Coronavirus has clouded the future of college football, forcing fans and reporters alike to look back into the sport’s past. After months of watching and reliving games from recent memory, reporters have dug even deeper into the first successful era of Kentucky football with Bear Bryant leading the way in the late 40s and early 50s.
Bryant’s success at Kentucky was unprecedented and has yet to be replicated, but not every move he made in Lexington was the right one. While digging through historical archives, Cats Illustrated’s Justin Rowland unearthed an unusual article. Just days after Kentucky won the 1952 Cotton Bowl, capping off three straight seasons that ended in the Orange, Sugar and Cotton Bowls, respectively, Bryant announced a dramatic shift in the program’s philosophy.