Despite the national stereotype that Kentucky is a diehard basketball state, at the high school level the state produces many times over more top nationally ranked football players than basketball. In the past ten years the state has produced many players ranked among the top 20 in their position, notablyTim Couch,Jacob Tamme,Chris Redman,Dennis Johnson, Eric Shelton,Michael Bush,Brian Brohm,Mario Urrutia, Earl Heyman,André Woodson, Micah Johnson, andDeVante Parker. An increasingly growing number of top baseball talent is also coming from Kentucky, such asBrandon Webb,Austin Kearns,Jo Adell, andPaul Byrd.
Louisville has had practically a monopoly on the state's top players since their recent success on the national stage. The football Cardinals have historically depended on the states of Florida andGeorgia for a majority of their talent, and currently over 65% of the team's starters are from those two states.
As of 2012, there were six high schoolrugby teams in Kentucky.[1]
In recent years, theLouisville Cardinals have further proven themselves, not only as one of the state's best organized college athletic programs, but elite on the national stage. The University of Louisville Cardinals are consistently the most profitable college sports franchise in the nation, ranking first in Kentucky with a basketball revenue of $42,434,684 during the 2012 fiscal year. Kentucky came in at 5th on the list making $21,598,681.[2] The Cardinals' program has been deemed to have the most equitable fanbase of any school in the country, according to a study conducted byEmory Sports Marketing Analytics.[3] The University of Kentucky is ranked 7th on the list.
A 2006Lexington Herald-Leader article stated that interest in UofL sports is surging across the state of Kentucky, especially inHopkinsville andOwensboro.[4] An October 21, 2006Louisville Courier-Journal article also stated that the total sales of UofL merchandise has tripled since 2001 and that the school now ranks 32nd nationally in sales, up from 41st in 2001. UofL ranks 2nd in theBig East Conference and the 3rd highest among all urban universities (toSouthern California andMiami) in merchandise sales. UK's merchandise sales have steadily remained around 14th in the nation, by far the best in the state. UofL now has more registered collegiate license plates than theUniversity of Kentucky (18,300 to 17,000); a fourfold increase since 2004. In 1995 UK had a 15,000 plate lead on UofL.[5] It is also important to note that in the last few years theLouisville Cardinals have been the most profitable college sports franchise in the nation and have been deemed to have the most equitable fanbase of any school in the country according to a few studies.
Fuel was added to the fire of this rivalry whenRick Pitino, the UK coach who led the Wildcats to their 1996 National Title before leaving to become coach of theNBA'sBoston Celtics, returned to the Bluegrass State to coach the Cardinals in 2001. Many in the state compared the move to the treachery ofBenedict Arnold. The situation was exacerbated by the transfer of underachieving Wildcatpower forward/centerMarvin Stone. Stone's best season with the Cats was his sophomore season, when the formerMcDonald's All-American averaged 6.0 points and 4.6 rebounds per game.[6] Under Pitino, however, Stone averaged 10.7 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Cards, including a 16-point, 7-rebound, 2-block performance against the Wildcats in an 81–63 Louisville win on December 28.[7]
Basketball is the iconic sport in Kentucky today. However, the first organized team on campus is the women's basketball team. Because after the establishment of the sports department, girls often carry out sports activities in response, and female physical educators also take action quickly. Provide professional assistance to any student run sports club. In the past, the relationship between basketball and the Department of physical education was very bad. Florence Stout, director of women's physical education, tried to make this sport a very limited part of her whole teaching plan. There has been no similar project for female students for nearly 20 years. It was not until the end of 1901 that the school council voted to establish a sports department with both men and women.
The origin of basketball is very humble. It took almost 20 years to establish itself as a viable sport and the main element of school.[8] Basketball was invented in 1891. Its origin is similar to college football. Charles Eliota repeatedly called for the end of football and basketball when he was president ofHarvard. And football, like basketball, is short of resources and often can't buy the necessary equipment. The famous coachAdolph Rupp held many positions in the university before basketball was slowly proved. It was many years later that the sports department let him focus on basketball training.[8] Gradually, the basketball team developed from a trivial sport to a strong passion.
The modern series, which began in 1983, was started with a win by theLouisville Cardinals. However, in recent years theKentucky Wildcats have dominated the series, winning 5 of the last 7 meetings.At least three college coaching legends have been associated with programs in the state of Kentucky:Adolph Rupp (UK),Denny Crum (UofL), andRick Pitino (both UK and UofL). Also, several successfulNBA players played in the state, includingPat Riley,Wes Unseld, andDan Issel. Only theUCLA Bruins have won more NCAA championships than theKentucky Wildcats, with the Wildcats ranking first in almost every other significant measure of a successful program. In addition to UK and UofL, theWestern Kentucky Hilltoppers are also a historically successful basketball program.
TheLouisville Cardinals were dubbed "The Team of the 1980s", winning two national titles during that decade (1980 and 1986). (Only theIndiana Hoosiers equaled this number during the 1980s.) Under coachDenny Crum, UofL was the only team to go to four Final Fours during the decade, and had more wins than any other team over that span. Darrell Griffith won theJohn Wooden Award in 1980 and in 1986 "Never Nervous"Pervis Ellison became the first freshman to ever be named NCAA Final Four MVP, a feat equaled only bySyracuse'sCarmelo Anthony.
TheKentucky Wildcats were the most dominant team of the 1990s, winning two national titles (1996 and 1998), with three straight trips to the NCAA Championship game and four total trips to the Final Four. UK's 1996 National Championship team is considered to be the bestNCAA team of all time, as evidenced by the nine players on the roster who played in theNBA.[9]
Apartheid also existed in sports for a long time. From the first season in 1930 to his retirement in 1972,Adolph Rupp signed only one black player throughout his career in Kentucky. It was not until the 1960s thatAfrican American athletes began to be recruited in most regions. Even in the south, where apartheid lasted longer, schools such asLouisville signed their first black players in the early 1960s.
College football started late in Kentucky. Sports historian Ronald Smith pointed out that as early as the 1850s, football originated from the bullying and entrance ceremony of Freshmen in some schools in the eastern United States.[10] Teachers at universities such asHarvard andYale were so shocked that they voted to ban the ceremony. The sport was born in the late 19th century. In 1924, the University of Kentucky's school newspaper, theKentucky Kernel, reported that a group of students from the University of Transylvania had football they had seen for the first time in the blue grass area. In 1880, with the efforts of this group of college students, they ordered a football and a rule book and organized an internal game. And in the following ten years, people knew little about these competitions, and sports "had no special management". The first student sports association was established in 1892. Although the team ushered in the first winning season in 1893, it was plagued by various financial problems in the following decades. In the same year, the school council was disturbed by the informal status of sports on the university playground and the violence of football. Raised objections to the existence of the team. In 1900, it was the only team to beat the powerfulLouisville sports club. But with success, more and more accusations came out of thin air that a team inLexington hired professional players to play at festivals. Then, in view of these dark statements, football became a valuable symbol of masculinity in America's best universities. As Buck became president, the uncertain status of college sports has changed. He said that football is a symbol of good qualities such as courage and perseverance.
UofL has recently dominated the football rivalry, winning 70% of the games in the Modern Series which began in 1994. UK leads the all-time series, 10–8.
For all their success in basketball, theKentucky Wildcats have been unable to remain consistently competitive in football. The last two Kentucky football seasons have resulted in an embarrassing 2–10 record. Playing in the brutally competitiveSoutheastern Conference, the Wildcats won an SEC title in 1950 under legendary coachPaul "Bear" Bryant and shared SEC titles in 1976 and 1977 underFran Curci. Bryant left the school in 1953; some attribute the move to a conclusion that the football program's popularity would always remain a distant second to the basketball program, at that time coached byAdolph Rupp, a legend in his own right.
UofL hired legendary coachHoward Schnellenberger in 1984. The team has continued to rise under coachesJohn L. Smith,Bobby Petrino, andCharlie Strong. On November 2, 2006, the 5th-rankedUofL football team defeated the 3rd-rankedWest Virginia Mountaineers in what was dubbed "The Dream Game", the second time inBig East history that two top-5 teams had ever met. The game was ranked as the most-viewedESPN Thursday night football game ever.[11] The game marked a new high in a program that had been on the rise for several years.
Only one week later the Cardinals were defeated by a third undefeatedBig East team, the upstart and 15th-rankedRutgers Scarlet Knights, in what was billed as the biggest college football game in the New York City Metro Areain 60 years; with theEmpire State Building even being lit with the Rutgers team colors. The game was also one of the highest rated ESPN Thursday Night games ever as a record crowd inPiscataway, New Jersey stormed the field in celebration. The loss ended the Cardinals' national title hopes, but the team did receive a bid to the FedExOrange Bowl. On January 2 the Cardinals defeated Wake Forest 24–13[12] in the Orange Bowl to claim the team's first BCS Bowl win.
More recently, the state has been at the forefront of coaching integration in Division I FBS football. Following the 2009 season, all three of the state's FBS programs filled their coaching vacancies with African Americans. The first to do so was Western Kentucky, who hiredWillie Taggart to replace the firedDavid Elson. Louisville followed suit by hiringCharlie Strong to replace the firedSteve Kragthorpe. Finally,Joker Phillips, who had been the designated successor toRich Brooks at Kentucky, took over after the latter announced his retirement. The first African American head coach at any of the Division I football programs in Kentucky wasRon Cooper, who coached at Louisville between 1995 and 1997.
The Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS)Eastern Kentucky Colonels have held a long tradition of football success. Until the 2009–2010 season, the Colonels were tied withFlorida State University for the most consecutive winning seasons (32). In that season, EKU finished 5–6. Eastern returned to the FCS Playoffs in the 2011 season, in which it lost to #17 James Madison 20–17 in the opening round. The Colonels have won 20Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) titles and two FCS (formerly I-AA) National Championships, in 1979 and 1982. Much of Eastern Kentucky's success came during the long tenure of head coachRoy Kidd, who led the team from 1964 through 2002. The program has continued its success under more recent coachesDanny Hope andDean Hood.
In 2022,sprint football, a variant played under standard NCAA football rules but with a strictly enforced weight limit of 178 pounds (81 kg) (also with a minimum of 5% body fat), came to Kentucky with the establishment of the Midwest Sprint Football League. Two of the six charter MSFL members are theBellarmine Knights andMidway Eagles.
In 2004, theNew ABA added a Louisville-based team called theKentucky Colonels, which was replaced by a team inMurray, Kentucky in 2007.[13] That team was originally also named theKentucky Colonels, but the name was changed to theKentucky Retros in March 2007 in deference to the tradition of the Louisville-based teams.[14] The team eventually announced that they would relocate to Louisville.[15] The team folded during the 2007–08 season.Pikeville, Kentucky was also home to pro basketball in the 2007–2008 season, with theEast Kentucky Miners joining theContinental Basketball Association.[16] But they met the same fate and folded sometime between 2009 and 2010.
The state's first top-level professional team since the demise of the Colonels isRacing Louisville FC, an expansion team in theNational Women's Soccer League that began play in 2021. The NWSL team is owned byLouisville City FC, which has played in the second-level men's league now known as theUSL Championship (USLC) since 2015. Asecond top-level professional team, one of two women's teams operated byLexington SC, started play in 2024 as one of the eight inaugural members of theUSL Super League (USLS), which shares Division I status in the US women's soccer system with the NWSL.
The state is home to several minor league sports teams:
The aforementioned Louisville City FC began play in the USLC in 2015, when the competition was known as the United Soccer League. They were the reserve team forOrlando City SC ofMajor League Soccer in that season, but the affiliation ended when Orlando City announced plans to field a team-operated reserve side,Orlando City B, in the USL starting in 2016. Since then, "LouCity" have won twoUSL Cups in 2017 and 2018, advanced to the Cup final in 2019 and 2022, and were Regular Season runners-up in 2015, 2016, and 2017.
Lexington SC started play in 2023 with two sides—a men's team inUSL League One, one of several third-tier men's leagues, and a women's team in the developmentalUSL W League. The men's team will move to the USLC in 2025. As noted above, the USLS women's team began play in 2024.
^On-site replacement of a 1924 stadium of the same name.
^Fixed capacity; various picnic and grass seating areas bring the full capacity to over 9,000.
^Preferred mailing address is Louisville. Middletown is one of the 83 cities that retained their city limits following the 2003 merger of the governments of Louisville and surrounding Jefferson County.
^Physically located in Draffenville; mailing address inBenton.
^Originally a basketball arena; reconfigured as volleyball-specific after the opening of CFSB Center.
^Physically located in Summit; mailing address inAshland.
^Physically located in Rosspoint; mailing address inBaxter.
^Physically located on the Tennessee side of the Fort Campbell Army post; all mailing addresses on the post are in Kentucky.
^Although Fort Campbell High School physically lies in Tennessee, it is a member of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, presumably because the U.S.Department of Defense Education Activity administers schools on Fort Campbell andFort Knox (the latter entirely within Kentucky) as parts of a single district.
^The playing field is bisected by the Flatwoods/Russell city boundary, with the main grandstand in Flatwoods. The mailing address is in Russell.
^Physically located in Cannonsburg; mailing address inAshland.
^Physically located in an unincorporated area of Pike County with a Pikeville mailing address.
^The KHSAA lists both Christian County and Hopkinsville High Schools as tenants of the Stadium of Champions, but the two schools' entries disagree on the capacity. The Christian County entry gives 5,000 and the Hopkinsville entry 15,000. It is more likely that the Hopkinsville entry is in error.
Sports teams based inKentucky
