C.M. Newton, who restored Kentucky’s athletic program to glory and before that coached basketball at Alabama and Vanderbilt died last night at age 88. The Rockwood, TN native hired Rick Pitino and later the first African American basketball coach at Kentucky in Tubby Smith and the first African American female as women’s basketball coach in Bernadette Maddox.
He continued his work after retiring as UK’s athletics director in 1999 by serving as a basketball consultant for the SEC and helped coordinate the NIT once it was acquired by the NCAA.
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