Kentucky Wildcats Tickets

Kentucky Wildcats
The men's and women's athletic teams representing the University of Kentucky (UK) are called the Kentucky Wildcats. They are the founding member of the Southeastern Conference. Women's teams and athletes were called "Lady Kats" at one time but the nickname "Wildcats" was adopted by the women's programs in the early 1990s.

The UK athletic program sponsors many teams. These teams include football, men's & women's basketball, women's volleyball, baseball, softball, men's & women's cross country, men's & women's swimming/diving, women's gymnastics (known as the GymKats), men's & women's soccer, men's & women's track & field (indoor & outdoor), men's & women's golf, men's & women's tennis, and the coeducational sport of rifle.

As the SEC does not sponsor that sport for men, the men's soccer team competes in Conference USA.

The University of Kentucky cheerleaders have the honor of winning the UCA Division I-A Cheerleading Championship 15 times, more than any other school.

UK has some of the most loyal fans in the country. The E-Rupp-tion Zone has been added to the recent renovation to Rupp Arena. During basketball games, the E-Rupp-tion Zone is a popular place for students

Basketball:
Having earned a total of seven NCAA titles, the University of Kentucky men's basketball team is considered one of the elite NCAA basketball programs.

Four different coaches have contributed in winning the seven titles for the team. Adolph Rupp in 1948, 1949, 1951 and 1958; Joe B. Hall in 1978; Rick Pitino in 1996; and Tubby Smith in 1998. Kentucky is second only to UCLA who has 11 National Championships.

Men's college basketball program
Men's college basketball program of the University of Kentucky (UK) is the winningest in the nation.The Wildcats have a total of 1948 wins through the completion of the 2006 NCAA basketball tournament on 04/03/07. UK's Rupp Arena has attained legendary status as one of the most difficult venues in the country in which opponents must play. Billy Gillispie is the current coach of the team.

Football
As a member of the football-heavy SEC, many of the top college football programs in the nation are competed by them. Commonwealth Stadium is the venue of their game. It replaced Stoll Field in 1973.

Paul "Bear" Bryant remained Kentucky's head football coach for eight seasons.Under Bryant the Wildcats won the 1947 Great Lakes Bowl, lost the 1950 Orange Bowl, won the 1951 Sugar Bowl and the 1952 Cotton Bowl.

The Wildcats were ranked #11 in 1949, #7 in 1950, #15 in 1951, #20 in 1952 and #16 in 1953 in final AP polls.

Blanton Collier was the last Wildcats football coach to leave Lexington with a winning record during his tenure at UK. He was fired after the 1961 season.

Baseball
The baseball program has historically achieved only modest success at best. It is partly hampered by being the northernmost school in the heavily warm-weather SEC. At the turn of the 21st century, Wildcats baseball hit bottom with only one winning season from 1997 through 2004, and last-place finishes in the SEC East division in every season from 2001 through 2005.

After the retirement of longtime coach Keith Madison, Florida assistant John Cohen was hired as head coach by Kentucky in 2003. Cohen was successful in leading the Cats to a winning overall season in 2005.

The Cats enjoyed the Cinderella season in 2006. They literally went from worst to first in the SEC. During the season, they were successful in winning a regular-season conference title for the first time in three decades, and being ranked as high as fourth in the country by one major baseball poll.

Cheerleading
The University of Kentucky cheerleaders have the honor of winning the UCA Division I-A Cheerleading Championship 15 times, more than any other school. They are the only school to win more than two consecutive championships.They have also the distinction of being the only school to win consecutive championships on multiple occasions, having done so three times (1987-1988, 1995-2002, and 2004-2006).

Championships in 1985, 1987, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2006 have been won by them. Since the existence of the UCA National College Championships, they have also placed second four times, and have finished in the top ten every year.

The squad has been featured on the "CBS Evening News", Connie Chung's "Eye to Eye", and the "CBS Morning Show", NBC's The Today Show, in "Southern Living" and Gentlemen's Quarterly, "ESPN the Magazine", and "Seventeen" magazines.