Remembering Eddie Sutton, in three not so easy pieces
Three quick remembrances of Eddie Sutton, the former Kentucky basketball coach and Hall of Famer who passed away last Saturday at age 84.
No. 1: A trip to Stillwater
It was late February 1991 and the world was focused on Desert Storm, the first United States war in Iraq. After flying into Tulsa, I drove a rental car the 60-plus miles to Stillwater, Oklahoma, listening to the radio as U.S. General Norman Schwarzkopf provided an update on the mission’s ground invasion.
After resigning as UK’s coach in the midst of the “Emery Envelope” scandal, Sutton was in his first year as the head coach of Oklahoma State, his alma mater. It was not long after Sutton had admitted alcohol had contributed to his Kentucky downfall, and I arrived in Stillwater to write a feature on the coach.
Billy Reed was in town to write a story for Sports Illustrated. We ate at an excellent Mexican restaurant before the Cowboys handled Nebraska. The next morning, Wendell Barnhouse of the Star-Telegram in Fort Worth and I interviewed Sutton in his office. He seemed happy to be back home and back coaching. My story reflected that.
A few days after my story ran in the newspaper, an envelope arrived in my mailbox at the Herald-Leader. When I opened it, there was no written letter, no return address. There was just the Sutton story, torn into a 100 tiny pieces.
No. 2: A trip to Oxford
Joe B. Hall announced his retirement March 22, 1985, during his postgame radio show after the Cats’ loss to St. John’s in a West Region semifinal. Eight days later, as UK searched for its next coach, the nation’s media descended on Lexington for the Final Four at Rupp Arena.
The National Association of Basketball Coaches convention was held at the Hyatt Regency. Rumors ran rampant. UAB Coach Gene Bartow, who had followed John Wooden at UCLA, was supposedly the lead candidate. I remember attending Anita Madden’s Final Four party at Hamburg Place, where the buzz was Arizona Coach Lute Olson was the new No. 1.
Instead, the morning after Villanova’s historic upset of Georgetown, UK introduced Sutton as its new head coach.
Fast forward four years later when Kentucky was struggling through a 13-19 nightmare of a season. For a stretch, the paper elected to keep Jerry Tipton at home to cover the NCAA investigation and send me on the road with the basketball team. The game I remember most was at Ole Miss on Jan. 29, 1989, when Kentucky played the Rebels at Tad Smith Coliseum, aka “The Tad Pad.” Sean Sutton, the coach’s son, was the UK point guard and the Ole Miss students rode him mercilessly about his play, his father and the NCAA in a 70-65 Kentucky loss. I remember thinking no one should have to go through that.
No. 3: A trip to Fayetteville
A couple of years back, I was watching a Kansas basketball game when ESPN’s excellent analyst Fran Fraschilla said Kansas Coach Bill Self credited his philosophy to something he learned while coaching under Sutton at Oklahoma State.
“Coach Sutton used to say it’s a simple game,” Self told Fraschilla. “On offense, you try to get the easiest shot possible. On defense, you try to keep the opponent from getting the easiest shot possible.”
Sutton’s best teams could do both. Having learned under the legendary Henry Iba, he was one of the game’s great teachers of defense. He won at Creighton. He won at Arkansas. He won at Oklahoma State. And he won at Kentucky, too. The coaching job he did at UK in 1985-86 was one of the best in the program’s history. But then the “Emery Envelope” popped open and it all fell apart.
A few years ago before Kentucky played at Arkansas, Sutton came into the media room at Bud Walton Arena. He was in a wheelchair and obvious poor health. Still, he seemed happy to see old friends from both Arkansas and Kentucky. And we him. In the hallway outside, I ran into Sean Sutton and told him it was good to see his dad. Sean smiled. I’ll remember that, too.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 6:04 PM.
