BTI's Rants and Ramblings: From Cawood to Leach, UK A Presitigious PBP Chair
From the time that Cawood Ledford took over play-by-play duties of Kentucky basketball in 1953, the Cats have only had 7 head coaches. That in itself is an amazing stat, as well as the fact that 5 of those 7 guys won national titles as coach. But since Cawood took over, the chair that he sat in is even more exclusive than the UK coaching fraternity. Cawood to Ralph Hacker to Tom Leach, that’s it. Yes, Claude Sullivan also called UK games for many years before his death, but essentially the network went between those 3 men. Three guys encompass 60+ years of Kentucky basketball in the medium that many fans to this day experience the team the most, through the radio. But just how “successful” have the play by play men been at Kentucky? I thought it could be interesting to look at the accomplishments of the team during each man’s tenure, especially after this special 38-1 season:
CAWOOD LEDFORD (1953-1992, 39 seasons)
Total Record: 856-274 (75.8% win)
SEC Record: 493-159 (75.6% win)
SEC Regular Season Titles: 23
SEC Tournament Titles: 4 (Tournament not held between 1954 and 1978)
Final Fours: 5 (1958, 1966, 1975, 1978, 1984)
National Titles: 2 (1958 and 1978)
NCAA Tournament Record: 45-28 (keep in mind UK played consolation games many years, leading to 2 NCAA Tourney losses in a year)
RALPH HACKER (1992-2001, 9 seasons)
Total Record: 264-56 (82.5% win)
SEC Record: 117-27 (81.3% win)
SEC Regular Season Titles: 6
SEC Tournament Titles: 7
Final Fours: 4 (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998)
National Titles: 2 (1996 and 1998)
NCAA Tournament Record: 31-7
TOM LEACH (2001-2014, 14 seasons)
Total Record: 383-115 (76.9% win)
SEC Record: 173-57 (75.2% win)
SEC Regular Season Titles: 7
SEC Tournament Titles: 5
Final Fours: 4 (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015)
National Titles: 1 (2012)
NCAA Tournament Record: 33-11
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