J O E B   ___ Judging from Hall's coaching honors, Rupp was as usual, right on target
• with his evaluation.
Hall has won such honors as Ke||ogg's 1978 National "Coach of the Year,"
      three Southeastern Conference "Coach of the Year" awards (1973, ’75, and
’78) in seven years, and nomination for Kodak's 1975, '76, and ’78 (finalist)
"Coach of the Year" awards.
i   ’ · __ Other 1978 honors include the Rupp Cup (presented to SEC Coach of the l
‘· " 4 `)".j°~ _ Year by the Birmingham Tipoff Club) and Hall's most coveted personal
_ `· - “·—- award, the Dr. James Naismith "Peachbasket" award, which previously had
;_   ,_ _ . _ ~»·.  _  .6 been awarded to UCLA’s John Wooden, Oklahoma State’s Hank lba, Ken-
· ,1 · I · `   tucky’s Adolph Rupp and the Boston Celtics' Red Auerbach. (
A ``_~ .*1  , 3   However, his greatest satisfaction was adding the first national champion-
    ’`' M    _' ship trophy to the University collection in two decades—years that included
.   M   r , appearances in the NCAA final games in 1966 and 1975.
  __   » v The 1978 champions, which had a 30-2 record, became the sixth Wildcat
=`  `*é‘-%;_,.§t··*·_     _i<.._;·· ‘    . team to win 30 or more games, joining such illustrious company as the 1947
   ’: ’  ~.,_,,   ( "   NIT runner-up (34-3), the 1948 Olympic Champions (36-3), the 1949 NCAA €·
1;-   »     ' champions (32-2), the 1951 NCAA champions (32-2), and the 1966 NCAA
"   Y , i.     runner-up(32-2). j
    - img", Player honors during Hall's reign include four All-Americans (Kevin `
  i   M i Grevey, Jack Givens, Rick Robey and Kyle Macy) selected a total of nine tl
ff" - _ times, and six All-Southeastern Conference honorees (Jim Andrews,
Y   .   _   —   _ Grevey, Givens, Robey, Macy and Sam Bowie) selected a total of 13 times.
_i “‘*l?*%,_  ln addition, Robey and Macy earned Gold Medals in the Pan-American
. “   ` wi _r{`.,·—L' Games.
.»   Entering the tournament, Hall's 14-year career coaching record stood at
· C `   259-110, (excluding a 17-2 record on a 1974 Australian tour, a 7-0 record on a
` _ 1978 Japan tour, and six pre-season exhibition wins against foreign and do-
__ A   l mestic teams) and that record was compiled against nationally ranked non-
`· in lj conference teams and teams in a conference that fast is becoming recog-
_ A I nized as among the toughest in the nation. Broken down, it shows a 57-50
five-year mark at Regis, a 19-6 record at Central Missouri, and a 183-59
. record at UK.
Now in his eighth year at Kentucky, Joe B. Hall has turned in another mas- Hall began his tour as UK head coach in rather auspicious fashion, becom-
terful coaching job that brought the Wildcats to a 29-5 record and a No. 3 na- ing, in 1973 the first rookie coach in the SEC to be designated Coach of the
tional ranking. Adding to an already glittering array of achievements, Hall's Year by his fellow coaches and by Coach and Athlete Magazine.
team won three championships this year—the Great Alaskan Shootout, the Gathering such honors has been one of Hall's trademarks during a
UKIT and Hall's fifth Southeastern Conference title. coaching career that began at Shepherdsville (Ky.) High School in 1956 and
Following a recruiting year that was judged "best in the nation," Hall continued through Regis College and Central Missouri State College before
worked his magic in blending talented youth with experienced upperclass- he returned to UK July 1, 1965, as an assistant to his former coach, Adolph
men and after trying six different starting lineups during the season, obvious- Rupp.
ly found the formula of success for he is taking the Wildcats to a major post- During Hall's two years at Shepherdsville, the Rams won a Mid-Kentucky
season tournament for the seventh time in eightyears. Conference title and he was named "Coach of the Year" in 1958. He then
The last time Hall had a great freshman group, he blended it with an out- served one year as freshman coach and five years as head basketball coach
standing senior class that went to the NCAA final game before losing to at Regis College in Denver, Colo., where he was also athletic director and
UCLA in 1975. That freshman group went on to win the 1978 NCAA cham- earned special recognition as coach of the champion independent team in
pionship. the area.
Following Kentucky's, 70-67, win over a stubborn Ole Miss team in this His next move was to Central Missouri, where he coached the Mules (19-6) `
year's SEC tournament, a writer asked Hall to evaluate his team’s progress to their first MlAA Conference championship since 1951 and theirfirst Christ-
this season. mas Tournament title in history. He was named MlAA "Coach of the Year"
"It's unbelievable so young a team has come so far," he replied. "To have (1964-65). C
two freshmen in the starting lineup and a total of four in ourtop eight players A three-letter winner and team captain in both sports in high school at ·
places a huge work load on everyone—the upperclassmen, the coaches and Cynthiana, Ky., he played freshman basketball and one year of varsity bas-
the freshmen themselves. They have improved steadily, but to reach the ketball in the "Fabulous Five" era at the University before transferring to the
level they have is unrealistic for such a youthful team." University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., where he set a school single A
To say that Hall has done his job well is a massive understatement. One game scoring record and was team captain. Coach Lon Varnell, upon retire- l
coach whose team fell to the Cats' prowess said, "Kentucky is a magnificent ment, rated Hall as No. 1 of the three best players he ever coached.  
team. The only possible flaw l can see is that they are so well coached, they After touring Europe with the Globetrotters in 1951, Hall returned to U.K.
are at titties predictable." in 1955 to complete requirements for his B.A. and later (1964) received his A
Prcrlictahle or not, only four teams have beaten the Cats this year and M.A. at Colorado State University.
three of those have been avenged. The fourth, Duke, may meet UK in the Returning to U.K. again in 1965 as assistant coach and head recruiter, he
NCAA tournamentin Lexington. was instrumental in adopting a running-conditioning program which ob- `
Under Hall's guidance, the Wildcats have won SEC Championships in viously paid huge dividends as the Wildcats capitalized on speed and endur-
1973, '75, '77, '78 and '80, the 1976 NIT championship and six UKIT titles. ance to offset a lack of size and advance to the championship game of the
ln leading the Wildcats to a 29-5 record this year, Hall upped his eight—year NCAA Finals. Hall then successfully recruited six prep All-Americans, includ-
UK record to 183-59 (75.6 win percentage), an average of 22.9 wins per ing all-time U.K. scoring leader Dan lssel, to form the nucleus of a varsity
season, to keep ahead of the pace set by his former coach, Adolph Rupp, team that won three straight conference championships and was followed by
who averaged 21.5 victories a season over a 41-season span to become the a team thatwon three more consecutive SEC titles.
` winningest collegiate basketball coach ofall time. Hall became No. 1 varsity assistant and head freshman Coach IO RUDD j
Perhaps the bcst appraisal of the job Hall has been doing at the University after Harry C. Lancaster was named permanent athletic director Feb. 1, 1969.
tutmie from Rupp, who died in 1977. His record with the freshmen was 60-15, including an undefeated (22-O)
” A good coach/' Rupp said, "is a person who can take good material and season (1971-72) which resulted in the Kittens being crowned National Fr<·3Sh·
\i\`|l1V\/ll)lll.`lL1t})1QiS done that." man Champions by the Basketball News.
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