One man links Texas football to Kentucky football: Matthew McConaughey
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Matthew McConaughey links Texas and Kentucky football through family and fandom.
- Jim McConaughey played for Kentucky in 1949, later lettered at Houston and drafted.
- Coaching carousel highlights ex-UK coaches and programs producing notable 2025 seasons.
READ MORE
Preview: No. 21 Texas at Kentucky football
Click below to read more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s preview coverage ahead of Saturday’s Kentucky-Texas game at Kroger Field.
Expand All
Quick hitters from the rapidly accelerating coaching carousel:
21. Matthew McConaughey. As of Monday afternoon, the University of Kentucky had received no indication from the University of Texas that the Academy Award-winning actor and Longhorns sports “super fan” would be attending Saturday’s football game between UK and Texas at Kroger Field.
20. Actor’s father played football for UK. As I first shared with you in 2014, McConaughey’s father, Jim McConaughey, played college football for coach Paul “Bear” Bryant at Kentucky in 1949.
19. Did not letter at Kentucky. An end, Jim McConaughey is not listed among the all-time lettermen in the UK football media guide. However, there are several mentions of him in contemporaneous newspaper coverage of the 1949 Wildcats.
18. ‘Looks good on defense.’ A spring practice story on April 1, 1949, from the UK student newspaper, The Kentucky Kernel, reported that “Jim McConaughey looks good on defense.”
17. Several Lexington Herald mentions. The April 2, 1949, Lexington Herald reported that “Charley Bentley or Jim McConnaughey” (sic) would start at right end for the Blue team in a spring scrimmage.
16. Played in ‘49 season opener. In the coverage of Kentucky’s season-opening 71-7 win over Mississippi Southern, the Sept. 18, 1949, Lexington Herald listed Jim McConaughey among the UK sophomores who had made their varsity debuts.
15. Lettered twice at Houston. That 1949 season, in which sophomore quarterback Babe Parilli led UK to a 9-3 record that ended with an Orange Bowl loss to Santa Clara, was the only one Jim McConaughey spent with the Kentucky varsity. In 1951 and ‘52, he lettered at the University of Houston.
14. Drafted by Packers. In the 1953 NFL draft, Jim McConaughey was selected in the 27th round, the 319th overall pick, by Green Bay.
13. Actor attended UK-Texas in 2024. Matthew McConaughey, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2014 for his role in “Dallas Buyers Club,” was on hand last season at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium as the Longhorns bested Kentucky 31-14.
12. “Celebrity fans” collaborate. Matthew McConaughey and actress and Kentucky Wildcats men’s basketball fan Ashley Judd played a married couple in the 1996 film “A Time To Kill,” which was based on the John Grisham novel of the same name.
11. Jon Sumrall. If for any reason you are more interested than normal in how the ex-Kentucky linebacker’s head coaching career is going, Sumrall’s Tulane Green Wave stand 5-1 at the season halfway point and are 2-1 against power conference opponents.
10. Two valuable wins. Tulane and Sumrall’s wins over ACC foe Duke, 34-27 in New Orleans, and Big Ten opponent Northwestern, 23-3 also in “The Big Easy,” look even better now that the Blue Devils (4-2, 3-0 ACC) and the Wildcats (4-2, 2-1 Big Ten) have subsequently shown strength.
9. One clunker. The two power conference victories by Sumrall and Tulane somewhat cancel out the 45-10 pasting the Green Wave took on the road at then-No. 13 Mississippi of the SEC.
8. The game to watch. After games against Army and at UTSA, Tulane is slated to visit No. 22 and unbeaten Memphis (6-0, 3-0 AAC) on Nov. 7 in a game that could determine the American Athletic Conference regular-season champion.
7. Gerad Parker. Jon Sumrall is not the only former Kentucky football player who is putting together a memorable season as a head coach. At Troy, ex-UK wide receiver Parker is presiding over one of the more thrill-packed campaigns of 2025 to date.
6. An attention-getting loss. Troy and Parker first turned heads when the Trojans opened a 16-3 halftime lead at Clemson on Sept. 6. That turned into a 27-16 loss, but it was the first sign that Parker’s second season could go better than his 4-8 debut as Sumrall’s successor as Troy head man went in 2024.
5. Three straight epic victories. After starting 1-2 with road losses at Clemson and Memphis, Parker, the former Lawrence County High School star, and Troy have rolled off three straight wild wins.
4. Rally from down 17 down in the fourth quarter. After Buffalo went ahead 17-0 on a field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter, Troy ran off 21 straight points to earn a road victory, 21-17.
3. An overtime win over archrival. The following week vs. Troy’s main rival, South Alabama, Parker’s Trojans trailed 17-14 midway through the third quarter but rallied to take a 31-24 overtime victory.
2. An even crazier comeback. Last Saturday at Texas State, Troy was down 28-7 after one quarter but charged back behind Tucker Kilcrease’s five touchdown passes to score a stunning 48-41 overtime victory.
1. The game to watch. Troy (4-2, 2-0 SBC) and Southern Mississippi (4-2, 2-0 SBC) are the only undefeated teams in league play in the Sun Belt Conference West Division. The two are slated to end the regular season facing each other in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on Nov. 29.
This story was originally published October 13, 2025 at 3:42 PM.
