Facts vs Fiction : The Rupp and Bryant feud never really existed

I think the friction at UK between them came because of Coach Bryant's success. Rupp was the big dog, and didn't see a lot of room for a successful football program.

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I always heard it was because Bryant wanted to recruit black players and Rupp said over his dead body.

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I've always thought that was apocryphal, but it may be the case.

Guys back then didn't have big, public feuds like people these days do. It would have been unseemly and ungentlemanly and it simply wasn't done. We'll never know all of the nuances there, but I have always figured there were multiple factors at play.

As I said in the other thread, Rupp was a glory hound (not that his success didn't warrant it, of course). Bryant came in and worked miracles with a football team which hadn't even come close to sniffing success prior to that point.

As most rock star coaches those days did, Rupp pretty much ran shite at UK. I imagine he didn't want to share his spotlight with Bryant and the football program.

If you read the link Rupp and Bryant got along okay and it was Rupp who went to bat for Bryant when he was in Texas.

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Rupp pretty much ran shite at UK.

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That link seems to disprove that as Bryant is quoted as saying the UK folks gave him pretty much what he wanted

Here is a quote from a Sports Illustrated article interviewing the Bear in 1966

"Well, we won at Kentucky, and I don't think I'd have ever left if I hadn't gotten pigheaded. It was probably the most stupid thing I ever did. I could have had just about anything I wanted, and Mary Harmon loved it. We had a social position coaches seldom have - good friends with Governor Wetherby and all - and we lived right there near the Idle Hour Country Club. Mr. Guy Huguelet got us an honorary membership, and that's a club that some people wait years to get into. We had built a new house, and I was on the verge of making some real money."

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If you read the link Rupp and Bryant got along okay and it was Rupp who went to bat for Bryant when he was in Texas.

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Well, it's like I mentioned. Back in the day, gentlemen didn't have big public feuds and blast each other through the media.

Also, I don't mean to say that they hated each other by any means. I simply think that Rupp didn't want the football program's newfound success to get in the way of UK basketball, and Bryant stubbornly refused to play second fiddle to anyone. Both men exuded competitiveness from every pore, both demanded 110% and being a shrinking violet would have been anathema to a personality like that.

Both men had egos and I think they were the type of personality which might have balked at sharing the top spot. Real old school mentality.

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I've heard stories of Bryant and Rupp getting absolutely black out drunk together. You don't normally drink like that with people you don't like.

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I believe it. And I think that if not for the fact that if Bryant hadn't been trying to build a football dynasty which could rival Rupp's basketball dynasty, there never would have been any problem whatsoever between the two.

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In 1953 or before? GTFO.

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I could believe it.

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Also, I don't mean to say that they hated each other by any means. I simply think that Rupp didn't want the football program's newfound success to get in the way of UK basketball, and Bryant stubbornly refused to play second fiddle to anyone. Both men exuded competitiveness from every pore, both demanded 110% and being a shrinking violet would have been anathema to a personality like that.

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This is probably more the case then anything. As you said, I don't think they personally hated each other. There just wasn't enough room for the both of them so to speak.

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Rupp recruited black guys like Wes Unseld and Ralph Beard at Kentucky

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I trust you mean Butch Beard. Beard actually did sign with Kentucky. But (and its a lot more complicated than anyone here probably cares)basically he had originally signed with Louisville who was in the Missouri Valley at the time.Supposedly Louisville was okay with letting him out of his LOI but conference rules made them defer to the MVC. MVC commissioner wouldn't let him out of it and he had to honor his Louisville scholarship.



As for Bryant at UK supposedly he had a black cook in the athletic dining hall who had a son that went to Illinois or Indiana and was 2nd team All-Big 10 in football, so he was thinking, 'what the heck?' why can't I get a boy from Lexington??

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Now Dodd and Bryant ... that one I've heard about.

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That feud cost Georgia Tech big time (along with Dodd's desire for GT to become the "Notre Dame of the South")

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That link seems to disprove that as Bryant is quoted as saying the UK folks gave him pretty much what he wanted

Here is a quote from a Sports Illustrated article interviewing the Bear in 1966

"Well, we won at Kentucky, and I don't think I'd have ever left if I hadn't gotten pigheaded. It was probably the most stupid thing I ever did. I could have had just about anything I wanted, and Mary Harmon loved it. We had a social position coaches seldom have - good friends with Governor Wetherby and all - and we lived right there near the Idle Hour Country Club. Mr. Guy Huguelet got us an honorary membership, and that's a club that some people wait years to get into. We had built a new house, and I was on the verge of making some real money."

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FYI, most great coaches are pig-headed. It was and still remains inequitable to this day though. You still spend way less on Football. No way to get to, and stay at the top levels if you don't spend. And I have yet to see any outrage among the UK fans over this.