UK Basketball: Sean Woods Is Still Unforgettable

That picture brings back memories, does it not? Sean Woods, doing the improbable, forging himself as one of the true heroes of the most storied program in all of college basketball. He made the shot that SHOULD have propelled Kentucky into the 1992 Final Four. Time after time as a Wildcat he defied the odds and now stands as one of the Unforgettables, not because of the amazing accomplishments that he had at UK, although they would have been enough, but because he helped to grab the program by it’s bootstraps and regain it’s dignity and rightful place among the elite programs in college basketball.

The names of Woods, Pelphrey, Farmer, and Feldhaus stir the blood of any True Blue Fan. You cannot help but be brought almost to tears in remembrance of what those young men, along with another by the name of Jamal Mashburn, did to restore the luster to a tarnished and shamed UK. Funny thing was, he was not even from Kentucky. He was from our rivals home to the north, Indiana. Surely only a Kentucky kid could have accomplished what he did, right? But Woods had a knack for taking the instructions from a then young and firey Rick Pitino and making them work on the court. He was never a spectacular player, just a hard working, blue-collar, no-nonsense guy who’s biggest award was the 1992 NCAA All-Region team, until he was forever enshrined as one of the Unforgettables by the UK fans.

His professional career is much like his college one, all blue-collar, no recognition type work. He spent a short stint in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers, then worked hard at running basketball camps that produced the likes of Antoine Walker and Tony Delk. His coaching career has been places such as High Point, Texas A&M-Corpus Christie, and TCU before getting his shot at the top chair at Mississippi Valley State.

So what does Sean have to do at MVSU? He has to rebuild again. So, he schedules the toughest teams in the land, has only nine games at home, and is doing everything possible to put funding back into a basketball program that is bleeding from every possible port. The roof of their school’s gymnasium leaked onto their basketball court. Not their practice court, mind you, but their game court (they only have one). So, they had a roof to fix first. After the roof was repaired, they learned that the floor would have to be replaced. No big deal, right? Just have someone bring in a new one. But at Mississippi Valley State University, there is no Big Blue Nation demanding that the powers-that-be rally to the cause. There is only Woods.

Scraping, scratching, and even clawing his way through a nightmare of a schedule to raise enough money just to keep his facilities going, even in the face of a State that is looking to possibly close and merge the school with others in the area. Sean Woods is doing what he always does, and making all of the tough moves and putting his school first, in front of his own needs. Woods was an assistant at TCU before going to MVSU, so he knows what it is like to participate in a decently funded program even as a coach. But there is no Wildcat Coal Lodge at MVSU for his players. There is no Joe Craft Center for his kids to practice at. No state-of-the-art training facilities for his medical staff ( I am not even sure there is a medical staff).

I spoke to Sean back in September about what he was facing this year, and how he was going to prepare his guys for what was going to be a bone crushing run of games, which is more of a fund-raising tour than a out of conference schedule. Woods will manage to bring in over 700K for his program, and surely that will be enough to get them back on their feet, right? Well, yes, and no. The basketball program had to generate right at 500K just to break even and not go into debt, before the first game was played. They don’t have big money alumni or big name grads to help with fund raising, so it all must be paid from game guarantee revenues. So, for all of their hard work, mega travel miles, and sometimes humiliating defeats at the hands of UK, Indiana, Butler, Arkansas, Georgia (although they only lost by 1 to Georgia at Georgia), they get 150-200K to spend on all of their expenses for the year, such as paying for that travel, and any other bills that pop up. MVSU’s basketball program carries the load for the school’s athletics department as well. And on top of all of that, Sean managed to sign the nation’s 85th ranked recruiting class this past year. Not much if you are UK, but for MVSU, it is almost working miracles.

Sean told me when we spoke that he is doing everything in his power to breathe life into a program that could easily be crippled under the weight that it carries. And when we spoke, I promised him that I would do everything in my power to make the Big Blue Nation aware of his plight. I inserted a quick blog back in September over at A Sea Of Blue, and I want to make sure this gets out to all who will read and respond. Sean Woods gave his all to UK in his time here. He could have easily left and gone elsewhere when trouble struck, but he chose UK. He chose the hard road then, and he chooses it now. It is said that effort in the face of difficulty builds character. It gives a man a foundation on which to live his life. If indeed that is the case, Sean Woods should have enough foundation and character to build lives from now until the day comes when he can no longer coach. I am asking the Big Blue Nation to flex it’s oversized muscles and help out a man who is doing more with less than any coach in the nation. And he is doing it the right way. If anyone who reads this is willing to help, I have contact info for Sean that I will be glad to provide, and there is also contact info in the Sea Of Blue piece as well.

And when MVSU rolls its scrapping, well-coached, young and tough team into Rupp Arena Saturday night, to take what will be another in a line of undeserved poundings for the sake of funding their school, try and remember that they are doing something that most folks would see as a lost cause. But then again, Sean Woods believes in lost causes. That’s what makes him an Unforgettable.

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