
Eddie Sutton resigned following a scandal at Kentucky, went unemployed for a year and then took over at Oklahoma State. In his 16 years at OSU, the Cowboys made the NCAA Tournament 13 times.
If you were living in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ 30 years ago this month, you probably remember Lute Olson flying to Kentucky, meeting with new UK athletic director C.M. Newton and sending ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ basketball fans into a state of deep-dish anxiety.
Newton hoped Olson would replace Eddie Sutton and quickly restore Kentucky’s reputation, one heavily damaged by accusations of academic fraud and illegal payments to basketball recruits.
The NCAA ultimately put Kentucky on three years of probation, barring it from the 1990 and 1991 NCAA tournaments. Other than the fall of Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV, it was probably the most high-profile scandal in college basketball until the ongoing investigation into corruption began 18 months ago.
Olson returned to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ and accepted increased financial compensation from the school; UA fans gave him the full “we love you, Lute†treatment.
Sutton was never charged with any crimes or misdeeds at Kentucky, although one of his assistants — current Detroit Pistons head coach Dwane Casey — was accused of sending $1,000 in an overnight-mail envelope to Claud Mills, father of Kentucky freshman Chris Mills, who later became one of the top players in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ history.
Casey was fired by Kentucky and barred from college basketball for five years, though it was later determined he was not involved in sending the $1,000 package to Claud Mills. Casey successfully sued the Emery Worldwide freight company, reaching an undisclosed settlement.
As ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ waits for closure on the FBI’s current investigation into college basketball corruption, it’s compelling to remember how University of Kentucky officials reacted to the 1989 case.
Sutton and UK athletic director Cliff Hagan, one of the legends of Kentucky basketball, both resigned.
Said Sutton the day he resigned: “I’ve decided for the good of the program, for the fans, for the players and most of all my family, I shall resign at this time. I don’t want the University of Kentucky to suffer any more.â€
Sutton was unemployed for a year. At 54, he was hired at Oklahoma State. Sutton coached the Cowboys for 16 seasons, making 13 NCAA Tournament appearances and two Final Fours.
Then-UK president David Roselle said: “I am proud of Coach Sutton’s willingness to recognize that his resignation is a necessary step in the process of rebuilding our basketball program.â€
Many were premature in predicting a lasting blow to the Kentucky program.
“As far as I’m concerned, Kentucky did get the death penalty,†Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim said in 1989. “The length of time it took the NCAA to come down with the penalties will have the most severe impact of all. Kentucky’s program has been at a standstill.â€
Instead, UK’s basketball program was back, a force, in record time.
Kentucky hired Rick Pitino away from the New York Knicks, sat out two NCAA tournaments and then bolted to the Final Four in Pitino’s fourth season, 1993, just as Chris Mills concluded his ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ career.
Eddie Sutton, Claud Mills and Cliff Hagan were soon forgotten. Kentucky’s basketball program has since gone to eight Final Fours.
I’m not suggesting Sean Miller resign, or that UA president Robert C. Robbins be proactive in re-starting ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s basketball program the way Roselle did at UK 30 years ago.
But I am saying that whatever happens in a New York City courtroom this week — or in a future NCAA investigation into ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s basketball program — there is precedent that better days lie ahead, and maybe sooner than many imagine.