Devin Booker shares Kentucky bond with new head coach Frank Vogel
Devin Booker is the only former Kentucky player on the Phoenix Suns, but he will share the bench with another former Wildcat: head coach, Frank Vogel.
New Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia has treated his new franchise like a fixer-upper home and essentially gutted the entire thing. He immediately brought in a shiny chandelier in the form of Kevin Durant, bargained for another prized antique in Bradley Beal, and tossed the dusty rug known as Chris Paul and the ugly curtains named Deandre Ayton in a garage sale. Somewhere amid the player rummage, he swapped out beloved head coach Monty Williams for Frank Vogel.
Vogel played Division III basketball at Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania before transferring to the University of Kentucky in 1994. After borderline stalking Rick Pitino and the basketball team as a student hungry to be part of something special, he served as a manager during the 1994-95 season, the year the ‘Cats lost in the Elite Eight to North Carolina.
The following season, during the team’s eventual National Championship run, Vogel played for the newly resurrected junior varsity team for the sole purpose of playing point guard and giving Nazr Mohammed as many touches as possible to get him ready for the next year. Vogel eventually graduated from Kentucky with a degree in Biology in 1998, the year Tubby Smith won the school’s seventh NCAA title, but his relentless pursuit of soaking up everything he could as a student manager, doing all the dirty work possible, launched his coaching career.
Vogel taunted Beal after the Kentucky football win over Florida
In a Mic’d Up Phoenix Suns practice session recorded shortly after Kentucky ran all over Florida on the football field, Vogel bonded with Booker at the expense of new teammate and former Gator, Bradley Beal.
Loud enough for Beal to hear, Vogel asked, “How did Florida do, Book? How’d they do against Kentucky last week?” He capped it off with an emphatic, “Football school, man,” a little inside knowledge to let the world know he is not some fair-weather fan.
Beal sprinted past Vogel shortly afterward saying, “Don’t talk about it, coach!”
In summary, college sports are awesome and will always be awesome, even several years later to those making millions of dollars in the professional ranks. Vogel won an NBA Championship with Anthony Davis in 2020 and looks to help another Big Blue Alum win a ring
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