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Kentucky and The National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame announced today that they will jointly honor 2024 College Football Hall of Fame electee Tim Couch with an NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute, presented by Fidelity Investments®. The Salute will take place this Saturday, Sept. 14, during the Wildcats’ home football game against Georgia, which will kick off at 7:30 p.m. ET on ABC/ESPN+.
“Tim Couch wasn’t just a great player at Kentucky; he was a game-changer who shattered records and redefined what was possible in the SEC,” said NFF President & CEO Steve Hatchell. “Helping launch the “Air Raid” offense at Kentucky, Couch left an indelible mark, setting seven NCAA records and leading the Wildcats to several historic wins. We are thrilled for the opportunity to honor him at Kroger Field as a member of the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class.”
The NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salute program, which began with the inaugural College Football Hall of Fame Class in 1951, has become a hallowed tradition, and to this day the singular events remain the first of numerous activities in the Hall of Fame experience.
During the NFF Hall of Fame On-Campus Salutes, each electee returns to his respective school to accept a Hall of Fame plaque that will stay on permanent display at the institution. The events take place on the field during a home game, and many Hall of Famers cite the experience as the ultimate capstone to their careers, providing them one more chance to take the field and be recognized in front of their home crowd.
Couch was a consensus First Team All-American in 1998. He claimed SEC Player of the Year honors and finishing fourth in Heisman balloting.
The Hayden, Kentucky product now becomes the sixth Kentucky player to enter the Hall, joining Bob Gain (1947-50), Babe Parilli (1949-51), Steve Meilinger (1951-53), Lou Michaels (1955-57), and Art Still (1974-77). Hall of Fame coaches who headed the Kentucky program include Paul “Bear” Bryant and Jerry Claiborne.
The 2024 class includes Justin Blackmon (Oklahoma State), the late Paul Cameron (UCLA), Tim Couch (Kentucky), Warrick Dunn (Florida State), Armanti Edwards (Appalachian State), Deon Figures (Colorado), Larry Fitzgerald (Pittsburgh), Toby Gerhart (Stanford), Dan Hampton (Arkansas), Steve Hutchinson (Michigan), Antonio Langham (Alabama), Randy Moss (Marshall), Julius Peppers (North Carolina), Paul Posluszny (Penn State), Dewey Selmon (Oklahoma), Alex Smith (Utah), Kevin Smith (Texas A&M), Chris Ward (Ohio State), Danny Woodhead (Chadron State [NE]), and coaches Mark Dantonio (Cincinnati, Michigan State); Danny Hale (West Chester [PA], Bloomsburg [PA]); and Frank Solich (Nebraska, Ohio).
The 2024 College Football Hall of Fame Class will be officially inducted at the National Football Foundation’s 66th Annual Awards Dinner presented by Las Vegas on Tuesday Dec. 10 at the Bellagio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. Click here for more information on the Awards Dinner, including options to purchase tickets online, special travel rates to the event from Delta Air Lines and hotel rates at Bellagio.
Including the 2024 Hall of Fame Class, only 1,093 players and 233 coaches have been inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame from the nearly 5.78 million who have played or coached the game during the past 156 years. In other words, less than two one-hundredths of a percent (.02%) of the individuals who have played the game have earned this distinction.
5 Responses
The timing is too typical of historically low level UK FB performances. It would be best if UK forfeits the UGA game, and brings in the game planned for the HS FB team which a VV poster recently lauded for beating a top notch HS FB team in Ohio, and have a happy crowd to celebrate Tim Couch day.
Tim Couch – incredible player. I saw him toss 7 TD’s in a blowout win to set one of his records.
I think I would have picked a different game to present this honor…like maybe the Ohio game.
Absolutely. A no-brainer decision.
Agreed—a no-brainer decision and selection, and a much-deserved honor for a generational player and game-changer for not only KY but college football in general. But I also agree with the other posters that this honor will be the only thing we will probably have to cheer about on Saturday–what a rough spot on the schedule for this game and what a rough game for this honor. But I will never forget that era of KY Football when Couch came in–i was in high school during that run of KY football, and the KY BBALL DYNASTY with Pitino and Tubby, so i was at a great age range to enjoy a very memorable and historic time for both UK BBALL & FBALL–3 straight Final Fours and natl title games, with titles # 6 & 7 for BBALL, then Tim Couch signing with KY when Bill Curry was still the coach when everybody was afraid he would choose to go to TN. First, I will never forget listening to the 1996 UK/FLA football game on the radio with my Dad when Curry had Couch out there running the option, and we lost 65-0—and my father was saying "what in GOD’S name are they trying to do with Couch?" And I think that particular game and what the coaches were doing with Couch is really what led to Curry losing his job, because the crazy thing about that season was the administration gave Curry his pink slip before the season was over because it had been so horrible, and there were still 3 games on the schedule left to be played, and KY proceeded to go win all 3 of them in a row to end the season after Curry had been fired–and one of those wins came against GA if i am not mistaken, and the other two were Vandy and maybe Miss St,but I cant remember for sure. I think they only finished with 4 wins that year at most, but I definitely remember those last 3 at the end because of all the talk of it happening after Curry had already been told he would be let go at season’s end. Anyway, that set the stage for two of the most entertaining years in KY FB history–1997 and 1998–and as crazy as it sounds now, this was still back in the days where most of KY FB games were not shown on TV. So Couch’s era at KY definitely played a role in the expansion of media and TV at that time too–it was at the turning point already —but Couch and Mumme coming in and doing what they did those two yrs definitely helped to get more UK games on live TV at the time than there probably would have been. At that time, the majority of UK FB games that were televised were done so on a delayed basis –they would be shown at 11:35 PM on Sat nights if they didn’t make the live cut for that particular week. I’m showing my age there! But I have so many memories from 1997 and 1998 UK FB—and in alot of ways, even though they didn’t make a bowl that first season, it might have been the most fun of the two because everything u saw was so new and so unexpected. To come out and make a statement in the season opening game against LOU, and to not only win by 14, but to watch that offense operate and see what they could do with the ball, was, at the time, unbelievable. If those teams had just had defenses anything close to Stoops’ best defensive teams, UK would have been a top-10 team at the time. But that first season, they score 38 on LOU, 49 at IU, and then the topper–and the first UK FB game I ever saw in person: 40-34 over Alabama in OT, the first win over BAMA in 75 yrs, with the goalposts coming down and running out onto the field–those are moments in life u don’t ever forget. But that was the game that put UK football, Couch, and Mumme truly on the national map– and that 1998 season was very special as well: a 68-34 blowout over LOU in the first game played at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, and the most points ever scored in that stadium, along with the first road win over a ranked SEC opponent for the first time since the 70’s, when they went down to Baton Rouge and kicked a FG at the buzzer for a 3-pt win and a rare night win at Tiger Stadium. Those two years with Couch brought alot of history, and record-breaking, and I was blessed to be able to see some of it in person. Congrats to Tim Couch, and thank you for being really the very first one to put UK FB back on the map, because those two years set the stage and opened the door for what was to come in the future with everything Rich Brooks and Mark Stoops have been able to accomplish here. Brooks had two or three seasons of an offense very similar to that original Air Raid with Andre Woodson, Keenan Burton, Stevie Johnson, Rafael Little–he ended up bringing in a high-octane offense and teams with always very solid defenses who were good at creating turnovers, and made some history of his own with wins over #1 LSU, #9 LOU, and two wins over GA. There should have been at least one win over FLA and/or TN in Brooks’ time here–especially the 2007 game against TN that I saw in person and truly believed was going to be the third "goal-post" win of that season, and it should have been–a crushing, heartbreaking, 52-50 loss in 4 OT’s…… But Brooks’ career at KY was highly successful, especially considering he had to completely rebuild the program from scraps, and I don’t think he gets enough credit or remembrance from our fans for what he accomplished here–he ended up building a bowl-streak of his own once he got the program fully rebuilt–4 in a row, with 3 straight wins, along with historic SEC wins for the program, and 4 straight wins over LOU–and he managed to accomplish one thing that Stoops has not, except for the 2021 season: Brooks had an offense that could MOVE THE BALL THROUGH THE AIR!!! And he accomplished all that without having the resources that Stoops and the program have today in the SEC. Other than Levis’s first season in 2021, Stoops has never had a QB, or an OC who were able to figure out a way together to MOVE THE BALL THROUGH THE AIR!!! like, how hard is it? Its like we are the only team in the country who can’t figure out how to do that. I still say Stoops’ best coaching job was in 2019 with winning 8 games and a bowl game with a wide receiver playing QB. That’s the only type offense that he has shown capable of being able to figure out how to run. At this point, hell, go back to that–if your O-LINE is only capable of run-blocking and that’s the only way u can win games, then why not? Clearly, that’s the only way we are going to be able to move the ball for as long as Stoops is the coach. U got a transfer QB from GA and a veteran offensive line with guys out there who have already played 4,5,6,7 yrs–and some good young talent at running backs–and u can’t even score one touchdown against SCAR—-I mean, there’s just nothing else to say at that point……..
Great post Jim
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