| Wins against Kentucky - 10 | Losses against Kentucky - 32 |
Alma Mater: Kentucky [1952]
Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date Born: February 2, 1930
Date Died: June 4, 2018
Overall Record: 509-375 [32 Seasons]
[Former UK Player and Future UK Athletic Director]
Obituary - Louisville Courier-Journal (June 4, 2018)
Basketball Icon and UK Great C.M. Newton Dies at Age 88
by Jon Hale and Fletcher Page
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Legendary former University of Kentucky athletic director C.M. Newton died Monday at the age of 88.
A UK spokesman confirmed the news.
A member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Newton left a major impact across college sports as a player, coach and administrator. The Rockwood, Tennessee native integrated the basketball programs as coach at Transylvania University and the University of Alabama and while athletic director at Kentucky, Newton hired Tubby Smith, the first African-American basketball coach in program history.
"I was not a social reformer," Newton said after being elected to the Hall of Fame in 2000. "I was a basketball coach. In some ways maybe I was a little naive about that. To me, it was just the right thing to do now. It was kind of a no-brainer, really."
A three-sport star at Fort Lauderdale High School in Florida, Newton lettered on Kentucky's 1951 national championship basketball team and pitched for the UK baseball team.
"He was a great athlete and a real good guy," said former UK basketball coach Joe B. Hall, a teammate of Newton's at UK. "He got along with everybody real well. Everybody liked C.M."
Newton briefly pitched in the New York Yankees' minor league system while beginning his coaching career at Transylvania, where he led the basketball, baseball, tennis and soccer programs.
At Transylvania, Newton recruited the program's first African-American men's basketball player and led the basketball program to its first-ever postseason appearance in 1962-63.
He was hired as the basketball coach at Alabama in 1968. In Tuscaloosa, Newton won three straight Southeastern Conference titles from 1974-76, signed Wendell Hudson, the program's first African-American player, and won the SEC Coach of the Year award in 1972 and 1976.
During a December 1973 game in Louisville, Newton started five black players in the same game for Alabama, marking the first all-black starting lineup in SEC history.
"I have asked myself this many times. Would I have had the courage to do the right thing if I was in that same position at Alabama? I don't know," UK basketball coach John Calipari wrote in a recent blog post about Newton. "But I know this. He did. What is popular isn't always right and what is right isn't always popular. That is something we can all learn from C.M."
Newton served as the chairman of the NCAA's basketball rules committee from 1977 to 1980 and 1981 to 1989, overseeing the adoption of the shot clock and 3-point shot in college basketball.
After a brief stint as assistant commissioner of the SEC, Newton was hired as basketball coach at Vanderbilt in 1981. He won SEC Coach of the Year twice more (in 1988 and 1989) and helped reestablish a relationship between the program and former Commodore Perry Wallace, the SEC's first African-American basketball player.
"When you think of vision, leadership and action (on the issues of race and sports in the South), he really does stand above all the rest," Wallace told The Undefeated for a 2016 story on Newton's impact in the SEC.
Newton served as an assistant coach for the United States gold medal team at the 1984 Olympics and helped construct the "Dream Team" as president of USA Basketball from 1992 to 1996.
In 1989, Kentucky hired Newton as its athletic director in the midst of a basketball recruiting scandal that would eventually place the program on probation.
"It's the most difficult career decision I've ever made in my life," Newton said after he was hired. "When I told my kids I was staying at Vanderbilt, I meant it. But a combination of things changed my mind: Kentucky convinced me I was needed, and that I was wanted in a very important time.
"If the situation that exists at Kentucky wasn't there, there is no way I'd be leaving. But Dr. (David) Roselle convinced me that he wanted me to help give Kentucky the kind of athletic program I've always believed in."
As it became more apparent the basketball program was going to be charged with NCAA rules violations, Roselle, the UK president at the time, reached out to Newton to gauge his interest in the athletics director job.
Newton initially told Roselle he planned to stay at Vanderbilt but eventually agreed to meet in person.
"What I knew was that C.M. was an alum, that his reputation was outstanding as a coach and as an honest, fair man," Roselle, the UK president at the time, told Courier Journal. "He was exactly what UK needed.
"... The meeting lasted about three hours during which I became all the more certain that C.M. was the person UK needed and he decided he was willing to take on UK's problem. During the past 34 years, I have led four different organizations and have hired hundreds of people. Hiring C.M. was as important and as successful as any other."
Newton made two major hires in the men's basketball program, first picking Rick Pitino to lead the basketball program back to prominence and later hiring Smith to replace Pitino. Both coaches won national championships while Newton was athletic director.
"C.M. was one of the finest people I've ever met," Pitino said Monday night. "He was selfless and loved his alma mater. I learned a great deal from him. I was lucky to spend so much time with him in Lexington as well as Boston. He was a special husband, dad, coach and friend to so many. Our prayers are with his family."
"Coach Newton has been a mentor for me for a number of years and has guided my career from the first time I met him," Smith tweeted Monday night. "... He was a pioneer in a lot of areas, including having the courage to hire an African-American as coach at Kentucky and to recruit African-Americans at Alabama. He was a man that didn't see color and was a genuine, caring man that we'll miss dearly and that we loved dearly."
Newton also hired Bernadette Mattox, the first African-American coach for the UK women's basketball program.
His football hires were not as successful. Bill Curry was fired after compiling a 26-52 record in seven seasons and Hal Mumme, who led UK to its first New Year's Day bowl in 47 years, was fired after Newton retired in the midst of a recruiting scandal that landed the program on probation.
However, Newton oversaw the expansion of Commonwealth Stadium, the construction of Nutter Field House and helped restart the long-dormant football series with the University of Louisville. The playing field at Commonwealth Stadium was named "C.M. Newton Field" in 2000 then renamed "C.M. Newton Grounds" as part of the facility's switch to Kroger Field in 2017.
"C.M.'s arrival at UK was the stabilizing force that helped end a very forgettable time in UK basketball history," said Oscar Combs, founder of The Cats' Pause and longtime UK media member. "His 'no-nonsense' reputation with others around the nation and NCAA was as important to rebuilding the UK national image after probation as was the hiring of Rick Pitino. The fact that C.M. was a former Wildcat who once played for Adolph Rupp gave the situation even more credibility among Kentucky's fandom."
"C.M. was a very good coach," Hall said. "He became a very astute and effective athletic director. É He did a wonderful job when he was here at Kentucky at AD. I couldn't say enough good things about C.M."
Newton announced his plan to retire as UK athletic director in December 1999 then was elected to the Hall of Fame five months later as he was finishing his final weeks on the job.
"Basketball has afforded me things I could have never gotten any other way," Newton said in May 2000. "So I've tried to give something back. I assume that's what this (honor) is for, because it sure isn't because I was a great player, a great coach or a great AD. It must be a compilation of what I've given back to the sport."
