Articles by Category
The University of Kentucky basketball team has retired 42 jerseys since the inception of the basketball program, but has not retired a player or a coach from the past 15 years. The last person to have his jersey retired was Rick Pitino, who coached until 1997. The last player to have the honor was Jamal Mashburn, who finished playing after the 1993 season. In recent years a player having his jersey retired in Rupp Arena has proved to be elusive, but that may be about to change.
There have been 2 national championships and 4 final four’s since the last time a player had his jersey retired. There have been NBA Champions, NBA All-Stars, Olympic Gold Medalists, the school’s first collegiate player of the year and the school’s first number one overall selection in the draft. It is time to get the ball rolling again and UK has a set selection process.
In order to have a player’s jersey retired, the player must first be in the UK Athletics Association Hall of Fame. After inclusion into the Hall of Fame, nominees will be sent to the Retired Jersey Subcommittee. The subcommittee must accept the player’s nomination with a vote of 7 of the 8 members in favor of retirement. Players must wait five years after completion of their college career for acceptance into the Hall of Fame and ten years in order to have their jersey retired. Coaches must be gone from UK for five years in order for both the Hall of Fame and to have their jersey retired.
With John Calipari’s recent string of great players who have left for the NBA after their first or second season, the question of whether the “one and done” players should be eligible for the honor of having their jersey retired at Rupp Arena has been asked repeatedly. I asked UK Executive Associate Athletics Director DeWayne Peevy if there were any impediments that would keep a one and done player from having their jersey retired, he responded “No, For example, Leroy Edwards who will be inducted this fall played only one season as a sophomore.” UK’s stance on this is clear, a player who only plays one season will be eligible to have their jersey retired after 10 years.
Any player who played at least one season on the basketball team is eligible for the Hall of Fame and thereafter to have their jersey retired, so the question remains about whom UK should now retire. They have to have been out of UK for at least 10 years in order to have their jersey retired, so we are looking now at players who last played in the 2001-2002 season.
The first player that comes to mind for me is former UK great Tayshaun Prince. Prince was a two-time All American, SEC player of the year, 8th on UK’s all time scoring list, NBA Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist. Tayshaun was inducted into the UKAA Hall of Fame in 2010 and this year he will have been gone from UK for 10 years. Prince has continued to be around the UK program and always seems to be available when Calipari asks for help in providing guidance for his young players. His Hall of Fame induction speech, for which I was fortunate enough to be in attendance, was one of the few times I have seen Prince’s emotions shine through about UK. He talked about how hard it was coming to Lexington from Compton, but how happy he is about the decision he made to play at UK. It showed how much he loved UK and his time here.
I would also retire the jersey of a former coach who, as of this year, will be eligible to be retired: Orlando “Tubby” Smith. Smith was the head coach for 10 seasons and had a winning percentage of 76%, won 263 games, went to 3 Elite Eights, 1 Final Four and won 1 National Championship. Smith did taper off during the end of his tenure and never got back to the Final Four after his first season, but he was the first African-American head coach of the basketball team which has a significance beyond anything he could have ever done on the court as a coach. He was also a great ambassador for the program and the university, which cannot be understated. He is also one of only five coaches at UK to win a National Championship. The only issue would be one of timing since he is still the coach at Minnesota, but as soon as that is not an issue, he should be in the rafters.
Those are the two jerseys’ I would retire this upcoming season and I think they are more than deserved. It seems like the time is right for UK to once again retire a jersey, will it be this year? Time will tell.
So if you are UK, who do you retire knowing the criteria and wait-period?
You can follow me on Twitter: @tyleradkinsKSR1
KSR Twitter Feed
vBulletin Message