Kentucky Wildcats Football - History

History

For year-by-year results, see List of Kentucky Wildcats football seasons.

Paul "Bear" Bryant Era (1946-53) 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 Classic. 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, ending the Sooners 31 game winning streak. The NCAA recognized Kentucky as their 1950 co-national champion in football after commissioning Jeff Sagarin to apply his rankings to seasons before the advent of the Bowl Coalition.

Fran Curci Era (1973-81) The 1976 Wildcats claimed a share of the Southeastern Conference championship under coach Fran Curci 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.

Jerry Claiborne Era (1982-89) Coach Jerry Claiborne led the Wildcats to the 1983 Hall of Fame Bowl. Kentucky returned to the 1984 Hall of Fame Bowl and defeated a Wisconsin team ranked #20 in the polls to finish the season with a 9-3 record and a #19 ranking in the final AP and UPI polls. The E.J. Nutter Training Facility was built in 1987. Coach Claiborne and Kentucky experienced an era of constant change at the quarterback position following the 1987 season through his departure that included the likes of Craig Mote and Eric Wright (1987-88), (Quarterback/Safety) Ricky Lewis (1988-89), and Chuck Wharton (1989-90), prior to landing Mr. Kentucky Football Awardee Pookie Jones of Calloway County. ref name="UKANutterFacility">"E.J. Nutter Training Facility". University of Kentucky. http://www.ukathletics.com/athletic-dept/nutter-training-facility.html. Retrieved 8 March 2010.

Bill Curry Era (1990-1996) The Wildcats played in the 1993 Peach Bowl under coach Bill Curry.

Hal Mumme Era (1997-2000) 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.

Guy Morriss Era (2001-02) 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 most significant event of that season came in a loss to LSU. (See: Bluegrass Miracle)

Rich Brooks Era (2003-09) The team's next head coach was Rich Brooks, who led the team out of the probationary years 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. In 2007, 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.

Brooks took Kentucky to four consecutive bowl games, winning the first three. The 2007 Kentucky Wildcats football defeated the Florida State Seminoles 35-28 in the 2007 Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee, on December 31, 2007. Quarterback Andre' Woodson was named the Music City Bowl MVP for the second year in a row. In 2008 the Wildcats opted to go to the Liberty Bowl instead of the Music City Bowl and defeated Conference USA champion East Carolina 25-19. In 2009, Brooks and Kentucky returned to the Music City Bowl, losing in a rematch to Clemson 21-13.

Joker Phillips Era (2010-2012) Former Wildcat wide receiver and longtime assistant coach and associate head coach Joker Phillips was formally named head coach January 6, 2010 after Brooks' retirement. Kentucky started off strong under Phillips with a win on the road against arch rival Louisville. The 2010 squad snapped a long standing losing streak to South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier by defeating the Gamecocks at Commonwealth Stadium. However, they dropped games to both Ole Miss and Mississippi State, lost to a Florida team on a down year and once again failed to beat its other arch rival Tennessee, having lost 26 in a row to the Vols, the longest losing streak by one team to another in college football.

On November 26, 2011, Kentucky snapped the longest active FBS losing streak to any one team by defeating the Tennessee Vols 10-7 at Commonwealth Stadium.

On November 4, 2012, the day after a 0-40 home shutout against Vanderbilt and forcing a 1-9 record, UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart released a public letter to Big Blue Nation announcing that Joker would not be returning as the head coach of the Kentucky football team following the 2012 season. With Joker's 5 year contract only being 3 years complete at the end of the season, the University has to pay $2.55 Million over the next 2 years.

Mark Stoops Era (2013-) Begins now.