For the record, I could give a flying **** about Pitino or Eaves at this point. Only thing I’d take at the moment is Pitino’s coaching prowess. He was kind enough to me the few times that I met him, but he’s gone and it is what it is. Denny is a class act and a Louisville legend, but he may have had some blame in it as well. I have no idea. I’m not placing blame. Just sharing what I heard and can understand why Crum players would hold a grudge if it’s true.
Eaves...
- Thread starter ShortCreek
- Start date
Maybe that’s how you see it but I lived through those times and that’s not how I perceived it. Yes Coach Crum was in his heyday when Pitino surfaced on the scene. U of L had established respect (equal footing) with UK on a national level. I don’t believe Crum ever bought into that we had to beat UK head to head to prove that we belonged on the same stage. The kitties don’t want anyone but themselves on that stage. They simply believe they are the “best” college program ever and every dream game win over their rival makes them believe that’s true. Our vision has always been on the bigger picture in March.
They weren’t anywhere close to us when Pitino arrived at UK.
We were 2 time champions and the team of the 1980’s. They were facing the death penalty. Had a bunch of walk-ons. Although they had history, we were way better than them at that time.
At the time Coach K hadn’t won a title. Dean Smith and Bobby Knight were really the only coaches on the level of Coach Crum.
Rick was the hunter and Crum/UL was the target. We were close and Rivals that played every year. Rick was the young arrogant coach that brought change to the game, Denny was the old guard.
That was just their coaching rivalry. Then that same coach that overtook you as a top coach in the game is now the guy that takes your job at the program you built. Yeah, there’s going to be tension.
Rick came in and made it his program. We’ve all see what happens at many programs when trying to follow a legend. I was in undergrad at UofL during the early Rick years and grew up in Louisville. So many of us forget how big of a legend Denny truly was and how he was the king of the city.
We couldn’t rely on the nostalgia of Denny as our program had faded. Rick was the future and Denny was the past. It just was a natural rivalry between 2 highly competitive guys. Rick has his way and it meant getting Denny out of the picture and Denny was mad that his kingdom was now under Pitino rule.
I don’t blame either party. It just is how it is
God you are ate up with little brother syndrome. Since the dream game in 83 to when Crum was forced out, there were approx 22 games played between UK and U of L. They won 14 and we won 8. I think that speaks more to my synopsis of holding our own and less of yours that we somehow dominated them.
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Going 2-6 vs. Pitino while at UK,with most of those games not really being close, wasn't exactly "holding our own" IMO.
Pleas pay attention if you’re going to stick your nose in. LeFors made the statement we owned the kitties while Crum was here. I essentially said we held our own. Pitino wasn’t in the conversation. They won more but we occasionally won too, not like now...
Owning in an individual game isn’t what I base our success on as a program.
We dominated the 80’s and were the top program at the end of that decade (or close to it). They didn’t win a title that decade and had ended the decade close to the death penalty.
And yet you want to shovel some narrative that supposedly says hey we were better than you in the 80’s?? I prefer to concern myself with U of L basketball...
It is folly to think that uahkay hasn’t owned the basketball rivalary in the 2000s. But this thread isn’t about the rivalary - it’s about Jerry Eaves. Mr. Eaves has become a bitter old man that cannot accept the facts that he failed as a basketball coach as far as wins and losses are concerned and that he was rejected as an assistant coach at UofL. So he continues his “warpath” attitude fueled by matty bangs even until this day. It’s an absolute joke that Kenny Payne should have gotten the UofL job over Chris Mack. Not that KP is not a gifted coach but he has NO head coaching experience and that’s the reason he isn’t at UofL. KP should push for a head coaching gig of his own to prove himself before a school like UofL would ever hire him. But Eaves wants to make it about race and he’s simply wrong to do that.
GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!
GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!
This whole conversation was brought up because of this whole issue with the Crum loyalist type trying to push for Kenny Payne’s unqualified butt. Then it was about Denny and Rick/TJ having beef. I added context. Rick and Denny’s history goes back to when Rick coach at UK.
And yes, this is all about UofL basketball. We hired Rick Pitino to replace the man that put UofL athletics on the map. Those 2 were in fact rivals. Pitino coached at UK, a team with national prominence in our state. Pitino arrived at UK in 1989, the end of the 1980’s.
Iat the beginning of Denny Crum’s career, we didn’t have a national title and weren’t relevant nationally. Kentucky refused to even play us as they thought we were just trash. From 1980-1989 we made 4 Final Fours and won 2 national titles. We beat UK in the tournament and now they had to play us.
UK got exposed for cheating and their program was in shambles in 1989. We had 4 Final fours and 2 titles. Denny Crum was the hottest coach in the country during that decade, the peak of his career. Rick Pitino was a young coach that arrived at that program in shambles. Denny was “the man” and “the master”.
By 1997, Rick Pitino has rebuilt Kentucky into a program that played in 3 consecutive national titles. UofL by that time had fallen back from the elites. Denny wasn’t the same man and the game had passed him by.
Denny was the Coach K, Dean Smith, Bobby Knight, Adolph Rupp, etc of our program. But then, the coach that was his rival in 1989 was hired as he was pushed out.
You can say “I’m worried about our program blahhhh little brother syndrome I don’t care about UK” but you’ve missed the entire point of this thread. Rick coached at UK. Denny was at UofL during that time.
but this thread was about the Denny Crum crybabies that behind the scenes hated Rick and TJ for forcing Denny out. Rick succeeded and that made it harder for them to accept. TJ got us to the ACC, they couldn’t say anything.
Then when controversy hit they came out of the woodworks and told us we need to hire someone like Kenny Payne and how mean we were to Denny when Tom made the right decision.
When Rick Pitino arrived at UK in 1989, UofL was a better program at the time. The team of the 1980’s. Kentucky wasn’t even allowed to play games on TV. Denny was the one that made everything about playing UK in the media and pushing for the game. Passing their program was important to him and the fans at that time. We had passed them at that point, not all time or anything, but we were the elite program of the 1980’s. Denny had a better program at the time.
but the rise of Rick and UK and him falling was representative of his own fall as a coach. And that same coach that passed him by took him off his throne.
Context matters. UK doesn’t matter to our program like it did in the 1980’s. We’ve moved on and now it’s just a game on the schedule we want to win very bad, in the 1980’s it was about getting respect nationally and taking down the program that tried to keep us down.
but again, in 1989 we were miles ahead of Kentucky as a program. Denny Crum’s run in the 1980’s was one of the greatest decades by any coach EVER. But 12 years later, Denny was done as a coach. We had the best AD in the country and he got him out and got the best coach in the nation to Freedom Hall. It’s about Denny’s ego and how all men at that level have to face reality. Look at Tom Brady for example, it happens.
I think you need to look up the name Peck Hickman. Never had a losing season in 23 years. No Denny is not our Adolph Rupp or John Wooden, he’s our Denny Crum. And again your post is nothing but more UK vs U of L perspective. I lived U of L basketball during those times, I don’t need your recollection of it.
Not trying to get in the middle of your discussion, just wanted to thank you for the kind words about Hickman. He's the first successful coach at UofL. His success vaulted the Cards from mid major to high major. Denny took us over the top.
Louisville record: 443-183 (.708)
Overall record: 443-183 (.708)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 5 (1951, 1959, 1961, 1964, 1967)
- NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen: 3 (1959, 1961, 1967)
- NCAA Tournament Final Four: 1 (1959)
- NIT Championships: 1 (1956)
- NIT Appearances: 6 (1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1966)
- Missouri Valley Regular Season Champion: 1 (1967)
- NAIA National Championships: 1 (1948)
Thanks for those stats. There are some people that thought U of L was nothing in basketball before DC.
Hickman’s National Championship in 1948 was a NAIB title not NAIA.
NAIB is now recognized as NAIA so technically he’s right.
And factually I’m correct. Check out the trophy case and the banner hanging in The Yum. It’s says NAIB, I don’t care what it’s called now.
That’s like me saying Howard put our football program on the map and you saying “how dare you minimize Lee Corso’s impact on the program”
Louisville was good before Denny. Duke was good before coach K. Denny Crum made us relevant. The entire athletics department. Without Denny Crum we aren’t where we are today.
Before Denny Crum we had 1 Final Four and 1 elite 8. We were basically on the level of WKU. (A good program in it’s own right).
Yes Hickman was great. Charlie Tyra’s legend lives on forever (“Vince’s” Dad for those who question his love for the Cards) Wes Unseld’s arrival and domination was a big shot in the arm for the city and university. Denny didn’t do it alone, not saying that at all.
But, Denny Crum put our program on the map. Yes yes, we had great fans before Denny. But his rise in the 1970’s and dominance in the 1980’s put us on the map nationally. Titles, All-Americans, nba stars, more nationally televised games, etc.
And Denny did it without any help. No help from the state legislature. No help from big name conference foes. He did it all with just out coaching and out working everyone.
But he didn’t evolve with the game. Rick and TJ wanted to take the next step and carried the torch. Now it’s time for Vince and Mack to do the same.
W
And they certainly do not need any advice from Jerry Eaves to do so!
Jerry Eaves is a clown. I have no idea how his show is still on the air. I used to listen when he first started having a show, then he started wondering off on his self righteous tour and I quit listening.
I check back from time to time to see if he's still at it and he always is..
He makes some really uneducated statements and his mis-pronunciation of words is too much for me..
I have no idea how he even gets sponsors, they surely don't listen to his show..
I check back from time to time to see if he's still at it and he always is..
He makes some really uneducated statements and his mis-pronunciation of words is too much for me..
I have no idea how he even gets sponsors, they surely don't listen to his show..
I saw that too on the site I got that info from. Didn't they change the name or something? Not sure but I thought that was the case.
He is the worst radio guy in town.. His mispronunciation of words alone is good enough reason not to listen .
Well I totally agree with “he’s the worst radio guy in town” comment. But I won’t kick him to the curb over the mispronunciation of words. I’m guilty of the same thing from time to time. This whole Jerry Eaves thing is about two things: one, his desire to make this whole CCM vs Kenny Payne thing a racial deal (would he be supporting KP if he were Caucasian?) and, two, his own rejection as a possible assistant coach at UofL. If it weren’t for the uahkay fans that listen to his show he wouldn’t have any listeners and that screams volumes about his “opinions”. Actually I don’t care one way or the other if our coach is black, white or purple with pink polka dots but I resent someone pushing someone simply because of the color of their skin, especially when that person has NO HEAD COACHING experience. And I definitely resent a guy like Tim Sullivan referring to Jerry Eaves as a prominent “UofL alum, etc.”.
GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!
Normally I wouldn't call someone out on the way they pronounce words but it's so blatant with him, especially on people's names.. If you're going to discuss somebody on a public forum you owe them the respect to say their name correctly..
The other reason I call him out on it is, he thinks he's the smartest guy in the room on some issues and he has an uneducated opinion on a lot of topics and states it as fact when he's not even close.
The final thing is something you touched on, he plays up to the slapdick fans by putting down UofL just to get listners. I don't listen anymore and haven't for a long time.
He wouldn't be supporting Kenny Payne if he wasn't a Crum player imo. There are so many black coaches that are way more qualified than Payne and Eaves didn't care about pushing any of them.
I just had to take a listen to hear what he had to say about the NOA . And as expected on cue total U of L hater in all ways. I just do not understand how a former player whom was on some of the most beloved Cardinal teams. Has turned into such a U o L hater. At times he sounds as bad as Matt Jones and that's saying alot.
Lol twitter on Eaves
stillblockedbyeaves
@rubicon20192
May 5
Replying to
@rickbozich
Eaves is hoping for a 5 yr ban
Lol twitter on Eaves
stillblockedbyeaves
@rubicon20192
May 5
Replying to
@rickbozich
Eaves is hoping for a 5 yr ban
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I flipped him on today too, he sounds so uneducated and is so self righteous. I listened about 5 minutes and that was all I could take..
You lasted a bunch longer than I would have. I’m so disappointed in Jerry Eaves that I have a difficult time even mentioning his name.
GO CARDS - BEAT EVERYBODY!!! God Bless America!!!
I suggest that we no longer refer to her as Jerry but as Jenny Eaves because she is clearly a little beotch. No offense to all the wonderful Jennys in the world.
He was in rare form today. Today was the last straw for me with him i just listen to try and get a different take and listen at 12 from time to time with him and the v show. However he was a tirad of U of L hate that he even praised Matt Jones for calling out U of L on some previous issues. No lie and when he did it he knew he messed up kinda got quiet for a few seconds to gather his self. Very obvious he has a serious ax to grind with u of L. If i was Tyra i would give him the cold shoulder going forward.
Truer words were never spoken. He is a bitter loser and no friend of our hoops program.
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