Is this Eddie Sutton’s year? Ex-UK coach learns Hall of Fame fate on Saturday.
Friends and family of former University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach Eddie Sutton head into this weekend with mixed emotions. They are hopeful that he will be among those named in Saturday’s announcement of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame’s 2020 class of inductees. But, after not being voted in on six previous occasions, they brace for more disappointment.
And given Sutton’s failing health, even recognition at last as a Hall of Famer will include a touch of sadness.
“Honestly, he’s a coach who should have been recognized probably a while ago,” said Christopher Hunt, a filmmaker who has made a documentary on Sutton titled “EDDIE.” “If he were to get in, it would be hard for him to even enjoy it. And that’s a shame.”
Sutton, who turned 84 on March 12, suffered three strokes within a two-month period three years ago. His eldest son, Steve, said the strokes left his father wheelchair-bound and limited in an ability to speak.
“He can say three or four words, but that’s kind of a struggle,” Steve Sutton said. “Thankfully, the best thing he can say well is ‘I love you.’ And he can say, ‘Yes,’ pretty good.
“But,” Steve Sutton added with a chuckle, “he’s extremely proficient at saying, ‘No.’”
The only things on the basketball bucket list that his father has not achieved are coaching a team to a national championship and being enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Steve Sutton said.
If Sutton is voted into the Hall of Fame, he will not be able to express his gratitude at the enshrinement festivities scheduled for the weekend of Aug. 28-30. “So unfortunate,” his eldest son said, “and really a tragedy.”
And because of the recommended social distancing because of the coronavirus epidemic, Sutton’s family will not be able to be with him if he is including in Saturday’s announced list of inductees.
Sutton’s career record of 806-326 makes him one of only eight Division I coaches with 800 or more victories — and the only one of the eight not already in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He led three teams to the Final Four: Arkansas in 1978 and his alma mater, Oklahoma State, in 1995 and 2004.
Doug Barnes, who was an assistant coach for Sutton at Kentucky, said Sutton resurrected down-and-out programs at Creighton, Arkansas and Oklahoma State.
“Any of those things could maybe get you in the Hall of Fame,” Barnes said of Sutton’s victory total, Final Four appearances and success in reviving programs, “let alone three of them.”
That Sutton should be in the Hall of Fame has been repeatedly proclaimed.
“For a guy who won over 800 games and not be in the Naismith Hall of Fame, I think it is tragic,” Lexington sports businessman Jim Host said in 2018.
In the “EDDIE” documentary, Kansas Coach Bill Self says, “There’s no question he’s a Hall of Fame coach. There is no question.” UK Coach John Calipari said of Sutton’s coaching accomplishments, “You kind of forget. ‘He did what? He won what?’”
When asked on a teleconference last week about Sutton, Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland said that induction in the Hall of Fame was “a no-brainer. I can’t imagine he’s not already in there.”
Joe B. Hall, who preceded Sutton as Kentucky coach, echoed that sentiment this week. “He deserves it,” Hall said. “He was a good coach. (He) won wherever he went.”
Of course, Sutton’s turbulent four seasons as Kentucky coach in the late 1980s and his acknowledged problem with alcohol are cited as reasons he has not already been enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
Charges of NCAA rules violations — which included the sending of $1,000 to the father of a recruit and academic fraud committed by another — led to Sutton’s forced resignation as UK coach in 1989. Kentucky had a 13-19 record in Sutton’s final season as coach. That was the program’s first losing record since 1926-27.
When contacted this week, two of the UK assistant coaches at the time endorsed Sutton as worthy of Hall of Fame recognition.
“I’d love for him to (be enshrined),” said Dwane Casey, now coach of the Detroit Pistons. “Going through coaching the way I am now, knowing how tough it is to be a head coach. The pressure he was under.
“There’s no perfect coach out there. He deserves to be in the Hall of Fame.”
In a 2018 interview, Barnes said he “learned from the master” as a UK assistant coach.
Sutton and his son, Steve, attended Kentucky’s game at Arkansas this past season.
“We were able to have probably 15, 20 minutes of really sweet private time with just Coach Cal,” Steve Sutton said. “That was a big reason why we went. To see him because Coach Cal is a huge fan of dad’s.”
Calipari has tried to arrange for Sutton to return to Rupp Arena for a game. But, given the former coach’s health, air travel is difficult, Steve Sutton said.
As for enshrinement in the Hall of Fame, last year seemed like ideal timing. One of the inductees was Sidney Moncrief, perhaps Sutton’s most noted player at Arkansas. And another son, Sean Sutton, was part of the staff for the Texas Tech team that advanced to the Final Four. The annual announcement of new inductees is made at the Final Four.
“It was, like, the perfect scenario you could ever have dreamed of,” Steve Sutton said. “How else could you have scripted that?”
Hunt agreed. “This storybook ending was going to happen,” the documentarian said. “And it just didn’t. And it was a bummer.”
Besides Sutton, this year’s finalists for induction include the late Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Rudy Tomjanovich, Tamika Catchings, Barbara Stevens and Kim Mulkey.
There is no limit on the number of people in a class of inductees. To be inducted, a finalist must receive at least 18 of the 24 votes cast. The Hall of Fame does not reveal the names of voters.
“It’s awful we judge him based upon one or two bad moments,” one of Sutton’s Oklahoma State players, Doug Gottlieb, said in the “EDDIE” documentary. “The man is an alcoholic. The man is a great basketball coach. Those two things can coincide and be true.”
Saturday
What: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announces 2020 induction class
When: Noon
TV: ESPN
Finalists: Kobe Bryant, Tamika Catchings, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Kim Mulkey, Eddie Sutton, Barbara Stevens, Rudy Tomjanovich
