Ok Coach Pope, let’s win!

[23jumpboy]

I’m still stunned but I’m at least glad he’s a Kentucky guy who is a good x and o guy. I’ve heard gimmicks which worries me but I’ve also seen the videos about his offense which, thank God, is not the stupid dribble offense! He actually uses screens, back doors, motion going to the basket, so there’s Pope, I mean Hope.

 

[LXWildcat]

None of that matters if he can’t recruit decent recruits/transfers and that’s the biggest fear

 

[MidseasonTweak]

None of that matters if he can’t recruit decent recruits/transfers and that’s the biggest fear

He'll be able to do so now at UK.

 

[LXWildcat]

He'll be able to do so now at UK.

I’ll believe it when I see it

 

[Cawood86]

I'm all in with him. Let’s let things play out. He's a grown man. He knows full well what he's stepping into.

Duke and UNC made this same move

 

[CatsFanIL]

Hurley came from Rhode Island
Jay Wright came from Hofstra - and had NEVER won an NCAA-T game
Scott Drew came from Valpo
And none of those 3 coaches had immediate success at their new school

Sometimes a fanbase just needs to be patient, support the program, and let things play out. It doesn't need to be a homerun hire, it doesn't need to be the flashy/sexy hire, it just needs to be the RIGHT hire. None of us knows whether he's going to fail or not, so why not just go ahead and fully support Pope and the program.

 

[RMorris33]

Now that the initial shock has worn off, I'm all in. He's an excellent coach and I'm excited what he can do at UK with NIL.

 

[Wildcat-in-STL]

None of that matters if he can’t recruit decent recruits/transfers and that’s the biggest fear

It’s up to boosters and all of us to pitch in NIL. Because if we don’t, it’s guaranteed to fail so let’s all try to save UK together

 

[JPFisher]

None of that matters if he can’t recruit decent recruits/transfers and that’s the biggest fear

I think his future recruiting success, at least in the short term, will depend heavily on whether he can retain key players from the current roster. Rebuilding mostly from scratch would be bad, but doing so without Reed or Z makes the challenge demonstrably more difficult – especially since those two would be insane in Pope's system.

If Pope works with a completely bare cupboard next year and the wins suffer for it, that sets a poor recruiting precedent.

That said, NIL fixes all and I've read that folks in the program expect another $2-4 million to roll in for Mark to work with.