Since I did not follow the football cats back then , What is the story with him ? Why did the whole thing blow up ? Was it recruiting , bad luck , or was he simply over-rated before he came to U.K. ? Could have been a combination of things I guess.................
Bill Curry ?
- Thread starter true55
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He tried to install a power run offense with a lot of option looks and we didn't really have the lines for it. Moe up the middle was as common as "on the toss". I was still in Middle school but I remember going to the peach bowl which was his best team at 6-6. He finished with an over record of 26-52. His major sin of course was recruiting Tim Couch and then putting him in against Florida for his first career start and then asking him to run the option.
Decent coach, but he was a "delegate" type of HC that pretty much let the OC and DC run the show. Problem was, C.M. ham-strung him with a very low budget for coordinators and assistants so he was never able to get good assistants or retain the ones he hired.
Good football coach IMO, just didn't quiet get all of the pieces together at once. Recruited fairly well. Gave us maybe the best offensive offensive coordinator (Bowden), QB (Couch) and RB (Williams) in UK football history, but none overlapped with each other. When Pookie Jones was nudged out the door (after the Peach Bowl season in 1993) for Eric Gray and then Eric Gray didn't pan out ... you get the 1-11 season in 1994 and things never back on track (as much as Billy Jack and Moe tried).
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...EogAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UKYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4113,3670262
https://news.google.com/newspapers?...EogAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UKYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4113,3670262
That pretty much describes it perfectly. Recruiting did not get the attention then as it does now but Curry recruited quite well. But he did not seem to be "committed" to any particular "football philosophy" and there was constant churn in the staff and the football product. Running Tim Couch in an option offense was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Peace
In no way am I trying to defend Curry, his time at UK was a disaster. But we need to know of an immediate problem he ran into, CM Newton and Newton's desire to get by on the cheap.
Curry's OC and DC at the Bama were Homer Smith on O and Don Lindsey on D. Both were generally considered among the very best in college football at the time. Curry tried to bring both with him to UK. When they visited, or so the story went at the time, Newton picked them up at the airport, drove around Lexington/UK and met with them, put them back on the plane and either didn't make an offer or offered a paltry sum that was insulting. Smith then went to UCLA as OC and Lindsey to Arkansas as DC I think. Curry ended up with 2 young, inexperienced coordinators and suffered mightily for it. Would Curry's tenure have ended differently had UK hired Smith/Lindsey? We'll never know but those two were top of the line. Newton's actions during that episode was shameful but typical for UK football.
This era destroyed modern-day Kentucky football and we are still suffering from it 25 years later. The absolute neglect for the football program coincided with the rise of SEC dominance in football and huge television contracts.
Every human being making decisions for football during this time period should have an asterisk put next to their name.
We of course followed this absolute **** show with a gimmick: a defenseless glorified high-school coach that promptly got us put on probation.
To get an idea of what the Curry years were like see: Stoops, Mark. Watch the second half of the Southern Miss and the entire Florida game. Then go watch some Curry debacles like 73-7 loss to Florida or 65-0 loss to Florida etc. etc. etc.
It honestly makes me wonder if any of the buffoons still wondering if Stoops can get it done here ever sat through a damned minute of it.
Every human being making decisions for football during this time period should have an asterisk put next to their name.
We of course followed this absolute **** show with a gimmick: a defenseless glorified high-school coach that promptly got us put on probation.
To get an idea of what the Curry years were like see: Stoops, Mark. Watch the second half of the Southern Miss and the entire Florida game. Then go watch some Curry debacles like 73-7 loss to Florida or 65-0 loss to Florida etc. etc. etc.
It honestly makes me wonder if any of the buffoons still wondering if Stoops can get it done here ever sat through a damned minute of it.
Am I the only football fan insulted that CM Newton's name is on that stadium? I think it should be removed .
In a UK kind of way, it's kind of fitting that we honor the person that inflicted more damage to the program than any other AD by putting his name on the stadium...
Bill Curry was a very good offensive lineman, center, when he played at Georgia Tech. He was a good player in the NFL, too. He has a great knowledge of the game, imo. His personality did not seem to be that of a great motivator, and I question his leadership skills as a head coach.
He was an assistant in the NFL before returning to his alma mater and was head coach at Ga Tech for 6 seasons in the early 1980's, only half of them with a winning record. He then became the head coach at Alabama for 3 years where he was successful, but lost to Auburn all 3 games. Disgust in the fan base and a modified contract by the administration led Curry to accept the head coaching job at Kentucky in 1991. During 7 seasons in Lexington, he only had one winning season, and had a 1-10 record in 1984, the worst in Kentucky history.
I think his teams at UK had some good players, just not a lot of them on the same teams, and he appeared to misuse the ones he had. The most-told explanation of why he failed with the 'Cats is attempting to force Tim Couch to run the option. Clearly, Couch was a great QB with talent who was essentially wasted under Curry.
He was an assistant in the NFL before returning to his alma mater and was head coach at Ga Tech for 6 seasons in the early 1980's, only half of them with a winning record. He then became the head coach at Alabama for 3 years where he was successful, but lost to Auburn all 3 games. Disgust in the fan base and a modified contract by the administration led Curry to accept the head coaching job at Kentucky in 1991. During 7 seasons in Lexington, he only had one winning season, and had a 1-10 record in 1984, the worst in Kentucky history.
I think his teams at UK had some good players, just not a lot of them on the same teams, and he appeared to misuse the ones he had. The most-told explanation of why he failed with the 'Cats is attempting to force Tim Couch to run the option. Clearly, Couch was a great QB with talent who was essentially wasted under Curry.
The funny thing about Curry is he had a very similar SEC record to Rich Brooks and Jerry Claiborne:
Curry: 14-40
Brooks: 16-39
Claiborne: 13-37
I realize that Brooks took over a hot mess, but Curry took over a program that won 8 SEC games in the 5 years prior to his arrival under Claiborne.
It's just interesting to hear how people talk about Brooks and Claiborne compared to Curry.
Curry: 14-40
Brooks: 16-39
Claiborne: 13-37
I realize that Brooks took over a hot mess, but Curry took over a program that won 8 SEC games in the 5 years prior to his arrival under Claiborne.
It's just interesting to hear how people talk about Brooks and Claiborne compared to Curry.
He then hired a coach that put us on probation, so we named our field after him .
Brooks and Claiborne both inherited a mess and improved the program before they left, Curry did the opposite. The loss ratio for Claiborne and Brooks leaned heavily to the beginning of the careers here...Curry lost consistently, lost ugly and went from bad to worse.
Claiborne's players would run through a wall for him. Man, we had George Adams and Mark Higgs. We had Dermonti freaking DAWSON. Claiborne took UK to bowl games and was the last UK coach to whip Florida's ***.
Brooks took a program on probation and sent it to 4 straight bowl games with victories over Florida State and Clemson and beat #1 and eventual national champion LSU. He brought Gameday to freaking Lexington.
Curry took UK from a solid footing and ran it completely into the ground and was allowed to do so year after year.
Never forget CM Newton told the fans to go support another team when Curry was stinking it up and was refusing to fire him.
This mans name is on the football field
This mans name is on the football field
No Barry, there are a lot of people who feel the same way, the football field should be Jerry Claiborne field. A man who played at Kentucky and coached the Wildcats, there should have been way more thought put in to naming the field what they did. C.M. was a good AD and basketball coach and there are plenty of things around to honor him. Jerry Claiborne needs to be honored in a big way too.
why anyone Leaves Bama for UK is beyond me. He was doing relatively well down there. It's not like UK is his alma mater.
Talk about a decision that would haunt somebody for the rest of their days. Going from the gravy train at Bama to the train wreck that was and is UK football.
Talk about a decision that would haunt somebody for the rest of their days. Going from the gravy train at Bama to the train wreck that was and is UK football.
I think people sensationalize former coaches. Let's take Claiborne for example. He peaked in year 3 and went downhill from there. He won 5 SEC games combined in his first 3 years and won 5 SEC games combined in his last 3 years. He won 3 games against teams who didn't have a losing record in his last 3 years: Central Michigan, Georgia and Indiana. Curry won 3 games against teams that didn't have a losing record in his last 3 years: LSU, Cincinnati and Louisville. Stoops has won 2: Ohio University and South Carolina.
I'm not saying Claiborne wasn't a great leader for the program, but when you take a step back and really look at the results, it can paint a different picture of what people want to remember.
Oh, come on. You don't really believe he "voluntarily" left Bama, do you? He was given a chance to save face, and UK we the "beneficiary."
He didn't leave on his own. He saw the writing on the wall, so he jumped at the opportunity.
They were about to lynch him down there because he couldn't beat Auburn.
i think Schnelly talked him into it. figured curry would crater it and the school would come a beggin'
he got it half-right
Yep. Also, I remember the calls for Jerry to go in 1989. The athletic department was in absolute shambles in 1988-89 and starting with the hiring of Newton and Pitino to clean the slate ... well, he wasn't exactly forced out, but the mood was ripe for a change.
True that but there was another case of a guy named Ted Presley who died playing Russian roulette around the same time. Think he may have been a walk-on.
So are you in the canoe or out?
When I played I greatly admired Bill Curry as a player as he was a smart gutsy overachiever. Saw him take a GT team into Neyland and tie a powerful UT team. Was surprised when he left for Bama. Wasn't surprised when he came here.
Had high hopes but they went down the tubes. Later I found out much of his success at GT was due to AD Bobby Dodd who would meet with him and tell him what he needed to work on. At Bama he had top caliber Coordinators. He got here and he had neither and as detailed above the constant staff turnover due to lack of support did him no favors. The team had no identity because each year it was a new OC with a new system.
I remember he didn't even make a move on Shawn Alexander until about two weeks before signing day. Landed Couch but then about got him killed running the option vs UF. Think Couch's threat of transferring had as much to do with his firing as anything, but that's speculation on my part. Played an injured Billy Jack Haskins who couldn't even defend himself and burned the redshirt of a player in the last game of the season and didn't play the kid but a very few plays.
Three things I remember though is the canoe, his post game lament that he couldn't understand how the team looked so good in practice and got destroyed in the game and finally, his getting on his hands and knees to clean up Trent Digiuro's blood from the murder scene.
No coach should have to go through that.
When I played I greatly admired Bill Curry as a player as he was a smart gutsy overachiever. Saw him take a GT team into Neyland and tie a powerful UT team. Was surprised when he left for Bama. Wasn't surprised when he came here.
Had high hopes but they went down the tubes. Later I found out much of his success at GT was due to AD Bobby Dodd who would meet with him and tell him what he needed to work on. At Bama he had top caliber Coordinators. He got here and he had neither and as detailed above the constant staff turnover due to lack of support did him no favors. The team had no identity because each year it was a new OC with a new system.
I remember he didn't even make a move on Shawn Alexander until about two weeks before signing day. Landed Couch but then about got him killed running the option vs UF. Think Couch's threat of transferring had as much to do with his firing as anything, but that's speculation on my part. Played an injured Billy Jack Haskins who couldn't even defend himself and burned the redshirt of a player in the last game of the season and didn't play the kid but a very few plays.
Three things I remember though is the canoe, his post game lament that he couldn't understand how the team looked so good in practice and got destroyed in the game and finally, his getting on his hands and knees to clean up Trent Digiuro's blood from the murder scene.
No coach should have to go through that.
I watched all those debacles back in the nineties. And watching Stoops gives me vivid flashbacks of the nineties with curry. We are still suffering from the nineties the stigma that we are associated with all those massive beatdowns.
I can't remember all the beat downs back then. Except for the ones from Florida. Steve Spurrier obviously had issues with Bill Curry and he lived to consistently give Kentucky some of the most lopsided losses in school history.
When Claiborne was at UK, the overall series with Florida was close to even. I remember Kentucky leading the series in the 70s. That's changed.
When Claiborne was at UK, the overall series with Florida was close to even. I remember Kentucky leading the series in the 70s. That's changed.
From I remember, Spurrier has had a grudge against Curry going back to when Curry took over at GT. Curry decided not to retain Spurrier from the previous HC staff, and he took it as a personal slight. When Spurrier became the HC at Fla, he had no qualms whatsoever about putting the pedal to the metal against Curry and UK. The 65-0 beatdown in '96 was pretty memorable for all the wrong reasons, followed closely by the 73-7 whipping in '94. BTW, Curry should have been fired after the 1-11 '94 season; just another blunder by Newton.
I was actually pretty stoked when Newton hired Curry away from Bama. I wasn't aware until later about how he was unable to bring his OC and DC with him. Bowden was actually a pretty good OC but IIRC he got hired away by Clemson after Curry's second season. After that, we were subjected to the triple stack option, and ended up with the immortal Elliott Uzelac as the OC. Watching Tim Couch run the option as a FR QB was a pretty sad sight.
In summary, I consider Curry to be a good person but a not-so-great coach. His seven year record at UK was 26-52, a perfect 0.333 winning percentage.
The Bill Curry era is where my die hard fan hood was reduced to interested observer , I knew back then that fb was not going to accomplish much so why am I getting upset about it . Turns out I saved myself from decades of high blood pressure and more enjoyable Saturday's .
Three words: "Black Watch Defense". Curry's creation based on terminology he learned after taking a vacation to England. Exemplified his knowledge as a Head Coach.
If I had to rate the UK coaches of my lifetime starting with Bear Bryant, Curry would be near the bottom. I remember when he was hired from Alabama and I was so excited. I had a close friend living in Mobile who was a huge Bama fan and I called him to sort of rub it in. He laughed and told me Curry couldn't coach and if he did not have the assistants he had would be a loser. I told him that sounded like sour grapes and he said call me back in a couple of years. Don was right and I was wrong.
He was going to be let go from Alabama. You must beat Auburn!
OLD STOLL FIELD GUY!