Oct. 2, 2003
By Todd Wallace * Host Communications
Los Angeles and Lexington – two cities that couldn’t be more different. One is the second-most populous city in the United States. The other has less than 300,000 citizens.
One has two professional basketball teams within its limits. The other has to drive more than an hour to reach its closest major league franchise.
In fact, the only similarity between these two cities, which lie on opposite ends of the country, might be their unmatched collegiate basketball success.
Yet despite all these dissimilarities, lifetime Southern Californian Ron Caragher decided to make the trip across the country to make Lexington his home.
His reason – Rich Brooks. And since making the move, Caragher has enjoyed almost every minute of his stay.
“Well, I was excited to be a part of coach Brooks’ staff and excited to be a part of the University of Kentucky,” Caragher, who was a former assistant coach at UCLA said. “I’ve had some friends that have worked here and spoken so highly of the University and of the Lexington community.
“So my wife and family and I were excited to come to this part of the country and we’ve been pleased. The people have been very kind and receptive and reaching out toward us.”
The only complaint that the native Californian has is … “I could do without a couple of the ice storms and trade those in for a couple of sunny days,” he said. “But other than that it has been fun.”
Caragher’s journey to Lexington was an unusual one. Because of a Bruins’ away game at Oregon State, he met Brooks. The former Oregon State assistant was being honored, along with the rest of his coaching staff for a past successful season.
“He was part of a coaching staff interesting enough that beat No. 1 ranked USC, No. 2 ranked Purdue and I believe they tied No. 3 ranked UCLA,” Caragher said. “So he came to the UCLA team hotel the night before and I met him in passing and conversed with him. And that worked out not knowing what would happen six months later.”
What happened during those months was UK’s former head coach Guy Morriss making a sudden decision to head to Baylor, leaving Kentucky without a football coach. Once the dust settled and Brooks had been hired, Caragher was brought on board also.
However, as if a move from Los Angeles to Lexington wasn’t enough, Caragher had some more adapting to do. The former receivers and special teams coach at UCLA was going to try out a new position at UK – running backs. While the transition from wide receivers coach to running backs coach might seem like an easy one, Caragher said there are very few similarities between the two.
“As a receivers coach you really only deal with the passing game and your receivers blocking,” Caragher said. “And then on the flip side of things as a running backs coach, you really only deal with the running game other than your backs getting out on a few routes and screens and things.”
Despite the change in cities and the change in jobs, Caragher has nothing but positive things to say about his short experience in Lexington.
The thing he has been most impressed with while in Central Kentucky has been the loyal fans of Kentucky athletics.
“My first impression of UK supporting athletics was going to a basketball game and just the support of the fans staying till the very end of the game,” Caragher said. “And then also the football games, the excitement, the talk … even in the off-season, the radio talk shows and the coverage during spring practice.
“The excitement that people have for UK athletics, that is probably the biggest impression that I have had being in this area.”
His impression of the young Kentucky running backs core also has been a good one.
After the graduation of all-SEC back Artose Pinner, the Cats had some questions heading into the season about their running game. While no back has singled himself out as a star in the making quite yet, there is plenty of potential between the trio of backs – Draak Davis, Alexis Bwenge and Arliss Beach – who have been splitting time.
“I think it is a good group,” Caragher said. “They’re all young and we knew that coming into the season. Really none of them had any experience playing in games.
“But they all will not only be back next year, but back for two years … so with continued work and getting better, we’ll be alright.”
At this point in the season, the strength of the running backs is their versatility as a group.
“A guy like Alexis can play fullback and play tailback,” Caragher said. “A guy like Arliss can be a one-back guy or in two-back sets. Draak Davis as well. He can be a tailback or in a one-back set.
“And I think that all of those guys are flexible and they all have a good demeanor to them about the game. They all want to help the team in any way they can.”
It is fitting that the greatest strength of the running backs is their flexibility, a word Caragher has become quite familiar with during the past year. However, if they are anything like their coach, adapting to the offense and to collegiate football on the go shouldn’t be a problem.
After all, it couldn’t be any more challenging than moving from L.A. to Lexington.
