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SEC Coaches Are In A Class Of Their Own
Present And Former Mentors Have Been Special
Kentucky fans have seen such stability in the school's basketball coaches' tenure.
Adolph Rupp stayed 42 years. Joe Hall stayed 13. UK is the only school in the Southeastern Conference that has had fewer than eight coaches on the basketball bench since the league was formed for the 1932-33 season.
With Eddie Sutton now in his first season, UK has had just three coaches in the 53-year span of the life of the SEC!
Only Louisiana State and Tennessee have as few as eight. The other seven current member schools have seen nine or more coaches come and go since the beginning.
Perhaps that says something about WHY Kentucky has been so successful for so long.
But, trivia buffs, would you believe that LSU's Dale Brown is now the dean of SEC coaches. Yes. he's been on the bench for 13 consecutive seasons now. Of course, C. M. Newton has been in the SEC for more years, 16, but he's been at two schools. He was at Alabama for 12 years, Vanderbilt for four.
Jim Griesch
Cats' Pause Columnist
And, Norm Sloan was coaching at Florida BEFORE any of the current coaches began in the SEC. He spent five years in Gatorland, 1961-66. but left to take North Carolina State to a national championship in 1974, before returning to Gainesville in 1980.
But, for one coach, one school, continuous service, the wiley one, Brown, now rates as the longest-surviving coach.
Considering his volatile ways, flambuoyant style, and somtimes mysterious ramblings, ver-bage, vacations and recruiting, he's amazed many SEC watchers.
Brown's been in focus this fall and winter in LSU's own set of problems, and the coach has been making noises to the effect that he may get out of coaching SOON.
If Brown should step down, whoever might replace Brown would be hard pressed to out do either Big Daddy Dale, or his predacessor. Press Maravich. Press, of course, holds the all-time NCAA record for successfully coaching his own son in college.
"Pistol Pete" Maravich is the all-time career leading scorer in NCAA history. His marks may stand forever, because nobody  absolutely nobody - could even get the chance to average 44 points a game at the Division I level again.
We're not talking about some 8-3 goon playing at East Lipstick or North Nanook A&M, or Southern Exposure Tech, folks. We're talking about major schools.
Think about becoming a coach at LSU. Nobody could be as colorful as Brown. Nobody is going to bring in his son and do what Maravich's did.
Nobody.
It may very well be that none of the current coaches even stays around long enough to get 20 years at their respective schools.
That's become a trend over the past decade or so. Only a handful of coaches have stayed very long. Dean Smith's been at North Carolina for 25 years. Only Lefty Driesell, at Maryland, has been around the ACC for as many as 16 (1970 season), besides Smith.
Oddly enough, closer to home, two coaches at hot rivals of UK have outlasted Joe Hall at UK. Bobby Knight and Denny Crum are still at Indiana and Louisville, respectively, and each began at their schools before Hall stepped up to replace Rupp at UK. Hard to believe? Yes. Knight began at IU in 1971. Crum began at Louisville in 1972.
The SEC has seen a fluidity of coaching changes almost everywhere.
Since Hall began at UK, in the 1972-73 season, the same year as Brown at LSU, every other SEC institution has changed coaches at least once.
Alabama's seen some continuity. Newton lasted in Tuscaloosa from 1969 until 1980, and Wimp Sanderson stepped up and has been there since.
Auburn had Bill Lynn on the bench when Hall and Brown began their SEC careers. Since then, Auburn's seen Bob Davis (74-78) and Sonny Smith (79-present) come and go. Smith actually did go, only to unretire after his team's fairy tale trip through the SEC and NCAA tourneys last March.
Florida had Tommy Bartlett on the bench in 1973, and had John Lotz from 1974-80, with Sloan there (second trip) since 1981. A footnote is needed here. Rev. John Visscher, Lotz' aide, replaced Lotz the final month or so of the 1980 season, when the school dismissed Lotz in mid-stream.
Bartlett won some fame in the 1970's as a coach who used a magic stone and the newly-invented Gatorade as a psycholgical upper for a major-level school.
Georgia's had its share of coaches, too. Ken Rosemond, like Lotz a Dean Smith disciple, ended his reign the first year for Hall and Brown. Since then, John Guthrie (1974-78) got tired of berating referees from the bench, and he now hires them from the SEC offices in Birmingham, Alabama.
Hugh Durham, by far Georgia's most successful basketball coach ever, has been at the helm since 1979.
Of course, Eddie Sutton is just the third UK coach since 1930, so he's following a pattern of long, successful stays in Lexington. That does provide instant pressure, but he's off to a nice start.
Cob Jarvis was the head man at Mississippi in 1973. He left in 1976, after an eight-year stay. Bob Wcltlich, emotional, tough, determined, and an unknown Bobby Knight ex-assisstant, took the Rebs to an SEC tourney title, some post-season play, and left to follow basketball's clown prince of coaches, Abe Lemons at Texas. Lee Hunt, a long-time Gene Bartow assis-
tant at Memphis State, UCLA, and Alabama-Birmingham, has been in Oxford for three so-so years.
Hunt's cross-state rival, Mississippi State, has had four coaches. Oddly, two who stayed briefly have strong Kentucky ties.
Kermit Davis lasted six years until 1977, before giving way to Ron Greene, a Murray grad from Indiana. Greene was super successful his single year, finishing behind UK's national champs in 1978. He pulled out for Murray at a record pace, and Jim Hatfield, a once and future UK assistant took over. Hatfield lasted three years before being ousted without much sentiment or ceremony.
Beach boy Bob Boyd, a longtime Southern Cal coach who gained national acclaim for being the first coach to beat UCLA in Pauley Pavillion, is the present resident, moving in 1982.
Boyd was 1985 SEC coach of the year, despite finishing with a losing record, and is well-liked.
Boyd is already a veteran, with a total of 19 seasons as a head coach to his credit.
But. Boyd seems so easy going and relaxed that he could be a prime candidate to become a long-lasting SEC coach.
He needs to win, of course, but MSU probably could live with continuous upper division finishes, solid tournament play, and a trip to post-season play on a regular basis.
Volatile Ray Mears was still in vogue in Knoxville as the Tennessee coach when Hall and Brown arrived. He virtually exploded so often that he had to surrender the reigns to assistant Cliff Wettig in time for the 1977-78 season. Since then, another Bobby Knight man, Don DeVoe, has presided over the Big Orange program.
At Vanderbilt, calm, studious, professor-appearing Newton has been a stabilizing source for Commodore fans. Roy Skinner was on the bench in 1972-73, staying until becoming ill following the 1976 season.
Skinner had 15 years in at Vandy, and combined with Bob Polk's 10-year tenure, had begun to give Vandy the same kind of steadying influence as had Rupp and Hall given UK.
But, Vandy officials never seemed quite comfortable with a couple of young, eager coaches.
Wayne Dobbs had the job for three years (1977-79), and won UPI coaching honors for the SEC in 1978. (He beat out Hall, who was taking his top-ranked UK Wildcats to the national title.) But, the next year, Dobbs was gone.
Kentucky-bred Richard Schmidt last only two years before being tossed out suddenly. He had been a college assistant only three years at Virginia after long success at Louisville Ballard High.
But, Schmidt apparently failed the public relations phase of the game, and was in trouble with some Vandy faithfuls right from the start. ^______,.,
Oddly enough, Schmidt's last win at Vandy was over UK 60-55 in the 1981 SEC tourney, after seeing his team trail 10-0 after seven minutes of play.
Since Schmidt also had some problems handling two players who each had a shot at Van-dy's all-time scoring record, Newton's steadying calm was sought to right the Vanderbilt ship.
What's it all mean?
Pressure is hard to live with.
Check out some odd little details of coaching in the SEC.
Not too surprisingly, Rupp is the all-time leading winner among coaches at SEC schools. He leads the nation, much less the SEC. He also won 397 SEC games. Hall stands third on both the all-time wins at SEC schools, and SEC victories lists. Hall won 297 overall at UK, 172 in SEC games. Had Hall returned this year and won 11 games in the SEC. Rupp and Hall would have stood 1-2 in the SEC in wins within the league.
Newton enters the year with 270 wins overall at Alabama and Vanderbilt. With 28 more, he'll pass Hall. Vandy is not supposed to win that many this year, but Newton should catch Hall next year.
If Vandy wins 13 SEC games, Newton would tie Hall. Vandy has not won that many in one SEC season under Newton. Vandy and Newton could pass Hall - next year.
Brown, by the way, has 231 wins at LSU, his only head coaching job. He is already sixth on the all-time wins list at an SEC school, seventh in SEC conferences wins with 136.
UK did pull off something unique by hiring Sutton in April. And, only a high-visibility school, such as a UK, could have done it.
Sutton's all-time career record of 342-125 entering the current season carries a winning percentage of .732. Guess who leads current SEC coaches in a career winning percentage?
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Rupp
Newton