Wildcats were ranked 8th in the nation before a loss to South Carolina on October 4. After the loss to South Carolina, Kentucky bounced back on October 13 to defeat #1 LSU in a historic triple overtime game.
The 2007 Kentucky Wildcats football defeated the
Florida State Seminoles 35-28 in the 2007
Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 31, 2007. It was the Wildcats second straight bowl appearance after a drought dating back to 1999. Quarterback
Andre' Woodson was named the Music City Bowl MVP for the second year in a row. The last three bowl appearances for the Cats have been in the Music City Bowl, which they've appeared in more than any other SEC team in the conference's affiliation with the game, which dates back to the inaugural game in 1998.
One obscure statistic illustrates the competitive challenge Kentucky has historically faced in football. The recruiting site
Rivals.com recently pointed out that in the five seasons from 2003 through 2007, the Wildcats have only signed a total of six prospects who were rated by the site as four stars (out of five) or higher, (with the exception of Micah Johnson) none of them rated as five-star prospects. By contrast,
Florida, who is grouped with Kentucky in the SEC East, signed 20 players rated four stars or higher by the same site in the 2007 class alone.
University of Kentucky 100th Anniversary Teams
Chosen in 1990 by Kentucky Newspapers
Lexington Herald-Leader
Offense
OE -
Tom Hutchinson
OE - Steve Mellinger
OL -
Sam Ball
OL -
Warren Bryant
OL -
Irv Goode
OL - Ray Correl
OL - Doug Mosely
QB -
Babe Parilli
RB - Sonny Collins
RB -
Rodger Bird
RB - Shipwreck Kelly
PK - Joe Worley
Defense
DE -
Art Still
DT -
Bob Gain
MG -
Dave Roller
DT -
Lou Michaels
DE -
Jeff Van Note
LB -
Joe Federspiel
LB - Jay Rhodemyer
DB - Paul Calhoun
DB - Jerry Claiborne
DB - Darryl Bishop
DB - Mike Siganos
KR - Dicky Lyons, Sr.
Louisville Courier-Journal
Offense
OE -
Tom Hutchinson
OE - Steve Mellinger
OT -
Sam Ball
OT -
Warren Bryant
OG - Gene Donaldson
OG -
Dermontti Dawson
OC - Jay Rhodemyer
QB -
Babe Parilli
RB - Sonny Collins
RB - Bob Davis
RB -
Mark Higgs
PK - Joe Worley
Defense
DL -
Art Still
DL -
Bob Gain
DL - Dave Correl
DL -
Lou Michaels
DL -
Jeff Van Note
LB -
Joe Federspiel
LB -
Jim Kovach
LB -
Frank LeMaster
DB - Paul Calhoun
RB -
Rodger Bird
DB - Mike Siganos
P -
Ralph Kercheval
Baseball
The baseball program, partly hampered by being the northernmost school in the heavily warm-weather SEC, has historically achieved only modest success at best. Wildcats baseball hit bottom at the turn of the 21st century, with only one winning season from 1997 through 2004, and last-place finishes in the SEC East division in every season from 2001 through 2005. In 2003, after the retirement of longtime coach Keith Madison, Kentucky hired Florida assistant John Cohen as head coach. Cohen was able to lead the Cats to a winning overall season in 2005, despite another SEC cellar finish.
Few could have expected the
Cinderella season the Cats would have in 2006. They literally went from worst to first in the SEC, winning a regular-season conference title for the first time in three decades, and being ranked as high as fourth in the country by one major baseball poll during the season. However, the newly energized Kentucky baseball faithful saw the Cats crash out of the SEC tournament early and fail to make it out of the regionals of the NCAA tournament
at home.
There were high hopes for the 2007 team and for the most part they delivered. After going undefeated at 19-0 they eventually fell against
Arkansas They then fell into a tailspin but rebounded at the end of the year to just miss the SEC playoffs after a
Tennessee Volunteers win. They finished with a 37-19 record.
Cheerleading
The University of Kentucky cheerleaders have won the UCA Division I-A
Cheerleading Championship 16 times, more than any other school. They are the only school to win more than two consecutive championships, having won each year from 1995 through 2002 and from 2004 through 2006, and are the only school to win consecutive championships on multiple occasions, having done so three times (1987-1988, 1995-2002, and 2004-2006). They have won championships in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2008 have also placed second four times, and have finished in the top ten every year since the existence of the UCA National College Championships
(External Link). The squad has been featured on the "
CBS Evening News",
Connie Chung's "Eye to Eye", and the "CBS Morning Show", NBC's
The Today Show, in "Southern Living" and
Gentlemen's Quarterly, "ESPN the Magazine", and "
Seventeen" magazines.
A reality show on called "
Cheerleader U." followed the team during the 2006-2007 season.
Golf
The men's and women's golf teams call the
University Club of Kentucky their home course.
Notable alumni of the golf team include 1967
Masters winner
Gay Brewer and current
PGA Tour golfers
J. B. Holmes and
Steve Flesch.
Hockey
The University of Kentucky Hockey Team (founded 1984) competes in the
American Collegiate Hockey Association. The "coolcats" play their home games at the Lexington Ice Center. Traditionally the team ranks as the 3rd most popular spectator sport behind Football and Basketball. The hockey program is funded by private funds outside of the athletic department. In 1998 the cats released their first poster featuring actress and UK alum
Ashley Judd. Since the debut of the first poster, the cats have issued an annual poster featuring a celebrity with ties to the bluegrass. The program has achieved great success including 3 national tournament appearances, 1992 national runner-up, and 18 winning seasons.
Mascots
The University of Kentucky has
three official mascots:
Blue — A live bobcat (note that in American English, "wildcat" generally refers to this particular mammal). He lives at the state-operated Salato Wildlife Education Center near the state capital of Frankfort. Unlike the school's two costumed mascots, he never attends games, because bobcats are very shy by nature and don't react well with large crowds.
The Wildcat — A costumed student, he made his debut in the 1976-77 school year.
Scratch — A later addition, he's a more child-friendly version of The Wildcat.
All-time records by sport
All records are through 2005-06.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Kentucky Wildcats'.
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