Kentucky Wildcats
| Kentucky Wildcats | |
 |
|
| University | University of Kentucky |
|---|---|
| Conference | Southeastern Conference |
| NCAA | Division I |
| Athletics director | Mitch Barnhart |
| Location | Lexington, KY |
| Varsity teams | 21 |
| Football stadium | Commonwealth Stadium |
| Basketball arena | Rupp Arena |
| Mascot | Blue, The Wildcat, and Scratch |
| Nickname | Wildcats |
| Fight song | On, On, U of K, Kentucky Fight |
| Colors | Blue and White
|
| Homepage | UKAthletics.com |
The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's athletic teams representing
the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. At one time, women's teams and athletes were called "Lady Kats", but
the women's programs adopted the "Wildcats" nickname in the early 1990s. Teams sponsored by the UK athletic program include
football, men's & women's basketball, women's
The nickname "Wildcats" became synonymous with UK shortly after a 6-2 football road victory over Illinois on Oct. 9, 1909. Commandant Carbusier, then head of the military department at old State University, told a group of students in a chapel service following the game that the Kentucky football team had "fought like Wildcats." Later the name Wildcats became more and more popular among UK followers as well as with members of the media. As a result, the nickname was adopted by the University.[1]
The university adopted blue and white as its official colors in 1892. Originally, however, UK students had decided on blue and light yellow prior to the Kentucky-Centre College football game on December 19, 1891. The shade of blue, which is close to a royal blue, was chosen when a student asked the question, "What color blue?" At the time, Richard C. Stoll (who lettered in football at UK in 1889-94) pulled off his necktie and held it up. The students then adopted that particular shade of blue. A year later, UK students officially dropped the light yellow color for white. [2]
Basketball
In 2007, the university unveiled the Joe Craft Center, a $30 million state-of-the-art basketball practice facility for both the men's and women's teams.
Men's
The University of Kentucky men's basketball team is considered to be among the most elite NCAA basketball programs, having earned a total of seven NCAA titles. Its seven titles were won by four different coaches - Adolph Rupp in 1948, 1949, 1951 and 1958; Joe B. Hall in 1978; Rick Pitino in 1996; and Tubby Smith in 1998. Kentucky is second only to UCLA, which has 11 National Championships. UK is also the winningest men's college basketball program in the nation. Through the completion of the 2007 NCAA basketball tournament, Kentucky now has a total of 1948 alltime wins (North Carolina is second with a total of 1914 wins, and Kansas is third with a total of 1906 wins). Kentucky also leads all NCAA schools in alltime winning percentage. (UK's alltime record: 1948-608, UK's alltime winning percentage: .762)
Women's
The very first University of Kentucky women's basketball team was organized in 1902, competing for the first time on Feb. 21, 1903. However, in 1924, the University Senate passed a bill to abolish women’s basketball in part because, according to state politicians, "basketball had proven to be a strenuous sport for boys and therefore was too strenuous for girls." After a 50-year absence, women’s basketball finally reached varsity status in 1974. The team was given the nickname “Lady Kats” and was coached by Sue Feamster.[3]
Led by UK all-time leading scorer Valerie Still, Patty Jo Hedges, and Lea Wise, the Lady Kats won the SEC Tournament in 1982. The following year, the same trio led the team to a #4 ranking in the country, the highest in the team's history.
The team is currently coached by Matthew Mitchell.
Football
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.
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, did not 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.
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.
The Wildcats played in the 1993 Peach Bowl under coach Bill Curry. 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.
Under coach Guy Morriss the Wildcats posted a 7-5 record in 2002 but were not eligible for postseason play due to NCAA sanctions.
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. [1] 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.
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, 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.[4] Brooks led the Wildcats to a 43-37 win in triple overtime over topranked LSU Tigers. The wildcats are now bowl eligible, and are 6-1. The polls have not come out yet, so Kentucky's rank hasn't been released to the media. This is the first win over a number one team since 1964 against Ole Miss at Mississippi. The time before that was against Oklahoma in the sugar bowl, said above because of a lack of polls after regular season, Kentucky stayed #7 and Oklahoma claimed the national championship. If they had polls after regular season Kentucky or Tennessee would claim the NC. Tennessee might have claimed it because they beat Kentucky 7-0 in their last season game.
University of Kentucky 100th Anniversary Teams
Chosen in 1990 by Kentucky Newspapers
|
Lexington Herald-Leader |
Louisville Courier-Journal |
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 grgrghttp://www.ukathletics.com/index.php?s=&change_well_id=2&url_article_id=11394]. The squad hasand "Seventeen" magazines.
A reality show on WE: Women's Entertainment called "Cheerleader U." followed the team during the 2006-2007 gggtseason.
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 golfer 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 a 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 do not react well with large crowds.
- The Wildcat — A costumed student, he made his debut in the 1976-77 school year.
"#wp-_note-University_of_Kentucky_Traditions_and_Songs">[2]
- Scratch — A later addition, he is a more child-friendly version of The Wildcat.
All-time records by sport
All records are through 2005-06.
| Sport | First season |
Win | Loss | Tie | Win Pct. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baseball | 1896 | 1468 | 1315 | 22 | .523 |
| Basketball (men) | 1903-04 | 1926 | 596 | 1 | .763 |
| Basketball (women) | 1974-75 | 509 | 384 | .570 | |
| Football | 1881 | 558 | 547 | 44 | .505 |
| Gymnastics | 1981 | 212 | 386 | 2 | .353 |
| Soccer (men) | 1991 | 174 | 120 | 32 | .534 |
| Soccer (women) | 1992 | 167 | 114 | 25 | .546 |
| Softball | 1997 | 222 | 374 | 1 | .372 |
| Swimming and Diving (men) | 1936 | 337 | 272 | 1 | .552 |
| Swimming and Diving (women) | 1983-84 | 148 | 86 | .632 | |
| Tennis (men) | 1916 | 974 | 564 | 8 | .630 |
| Tennis (women) | 1974 | 516 | 300 | .632 | |
| 1977 | 602 | 414 | 1 | .592 |
See also
- Billy Gillispie
- Commonwealth Stadium
- Joe Craft Center
- Paul "Bear" Bryant
- Tubby Smith
- Adolph Rupp
- Joe B. Hall
- Eddie Sutton
- Frank Ramsey
- Rich Brooks
- Matthew Mitchell
- Rupp Arena
- Memorial Coliseum
- Alumni Gymnasium
- Cliff Hagan Stadium
- Big Blue Nation
- Rick Pitino
- On, On, U of K
- Kentucky Fight
External links
- Official UK athletics site
- Dedicated Wildcat Wiki
- WildcatNation.net - UK Athletics for fans site
- Jon Scott's Kentucky Basketball Statistics site
References
- ^ University of Kentucky Traditions and Songs. University of Kentucky (2005-02-17). Retrieved on 2007-05-04.
- ^ a b
- ^ Women's Basketball Timeline. University of Kentucky (2006). Retrieved on 2007-05-05.
- ^ Buchanan, Olin (2007-10-05). Olin's Mailbag: Everyone just looking for love. Rivals.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-05.
| Southeastern Conference | |
|---|---|
| Eastern Division |
Florida (Gators) • Georgia (Bulldogs & Lady Bulldogs) • Kentucky (Wildcats) • South Carolina (Gamecocks) • Tennessee (Volunteers & Lady Vols) • Vanderbilt (Commodores) |
| Western Division |
Alabama (Crimson Tide) • Arkansas (Razorbacks & Lady'Backs) •
Auburn (Tigers) • LSU (Tigers & Lady Tigers)
• Mississippi (Rebels) •
|
| Conference USA | |
|---|---|
| West Division | |
| East Division | |
| Soccer-Only Members |
Kentucky Wildcats (men's) • South Carolina Gamecocks (men's) • Florida International Golden Panthers (men's) • Colorado College Tigers (women's) |
 |
Sports teams based in Kentucky |
|---|---|
| Baseball | IL: |
| Basketball | CBA: East Kentucky Miners |
| Football | af2: Lexington Horsemen • Louisville Fire, MCFL: Louisville Bulls, Northern Kentucky Xtreme, Hardin County Wolverines, NWFA: Kentucky Karma |
| NASCAR | Busch: Brewco Motorsports |
| Australian rules football | USAFL: Louisville Kings |
| College athletics (NCAA Division I) |
Eastern Kentucky University • University of Kentucky • University of Louisville • Morehead State University • Murray State University • Western Kentucky University • Bellarmine University (lacrosse only) |
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