Coach Hall: My Life on and Off the Court

Until I was nine or ten, everyone called me Joe or Joe Hall. Then one day my grandmother, for reasons known only to her, pulled me aside and told me my name was "too short and too plain." She said, "Let's add your middle initial to make it more interesting. From now on, you say your name is Joe B., not just Joe. It's Joe B. Hall."

Joe B. Hall is one of only three men to both play on an NCAA championship team (1949, Kentucky) and coach an NCAA championship team (1978, Kentucky), and the only one to do so for the same school. In this riveting memoir, Hall presents intimate details about his remarkable life on and off the court. He reveals never-before-heard stories about memorable players, coaches, and friends and expresses the joys and fulfillments of his rewarding life and career. During his thirteen years as head coach at the University of Kentucky, from 1972 to 1985, Joe B. Hall led the team to 297 victories. The most memorable of these is the 1978 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. This legendary coach followed in the colossal footsteps of Adolph Rupp but ultimately found his own path to success, becoming one of college basketball's all-time greats.

Joe B. Hall was head coach of the University of Kentucky's men's basketball team from 1972 to 1985. He had previously coached at Central Missouri State University and Regis University and served as UK's assistant coach under Adolph Rupp. In the 1978 NCAA tournament, he coached the Wildcats to their fifth NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship. He was named National Coach of the Year in 1978 and Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year on four different occasions. His record at UK was 297–100, and 373–156 over his career. Marianne Walker is a retired professor of English and philosophy at Henderson Community College. She is the author of Margaret Mitchell and John Marsh: The Love Story Behind Gone With the Wind and The Graves County Boys: A Tale of Kentucky Basketball, Perseverance, and the Unlikely Championship of the Cuba Cubs.