Please retell the Joe B Hall story

[KYNomad]

Looking for as much information as possible here; I wanted a cobbled together account of information anyone has to share about Joe B Hall’s time as Kentucky’s coach. His time was before my time. My fandom started with Pitino. I don’t t know much about Hall’s time captaining the program.

How was it decided that Rupp’s time was over and how was Joe chosen; who else was in the running? What was the fanbase’s reaction to the change? What were people saying during the time of Hall? Did he meet expectations? Were his teams consistently competitive? What were rivalries like during that time? Why was Hall replaced? How did the fans initially feel about Sutton?

[40bill]

Coach Rupp did not leave willingly, and JB took plenty of heat.he considered himself a caretaker (his words). His two main assistants were Dickie Parsons and Leonard Hamilton.
coach Hall used a 1 3 1 zone as a main defense. He was loyal to a fault with most of his players and would not allow freshman interviews for the most and never allow the press to interview a player that was struggling. He could have had three titles except for the Wooden retirement and the meltdown against Georgetown where NO ONE could shoot.
he said once he thought his 77 team was better than the 78 team, but that was the game North Carolina went into a stall that drove every UK fan insane.
Joe B wasn't flashy, but I think he may have been the classiest man ever to coach at Kentucky....bar none.

[Catsrock]

Joe B was the coach of my childhood. My grow to love the program years. Were his teams consistently competitive? Obviously we didn’t win it all ever year—but I always felt we had a good shot. I grew up expecting us to win every conference game by 25. And we did frequently—whether on TV or the radio.

[EKYCat]

Joe B was before my time, but, the guy followed THE GUY. That's tough to do, and he did it with 3 Elite Eights and 3 Final Fours including a title in 13 seasons. 6 of the 13 seasons he was here they went to the Elite 8 or better! Plus the guy just loved the program.

[South jones]

If memory serves me correctly, Joe was one of Rupps assistants and was in.line for the head coaches position
RUPP was being let go because of the mandatory retirement age limit of 70. Something was going on internally within the dept and Joe was set to take the head coach position.at St Louis University. Anyway Joe came back and was hired as the new head coach at the University of Kentucky.


"Now you know the rest.of the story."

[Jeffky62]

Joe was a strikler, he was innovative on his approach to weight lifting . He made his team wear ties and suits . He played a boring style of ball, if you took a bad shot you were benched immediately. Looking back Joe did a hell of a job replacing rupp (legend)and he recruited extremely well, but like CAL, alot of missed opportunities came his way . Average coach would be my conclusion .

[South jones]

Funny story about Joe B.
Joe's offense was about getting the ball inside to his big men. He wasn't fond of taking a lot of outside shots.
after he retired from UK, he took a job at a bank
the running joke at that time was that Joe's bank would be robbed many times because he wouldn't let the guards shoot.

[Cawood86]

He was an asst and former player at UK. He came in and immediately started recruiting black players. Rupp had tried before but things were ugly in the 60s and early 70s.

Rupp was an innovator in conditioning and the 1 3 1 zone. He also started Midnight Madness. Parsons and Leonard Hamilton were excellent assistants. Hall was an excellent coach but an even better person. His ability to elevate the program after Rupp is what kept UK relevant until today.

[Catgrad7072]

Joe B., the early years. It's a long article with pictures. GBB

https://bullittcountyhistory.org/bchistory/jbh.html

[KCKUKFan]

The only thing I know about him as a coach is what my dad has told me, and it's mostly unflattering.

The truth, clearly, is different, so it's nice to hear another side of his tenure.

[PrisonMike]

Hall was a better coach when Dickie Parsons was on the bench.

[Catsrock]

Funny story about Joe B.
Joe's offense was about getting the ball inside to his big men. He wasn't fond of taking a lot of outside shots.
after he retired from UK, he took a job at a bank
the running joke at that time was that Joe's bank would be robbed many times because he wouldn't let the guards shoot.

True. Troy McKinley couldn’t miss from the corner. But it was worth no more than a Bowie or Turpin dunk back then.

[largebluej]

Hall was a better coach when Dickie Parsons was on the bench.

I’ve always said the same thing. Including at the time it was happening.

[Pobilly]

One of my favorite stories is when Joe B. hired people to guard Mel Turpin (dinner bell Mel) door to make sure he was not breaking his diet. Mel ended up getting students to bring food to the back and would hoist it up to his window in a pail. That one always gets me.

[blueheretic]

1 NCAA national championship in 1978
3 Final Fours
8 Southeastern Conference regular season titles

He also ended Bobby Knight and Indiana's "undefeated season" in 1975 to reach his first Final Four.

10 years

Succeeded a legend which is exceedingly difficult and rarely successful.

I met him a couple of times and was fortunate enough to actually spend a little bit of time talking to him but, mostly, just listening to him. Dude was a gentleman. One of the nicest humans whom I've ever met.


Good read.

https://www.amazon.com/Coach-Hall-Life-Off-Court-ebook/dp/B07SSJK9YR