Kentucky Building on Success

Kentucky Coach Jerry Claiborne taught his football team how to win but he says it will be difficult to continue the Wildcats’ recent successes.

“It’s much tougher to maintain a program than it is to get up there,” Claiborne said. “It’s easier to have a couple of winning seasons when you haven’t had them, because you can slip up on people.”

The Wildcats were 9-3 last year and defeated Wisconsin in the Hall of Fame Bowl to finish 19th in the Associated Press poll.

Claiborne told the Southeastern Conference football media convention recently that when he came to Kentucky, “I think we had one guy who could bench press 400 pounds and Auburn had 24.

“We probably have eight or 10 now, so it takes time to build up strength and time to build mental attitude to the point where a team feels like it’s going to win each time it goes onto the field.”

Claiborne said the Wildcats are improving on those aspects, “but when you look at tradition, it’s the same five, six or seven teams in the SEC that are playing bowl games and they are among the better teams in the country.”

“You can have a good football team in this league and be seventh or eighth,” he said.

One of Claiborne’s goals is a broadening of Kentucky’s recruiting base.

“We need to go into Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida and get some of their best players to come to Kentucky,” he said. “I think that’s our big problem right now, maintaining a program and having the facilities to attract top athletes from other states.”

High on the list of Claiborne’s priorities is the construction of a football training center. There are published reports that the university will soon announce a $1 million donation from Ervin Nutter, an Xenia, Ohio, businessman and former national president of the university’s alumni association. The $2.5 million center is expected to be named after Nutter.

Claiborne is predicting that fan enthusiasm at Kentucky will be the strongest it’s been since the 1950s.