Which UK coaches have been best on the road in the SEC?

(Updated through win at Georgia on 2/18/17)

The Southeastern Conference was formed in the 1932-33 season, shortly after Adolph Rupp became UK's head coach (his first year was 1930-31).  Since that time, Kentucky has managed to dominate and demoralize the rest of the conference in basketball.  That has resulted in an understandable hatred of our success, which in turn has resulted in hostile road environments.  It's never easy to travel in the SEC...but which one of our coaches has had the most success?

Calipari in SEC road games:

Starkville - 100% (5-0)
Columbia, MO - 100% (2-0)
Auburn - 80% (4-1)
Oxford - 75% (3-1)
Athens - 67% (4-2)
Columbia, SC - 67% (4-2)
Nashville - 71% (5-2)
College Station - 67% (2-1)
Baton Rouge - 60% (3-2)
Tuscaloosa - 60% (3-2)
Gainesville - 50% (4-4)
Knoxville - 42% (3-4)
Fayetteville - 25% (1-3)

Cal's SEC road record by year:
2010: 6-2
2011: 2-6
2012: 8-0
2013: 4-5
2014: 5-4
2015: 9-0
2016: 4-5

2017: 5-2 so far

TOTAL: 43-24 (64.2%)

Billy Gillispie in SEC road games:
Athens - 100% (2-0)
Tuscaloosa - 100% (1-0)
Fayetteville - 100% (1-0)
Baton Rouge - 100% (1-0)
Auburn - 100% (1-0)
Knoxville - 50% (1-1)
Columbia SC - 50% (1-1)
Oxford - 0% (0-1)
Starkville - 0% (0-1)
Gainesville - 0% (0-2)

Nashville - 0% (0-2) - including a 41-point embarrassment his first year

Gillispie's SEC road record by year:
2008: 4-4
2009: 4-4

TOTAL: 8-8 (50%)

Tubby in SEC road games:

Columbia, SC - 90% (9-1)
Auburn - 80% (4-1)
Oxford - 80% (4-1) 
Starkville - 80% (4-1)
Athens - 70% (7-3) 
Knoxville - 60% (6-4) 
Nashville - 60% (6-4)
Fayetteville - 60% (3-2) 
Baton Rouge - 60% (3-2)
Gainesville - 40% (4-6)
Tuscaloosa - 40% (2-3)

Tubby's SEC road record by year:
1998: 8-0
1999: 4-4

2000: 4-4
2001: 4-4
2002: 4-4
2003: 8-0
2004: 6-2
2005: 6-2
2006: 5-3
2007: 3-5

TOTAL: 52-28 (65%)


Rick Pitino in SEC road games:
Auburn  - 80% (4-1)
Gainesville - 75% (6-2)
Athens - 75% (6-2)
Columbia SC - 67% (4-2)
Knoxville - 62.5% (5-3)
Nashville - 62.5% (5-3)
Tuscaloosa - 60% (3-2)
Starkville - 60% (3-2)
Oxford - 50% (2-2)
Baton Rouge - 40% (2-3)
Fayetteville - 33% (1-2)

Pitino's SEC road record by year:
1990: 1-8 
1991: 5-4
1992: 5-3
1993: 5-3
1994: 5-3
1995: 6-1 (also won vs. Ole Miss at The Pyramid)
1996: 8-0
1997: 6-2

TOTAL: 41-24 (63.1%)

Eddie Sutton in SEC road games:
Tuscaloosa - 75% (3-1)
Starkville - 75% (3-1)
Auburn - 50% (2-2)
Gainesville - 50% (2-2)
Baton Rouge - 50% (2-2)
Knoxville - 50% (2-2)
Oxford - 50% (2-2)
Nashville - 50% (2-2)
Athens - 33% (1-2) - also won 1 in Atlanta

Sutton's SEC road record by year:
1986: 8-1
1987: 4-5
1988: 5-3 (also won vs. Georgia at The Omni)
1989: 2-7

TOTAL: 19-16 (54.2%)

Joe B. Hall in SEC road games:
Gainesville - 77% (10-3)
Oxford - 77% (10-3)
Athens - 75% (9-3)
Starkville - 69% (9-4)
Nashville - 69% (9-4)
Auburn - 61.5% (8-5)
Baton Rouge - 46% (6-7) - but he lost 6 of his last 8
Tuscaloosa - 38.5% (5-8)
Knoxville - 8% (1-12) - by far the worst performance by any of our coaches against an SEC opponent

Joe B's SEC road record by year:
1973: 6-3
1974: 3-6
1975: 6-3
1976: 3-6
1977: 8-1
1978: 7-2
1979: 3-6

1980: 7-1 (also won vs. Georgia at The Omni)
1981: 6-3
1982: 4-5
1983: 5-4
1984: 5-4
1985: 4-5

TOTAL: 67-49 (57.8%)

Adolph Rupp in SEC road games:
Oxford - 100% (7-0) - also 3-0 at Jackson, 3-0 at Memphis
Sewanee - 100% (1-0)
Baton Rouge - 85% (11-2)
Athens - 79% (11-3) - also 3-0 at "neutral" Georgia sites
Starkville - 77% (10-3)
New Orleans - 77% (10-3)
Nashville - 72% (26-10) - but he was 7-7 in his last 14
Tuscaloosa - 70% (14-6)
Atlanta - 68% (15-7) - but he lost 6 of his last 10
Knoxville - 66% (25-13) - but he lost 6 of his last 10
Auburn - 64% (7-4)
Gainesville - 60% (9-6) - but he lost 5 of his last 6

Rupp's SEC road record by year:
1933: 2-0
1934: 5-0 (also won vs. Alabama at Birmingham)
1935: 4-0
1936: 1-2
1937: 1-3
1938: 2-0
1939: 2-0 (17-5 in '30s)

1940: 0-3
1941: 3-1
1942: 2-3
1943: 4-1
1944: N/A
1945: 1-1
1946: 3-0
1947: 5-0
1948: 5-0
1949: 4-0 (27-9 in '40s)

1950: 3-2
1951: 6-0
1952: 6-0
1953: N/A
1954: 4-0
1955: 5-1
1956: 3-1
1957: 4-2
1958: 3-1
1959: 4-2 (38-9 in '50s)

1960: 3-2
1961: 2-4
1962: 6-0
1963: 3-3
1964: 3-3
1965: 3-5
1966: 7-1
1967: 3-6
1968: 5-4
1969: 7-2 (42-30 in '60s)

1970: 8-1
1971: 7-2
1972: 5-4 (20-7 in '70s)

TOTAL: 144-60 (70.6%)

FINAL TALLY:

RUPP - 70.6%
TUBBY - 65%
CAL - 64.2%
PITINO - 63.1%
HALL - 57.8%
SUTTON - 54.2%

Here's a look at our results by decade in SEC road games...  

1930s: 17-5 (77.3%)
1940s: 27-9 (75%)
1950s: 38-9 (80.9%)
1960s: 42-30 (58.3%)
1970s: 56-34 (62.2%)
1980s: 50-38 (56.8%)
1990s: 53-28 (65.4%)
2000s: 48-32 (60.0%)
2010s: 43-24 (64.2%)

12 Coaching Matchups in UK/UofL Rivalry History

(updated through 2016)

UK and UofL are both storied programs (though of course, the former more than the latter).  They both have had success under multiple head coaches.


The biggest names are as follows...


For UK:
Adolph Rupp (6 Final Fours, 4 NCAA titles)
Joe B. Hall (3 Final Fours, 1 NCAA title)
Rick Pitino (3 Final Fours, 1 NCAA title)
Tubby Smith (1 Final Four, 1 NCAA title)
John Calipari (4 Final Fours, 1 NCAA title)


For UofL:
Bernard "Peck" Hickman (1 Final Four)
Denny Crum (6 Final Fours, 2 NCAA titles)
Rick Pitino (3 Final Fours, 1 NCAA title)


There have been twelve different coaching matchups in the rivalry's history.  Here's the rundown....


UK's John Tigert vs. UofL's Von Wolther: 1-0 (1913)


UK's Alpha Brumage vs. player-coached UofL squad: 3-1 (1914, 1915)


UK's James Park vs. UofL's Ed Bowman: 1-1 (1916)


UK's George Buchheit vs. UofL's John O'Rourke: 2-0 (1922)


UK's Adolph Rupp vs. UofL's Peck Hickman: 2-1 (1948, 1951, 1959)


UK's Joe B. Hall vs. UofL's Denny Crum: 2-2 (1983, 1984)


UK's Eddie Sutton vs. UofL's Denny Crum: 3-1 (1985-1988)


UK's Rick Pitino vs. UofL's Denny Crum: 6-2 (1989-1996)


UK's Tubby Smith vs. UofL's Denny Crum: 2-2 (1997-2001)


UK's Tubby Smith vs. UofL's Rick Pitino: 4-2 (2001-2006)


UK's Billy Gillispie vs. UofL's Rick Pitino: 0-2 (2008, 2009)


UK's John Calipari vs. UofL's Rick Pitino: 8-2 (2010-2016)


As you can see, only one matchup in the history of the rivalry (Gillispie vs. Pitino) went in favor of the Cardinals.



Overall records for coaches with multiple matchups in the rivalry

Rick Pitino: 12-14 (6-2 for UK, 6-12 for UofL)

Denny Crum: 7-13 (all with UofL)


Tubby Smith: 6-2 (all with UK)


Among other websites consulted, one of my main sources for this and many other posts is the peerless UK resource (and probably the best site of its kind for any sports team) known as "The Kentucky Basketball Statistics Project" operated by Jon Scott.  Available at http://www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/statistics.html

What a difference a coach makes

After coaching his Cats to a tough win in Memorial Gym last night, Cal has still never lost to any SEC team more than once.


Let's compare his SEC records to the 4-year horror show known as the "Tubbispie Era."  This includes SEC tournament games.


Cal overall SEC: 41-8 (84%)
Tubbispie overall SEC: 42-30 (58%)


Cal regular season SEC: 35-8 (81%)
Tubbispie regular season SEC: 38-26 (59%)


Cal at home SEC: 21-0 (100%)
Tubbispie at home SEC: 22-10 (69%)


Cal on the road SEC: 14-8 (64%)
Tubbispie on the road SEC: 16-16 (50%)


Cal in the SEC tournament: 6-0 (100%)
Tubbispie in the SEC tournament: 4-4 (50%)


Tubbispie also had a losing record against four different teams (UF, LSU, MSU and VU).
Cal's record against those four: 15-2 (88%)
Tubbispie against those four: 8-18 (31%)

Three interesting stats from last night's Kentucky-Tennessee game

1) UK shot 54% and UT only 28%.  

The 26% difference is the largest since a 29% advantage against Marist earlier this season.

For a bigger difference in an SEC regular season game, though, you have to go back to January 16th, 2007 when UK won 87-49 at South Carolina, and shot 63% to their 27%.

2) UK won by 25 points while only hitting a single three-point field goal (out of 10 attempts).

Over the years, the Wildcats' streak of games with a made three-pointer has had a number of similarly close calls.  The most recent was the SEC Tournament quarterfinal against Alabama on March 3rd, 2010, when they hit only 1 of 13.  Darnell Dodson hit that three.

The last regular season game with only 1 made three-pointer:
11/29/08 vs WVU (made 1 of 5, won by 11, Jodie Meeks hit the lone three)

The last SEC regular season game with only  1 made three-pointer:
2/12/08 at Vanderbilt (made 1 of 10, lost by 41, Ramel Bradley hit the lone three)

The last time UK made only 1 three-pointer, and won by 25 or more:
12/20/03 vs Indiana (made 1 of 8, won by 39, Kelenna Azubuike hit the lone three)

Finally, to meet all the criteria of last night's game (SEC, regular season, one made three-pointer, won by 25+):
2/1/97 vs Georgia (made 1 of 9, won by 25, Allen Edwards hit the lone three)

3) UK made 24 of 27 free throw attempts (89%).

The last superior performance (with at least 20 attempts) was against Georgia on 2009 Senior Day.  In spite of their ridiculous accuracy at the line (26-28, 93%), UK managed to lose to an atrocious team and assure Billy G of being fired after the season.

Earlier that same season (1/13/09), UK won by 18 at Tennessee in the infamous Jodie Meeks 54 game.  UK was 18 of 20 from the line (90%), with Jodie going 14 for 14.