SEC coaching legends Pat Dye, Johnny Majors died this week. Both gave Kentucky fits.
Random notes:
▪ It has been a rough week for legendary SEC football coaches.
First former Auburn coach Pat Dye passed away Monday at the age of 80. On Wednesday, Tennessee announced that former player and coach Johnny Majors had died at age 85.
Dye was 4-0 against Kentucky, with all four games coming against Jerry Claiborne. In 1983, Claiborne’s second season as UK coach, the Wildcats were 4-0 when Bo Jackson and the seventh-ranked Tigers came to town. Auburn won 49-21.
Majors was 13-3 vs Kentucky. Majors was 3-2 vs. Fran Curci; 7-1 vs. Jerry Claiborne and 3-0 vs. Bill Curry. One of the most memorable games took place on a cold, cold Nov. 21, 1981, when, in Curci’s final game as Kentucky coach, UK won 21-10 at Commonwealth Stadium.
▪ Majors nugget: Johnny’s younger brother Bill died at age 26 when a car he was riding in with two other Tennessee assistant football coaches, Charlie Rash and Bob Jones, was struck by a passenger train in Knoxville on the morning of Oct. 18, 1965. All three coaches died. Wearing a black cross over the orange “T” on their white helmets, the Vols went 8-1-2 that year. They beat Kentucky 19-3 in Lexington the week after the Wildcats had lost All-America quarterback Rick Norton to a knee injury.
▪ Another Majors nugget: When Curci and Kentucky beat Tennessee 7-0 at Neyland Stadium in 1976 to clinch a Peach Bowl bid, UT fired Bill Battle as football coach and hired Majors, who had won a national title at Pittsburgh.
▪ Yet another Majors nugget: He finished second to Paul Hornung for the Heisman Trophy in 1956.
▪ Dye nugget: One year at SEC Football Media Days, a point of controversy was Dye’s decision to close practice to the media. When Alabama’s Gene Stallings, who was Dye’s friend, was asked why he let the media watch his practices, the coach replied, “If any of you guys can watch practice and can tell me what we’re doing, I might put you on staff.”
▪ I vote that the neutral site for the third game in the upcoming Kentucky-Notre Dame basketball series should be the Yum Center in Louisville. Bring tradition back.
▪ South Carolina basketball coach Frank Martin tested positive for COVID-19. Two Marshall football players tested positive when they returned to school for voluntary workouts. Someone in the Iowa State athletic department has tested positive. It’s going to happen. The question is how will athletic departments deal with it?
▪ Another question: How many athletic departments just won’t tell us if players/coaches/staff test positive?
▪ It’s good that college coaches, athletic directors and programs are speaking out about the death of George Floyd and racism in our society, but many of the statements have a corporate public relations feel to them. The one I liked came from Ohio University basketball coach Jeff Boals, who tweeted Tuesday, “Had a team meeting today. One of many things we discussed. Not all were registered to vote. They will be soon.”
▪ Tough break for Clemson losing wide receiver Justyn Ross for the season to a congenital spine issue. Ross is a terrific talent. The hope is he can return to football.
▪ Surprised that, as of yet, no team has signed free agent offensive guard Larry Warford. The former Kentucky star, who has been to three Pro Bowls, was released by the Saints on May 8. The Bengals are among the teams reportedly interested in the former Madison Central star.
▪ In my Wednesday column, I mistakenly referred to the late, great Wes Unseld’s father as George. His name was Charles. My apologies.
▪ Funny anecdote from Danny Ainge, who told ESPN’s Zach Lowe about his love of golf. When Ainge played with the Celtics, coach Bill Fitch told Ainge, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and former UK star Rick Robey they were being fined $500 each for playing golf on an off day.
Ainge said that after about 10 seconds of silence, Bird said, “Well boys, guess we’re going to have to up the ante tomorrow.”
