A look back at former Kentucky head coach Bear Bryant
Tennessee and Kentucky are longtime Southeastern Conference rivals.
The all-time football series between the Volunteers and Wildcats dates back to 1893. The two schools will rekindle its rivalry Saturday at Kroger Field in Lexington.
Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. EDT and the game will be televised by ESPN2.
Saturday’s contest will mark the 117th meeting with UT holding an 81-26 advantage in the all-time series. The schools have played to nine ties.
Kentucky was once coached by Paul “Bear” Bryant.
Bryant, who played end at Alabama, opposite of Hall of Famer Don Hutson, served as the Wildcats head coach between 1946-53, leading Kentucky to its only outright SEC championship in 1950. Kentucky was also crowned as national champions that year by Sagarin Ratings. The Wildcats went 10-1 and beat Oklahoma, 13-7, in the Sugar Bowl. Their only loss came to the Vols that season, with UT prevailing, 7-0.
While in Lexington, Bryant beat Tennessee only once. In 1953, the Wildcats downed the Vols, 27-21.
Bryant would hold the upper hand against Tennessee later in his career as head coach at Alabama, posting a 17-7-2 record against the Vols.
Bryant was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986 after winning 323 games.
He began his coaching career in Tennessee as an assistant at Union College in 1936.
Bryant was later an assistant at Alabama (1936-40), Vanderbilt (1940-41), Georgia Pre-Flight (1942) and North Carolina Pre-Flight (1944). He landed his first head coaching job at Maryland in 1945, guiding the Terrapins to a 6-2-1 record.
Bryant was head coach at Kentucky from 1946-53 before becoming head coach and athletics director at Texas A&M (1954-57).
Bryant was the Crimson Tide’s head coach and athletics director, serving as head coach between 1958-82. At the time of his death in 1983, he was Alabama’s athletics director.
During his career, Bryant won six national championships as a coach and one as a player. He was a 12-time SEC Coach of the Year and won 14 SEC titles.
He also won a Southwestern Conference championship with the Aggies in 1956.
