Although the 1973-74 Wildcats failed for the first time in six years to win or share in the Southeastern Conference championship, they did have some fine moments, including the annexation of their I5th UKIT championship in 21 years and a 17-2 record on a tour of Tahiti and Australia.
A master of defensive as well as offensive basketball, Hall places much stress on (he former as the Wildcats seek the team unity and unselfishness needed for the task ahead.
In his two years as Wildcat head coach, Hall has won two UKIT titles, a Southeastern Conference championship, a berth in the Mideast Regional Finals and Southeastern "Coach of the Year" designation (1972-73) by his fellow coaches and by Coach and Athlete Magazine, honors no other rookie coach had attained since the league was formed in 1933.
Hall has made a habit of gathering such honors during a coaching career that began at Shephetdsvillc, (Ky.) High School in 1956 and continued through Regis College and Central Missouri Slate College before he returned to Lexington July 1, 1965, as an assistant to his former coach Adolph Rupp.
During Hall's two years at Shepherdsville, the Cougars won a Mid-Kentucky Conference title and he was named "Coach of the Year" in 1958. He then served one year as freshman coach and five years as head basketball coach at Regis College in Denver, Colo., where he was also athletic director and earned special recognition as coach of the champion independent team in (he area.
While in Denver, he also coached the Capital Federal host team in the 1964 AAU tournament and was selected as head coach of the AAU Stripes in the Olympic trials at Jamaica, N. Y.
His next move was to Central Missouri, where he coached the Mules (19-6) to their first MIAA Conference championship since 1951 and their first Christmas Tournament title in history. He was named MIAA "Coach of the Year" (1964-65).
A three-letter winner and team captain in both sports in high school at Cynthiana, Ky., he played freshman basketball and one year of varsity basketball in the "Fabulous Five" era at the University before transferring to the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., where he set a school single game scoring record and was team captain. Coach Lon Vamell, upon retirement, rated Hall as No. 1 of the three best players he ever coached.
After touring Europe with the Globetrotters in 1951, Hall returned to U.K. in 1955 to complete requirements for his B.A. and later (1964) received his M.A. at Colorado State University.
Returning to U.K. again in 1965 as assistant coach and head recruiter, he was instrumental in adopting a running-conditioning program which obviously paid huge dividends as the Wildcats capitalized on speed and endurance to offset a lack of size and advance to the championship game of the NCAA Finals. Hall then successfully recruited six prep AU-Americans, including all-time U.K. scoring leader Dan Issel, to form the nucleus of a varsity team that won three straight conference championships and was followed by a team that won three more consecutive SEC titles.
Hall became No. 1 varsity assistant and head freshman Coach to Rupp after Harry C. Lancaster was named permanent athletic director Feb. 1, 1969. His record with the freshmen was 60-15, including an undefeated (22-0) season (1971-72) which resulted in the Kittens being crowned National Freshman Champions by the Basketball News.
During his first season as head coach, the Wildcats won their last nine conference games to sew up the SEC title.
His eight-year coaching record is 109-77. Broken down, it shows a 55-50 five-year mark at Regis, a 19-6 record at Central Missouri, and a 33-21 two year record at Kentucky.
A popular personality on the clinic and convention circuits, Hall also has had much international exposure. In addition to the Globetrotters tour in 1951, and the "Down Under" tour last summer, he has helped conduct basketball clinics for the U.S. Army in Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska (1968), was Olympic Trials coach under Hank rt>a at the Air Force Academy in July 1972 and is a member of the 1976 Olympic Basketball Committee.
He is married to the former Katharine Dennis of Harrison County, Ky. They have three children-Judy, 18;Kathy, 17, and Steve, 14.
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