Was there ever a coaching hire where you thought "Man, this just isn't going to work?"
- Thread starter EvilMD
- Start date
I always liked watching Suttons Arkansas teams, especially the US Grant shot that beat the Cards, so I was thrilled when we hired him. I know he said he would have crawled to Lex for the job, but I'd met half-way and escorted here. Didn't end well.
Pitino hire was okay. Does he still exist?
Thought Tubby would be okay, figured he would recruit UK some of the top ninjas to keep us on top, Wrong.
BCG seemed to be a coach on his way up. I think he was hired to quickly after Billy turned us down and not enough background check was done.
I wanted Cal when Pitino left.
Pitino hire was okay. Does he still exist?
Thought Tubby would be okay, figured he would recruit UK some of the top ninjas to keep us on top, Wrong.
BCG seemed to be a coach on his way up. I think he was hired to quickly after Billy turned us down and not enough background check was done.
I wanted Cal when Pitino left.
Sutton - HOF Coach no doubt, but living in Texas the time of his hire, hated it. He was a boring coach and his Hogs teams weren't all that exciting to watch. Hell, he even played chicken shit basketball against the Horns during a SWCTF, something to the tune of 39-38 final score, screw that. I know a lot of UK fans thought he'd be an improvement over Hall... uh, no. Screw Loot Olsen as well.
BCG - In all honesty, I wanted Barnes to have a shot at UK and in hindsight, that wouldn'tve worked out either. My Son's HS BB Coach had a son play for Clyde at UTEP, didn't really have anything good to say about him. I remember asking Maggard if he thought Clyde was ready for the UK job, if Clyde knew what he was getting into(fishbowl), Turns out the UK job was way over his head.
BCG - In all honesty, I wanted Barnes to have a shot at UK and in hindsight, that wouldn'tve worked out either. My Son's HS BB Coach had a son play for Clyde at UTEP, didn't really have anything good to say about him. I remember asking Maggard if he thought Clyde was ready for the UK job, if Clyde knew what he was getting into(fishbowl), Turns out the UK job was way over his head.
Billy G without a doubt. I had season tickets and quit going to the games after the first three. Also to find out later some of his antics besides holding a full practice two hours before a game was too much. I hope he nevers gets a coaching job again, although I'm sure he's suckered someone into giving him a shot.
I had forgot about the full practices before the games. That along with some of the kids he recruited to play at UK was a disaster. What a moron. Can you imagine the joy of our Card friends (LOL) sitting back watching this train wreck about to happen? Now, they're dealing with there worst nightmare.
I'm betting you're not a math major and haven't seen much daylight in that holler..
Tubby did a lot of great things at UK at a time when it was very tough to recruit. He handicapped himself with a sub-par staff, UNC had the cheat machine in full gear which snagged several high-profile recruits that should have been UK's (Wright, Hansbrough). On top of that, the ESPN machine was really over-the-top in love with the ACC and that didn't help us at all. Leonard Hamilton at FSU, Donovan at Florida, and Cal at Memphis were all eating our lunch in recruiting as well. It was a tough time to recruit at UK in the Tubby years yet he still managed to get some really great players and do a fairly good job of holding onto the SEC. Kind of like Self at Kansas right now.
Tubby was loyal, too loyal, to his staff and that's what did him in. He was a very good X & O coach and nobody could question his integrity and we should be proud of that in light of what has went on elsewhere.
I hope someday UK does something to bring Tubby back into the fold and honor him resoundingly in a ceremony of some type in Rupp. We need to heal that wound and move forward.
Tubby was loyal, too loyal, to his staff and that's what did him in. He was a very good X & O coach and nobody could question his integrity and we should be proud of that in light of what has went on elsewhere.
I hope someday UK does something to bring Tubby back into the fold and honor him resoundingly in a ceremony of some type in Rupp. We need to heal that wound and move forward.
"Joker wouldn't be coach for any sec team, so why ours?"
Because we are Kentucky football; and are historically bottom feeders in the conference. We haven't had a winning sec record in like a million years lol. Kentucky is a basketball school, so while I wasn't excited... You need to realize what Kentucky football is brah
Pretty much my feeling too. I wasn't excited when Gillispie was announced but I wasn't real worried either (not thinking he would be a disaster at that time). I really think I was more in a wait and see mode when he was hired. As someone else noted, his intro press conference didn't give off much enthusiasm or confidence as he came off more like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar and just seemed out of place.
I knew BCG was a second tier hire, but I thought we got lucky having him "fall to us" considering his record at UTEP and Texas A&M. Worked for a football team and one of the players was from Texas A&M and he was pissed we took him away. Then Greg Doyel wrote that BCG would run Pitino out of the state. When we lost that first game at home, a friend of mine who lives in Lexington pounced and said he was a no class redneck from Day One. I didn't really give up on him until late in the second season, when some of the behind-the-scenes stuff started coming out.
Thought Otis Gillispie would do ok, then came the 2nd game with Gardner-Webb. It wasn't that we just lost to a middle of the road low-major team, it was how we lost. Blown out on our home floor by a team with guys who wouldn't have gotten a third glance by UK, and all the while Otis was squatted down on the sideline with that patented smirk on his face, as though he knew something the rest of us didn't, and that the joke was on us.
Other really bad hires:
Gerry Faust - I burst out laughing when the Domers made that hire.
John Ray - Should have brought Jerry Claiborne home when he was in his prime. We would have been a top 20 fixture when he retired.
Other really bad hires:
Gerry Faust - I burst out laughing when the Domers made that hire.
John Ray - Should have brought Jerry Claiborne home when he was in his prime. We would have been a top 20 fixture when he retired.
BCG has to be the tops of anyones list. Essentially got hired because Acie Law beat Rick Pitino/UL (a 6 seed?) in Rupp Arena to make a Sweet 16 game! I still can't believe the BCG era even took place.
For God's sake people, can we refrain from pulling the race card for no reason? I think lobbyman is wrong too, but there's nothing in his post the even faintly hints at racism. Grow up.
I don't know who lobbyman is, but it has struck me as "funny" every time some one is critical of Tubby as a coach, the first thing many want to say is that person is "racist". Well, I personally think the person who makes that criticism is the racist person - again without knowing who anyone is. How many elite eights has Tubby been too when not coaching a team named Kentucky? The answer is "0". How many sweet sixteens did he make it to? The answer is "2" and he lost both of them. Take away his years at Kentucky and his record is solid, but not great. So, to say he was not the right guy to lead Kentucky has been proven. Think about this one - Billy Gillespie's, non Kentucky record is as strong if not stronger than Tubby Smith's record was. Tubby has NOT won another NCAA game after leaving Kentucky. So to those who think Tubby was mistreated as a coach - check the records before you criticise people.
That seems to be the defense of many when a coach OR President is incompetent the people say everyone critiicising them are racist. The facts are the facts on these people. It has nothing to do with being racists. I knew Tubby as a person and I liked him a lot and still do - but he was NOT the right choice for UK in many, many ways. He was a "politically" correct choice at the time and he caught "lightning in a bottle". Pitino left a very good squad and that team was coming off of back to back title games. Think about it - what did Tubby leave behind? If Billy G., the bad coach whom he proved to be had been left the same talent - would he have done better? Oh well, I guess that is a racist remark for some people.
Go Big Blue!
P.S. I am not a fan of Billy Gillespie either! Poor man had many demons and I hope he finds peace in his life.
Is he the same guy that never sniffed a final four with his own recruits in ten years, and played plow mule basketball?
In the modern, left-wing dicitonary:
Racist = Conservative winning an argument.
Sexist = Conservative winning an argument.
Homophobe = Conservative winning an argument.
I could go on and on.
Football:
Gene Chizik – Auburn. Was 5-19 in only head coaching gig before going to Auburn.
Derek Dooley – Tennessee. This famous last name had a 17-20 record as a head coach, but UT hired him.
Ron Zook – Florida. Jeremy Fowler replaced a legend with a first-time head coach.
Gerry Faust – Notre Dame. Really? A high school coach?
Joker: We know all about this one. Mitch just never seemed to take football seriously.
Turner Gill – Kansas. Was 20-30 at Buffalo. Why did they think he would win at Kansas and in the Big 12?
Bobby Petrino – Falcons. They gambled on this hire – and lost.
Basketball:
Bill Guthridge – North Carolina: Dean forced this on UNC by retiring suddenly in October 1997. (36 years to plan his retirement and he gives Carolina less than a month to replace him.) Results on the floor were good for Guthridge’s three years on the sideline, but recruiting went to hell.
Matt Doherty – North Carolina: Their fifth choice: Roy strung them along for two weeks before deciding to return to Kansas; Eddie Fogler (SEC COY at two schools) pulled his name out of consideration; Larry Brown turned down the job when AD Dick Baddour insisted on interviewing Brown (a UNC alumnus who had only won both an NCAA and NBA championship).
George Karl had contract issues binding him to the Bucks. So they hired Doherty who had only one season of head coaching experience – taking Notre Dame to the NIT
Kelvin Sampson – Indiana Wikipedia: “Sampson was the President of theNABC, an organization that supports basketball coaches across the country. During his tenure the Ethics Committee of the NABC was formed to address the many problems with violations that college basketball faced going into the 2003 season. That very same Ethics Committee would later reprimand Kelvin Sampson as a result of the NCAA findings, placing him on probation for three years during which he would not be eligible to serve in any official capacity for the NABC, be considered for Coach of the Year honors or receive Final Four ticket privileges.”
Yet Indiana hired him.
Indiana AD Michael McRobbie admittedhis hiring had been "a risk that should not have been taken." Duh!
Gene Chizik – Auburn. Was 5-19 in only head coaching gig before going to Auburn.
Derek Dooley – Tennessee. This famous last name had a 17-20 record as a head coach, but UT hired him.
Ron Zook – Florida. Jeremy Fowler replaced a legend with a first-time head coach.
Gerry Faust – Notre Dame. Really? A high school coach?
Joker: We know all about this one. Mitch just never seemed to take football seriously.
Turner Gill – Kansas. Was 20-30 at Buffalo. Why did they think he would win at Kansas and in the Big 12?
Bobby Petrino – Falcons. They gambled on this hire – and lost.
Basketball:
Bill Guthridge – North Carolina: Dean forced this on UNC by retiring suddenly in October 1997. (36 years to plan his retirement and he gives Carolina less than a month to replace him.) Results on the floor were good for Guthridge’s three years on the sideline, but recruiting went to hell.
Matt Doherty – North Carolina: Their fifth choice: Roy strung them along for two weeks before deciding to return to Kansas; Eddie Fogler (SEC COY at two schools) pulled his name out of consideration; Larry Brown turned down the job when AD Dick Baddour insisted on interviewing Brown (a UNC alumnus who had only won both an NCAA and NBA championship).
George Karl had contract issues binding him to the Bucks. So they hired Doherty who had only one season of head coaching experience – taking Notre Dame to the NIT
Kelvin Sampson – Indiana Wikipedia: “Sampson was the President of theNABC, an organization that supports basketball coaches across the country. During his tenure the Ethics Committee of the NABC was formed to address the many problems with violations that college basketball faced going into the 2003 season. That very same Ethics Committee would later reprimand Kelvin Sampson as a result of the NCAA findings, placing him on probation for three years during which he would not be eligible to serve in any official capacity for the NABC, be considered for Coach of the Year honors or receive Final Four ticket privileges.”
Yet Indiana hired him.
Indiana AD Michael McRobbie admittedhis hiring had been "a risk that should not have been taken." Duh!
This BCG talk got the name Alex legion to pop in my head. He might of been a little crazy before he came but he left after 6 games with some pretty bizarre stories as i recall. BCG sure knew how to pick winners. Idk how he talked PPat to come to UK.
I thought Billy G. was a bad hire and the only reason he was here was because Texas A+M beat Louisville at Rupp in the NCAA Tourney. He didn't have a clue of what it takes to be the head coach at Kentucky.
Not really,I was one of the first and biggest critics of BCG.He didn't fit on so many levels it is hard to count them all.
Based on what? Your prescience?
You are totally full of crap, somehow trying to gloat about your 20/20 hindsight vision. I started to question Tubby in his 2nd year, when the style of play changed dramatically, and the team seemed completely uninspired for the entire SEC season. I was hardly the man's biggest supporter. But to claim that it was obvious what was going to happen based on Tubby's results at Tulsa and Georgia is total, unmitigated bullsh**.
His 4 years prior to UK, he took 2 Tulsa teams to the Sweet 16, including beating UCLA, he took Georgia to the Sweet 16, beating a 1 seed, and then he managed to get a 3 seed with a Georgia team that was picked near the bottom of the SEC. No, that's not a resume' like Cal's or Pitino's when UK hired them, but Tubby was a very hot name, far beyond his UK connection, when UK hired him.
Ladies and gentleman, we have an inbred moron who screams bloody murder any time anyone hints that someone's viewpoint might be just a tad bit racist. Because, you know, that never, ever happens, and racism would completely vanish if assholes like me would just stop talking about the possibility of it existing.
Except, of course, when it's "black on white" racism, at which point it needs to be proclaimed to the heavens for all to hear. Then, we can't talk about it enough.
You are one of this board's elite asshole idiots, so what a shock that this is such a touchy subject for you. It certainly falls in line with your general repulsiveness.
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There's a TON in his posting history that does. Especially the fact that all he ever posts about (going back years now) is how awful Tubby Smith was, and how he was only ever hired because he was black- the crux of his problem with Tubby, entirely centered around race.
Deal with it. There are UK fans that hated Tubby Smith from the second he was hired, or were certainly looking for the first good opportunity to do so. Deny it, but you know it's a fact. Some of those people are going to post on this board. If lobbyman isn't one of them, he does a damn good imitation.
Tubby Smith, to someone like lobbyman, isn't even an ex-UK coach. He's a pedestal to demonstrate the evils of affirmative action (and maybe, depending, on the entire Civil Rights Movement). It's not some logical discussion about the unworthiness of Tubby Smith as a coach, it's purely race-based politics.
And if that's what he wants, I won't soft-pedal how I view that.
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- No one, certainly not me, is denying that there are racists in this world, people that look at human beings as monolithic blocks of "colors" instead of individual humans with unique thoughts, feelings, and ambitions. (Hell, there are some people in the world that that carry this view to the extreme, making choices about academics, economics, and public policy based solely on race instead of individual characteristics).
- You claim that lobbyman has posted "TONS" of racist rants. Care to pull a few up? If he has tons out there, they shouldn't be hard to find. If you're unwilling (unable, I suspect) to do so, then you're just race-bating, inserting cries of supposed racism where every you see a criticism of a racial minority as a method for "winning" arguments. It's cheap, petty, and painfully ironic--especially if you believe lobbyman to be Caucasian.
- A final rhetorical note: rhetoric is essentially the art of using language to convey a truth or truths to your audience. Good rhetoric requires that you build trust with your audience and then move them through reason. Go back and reread your post; examine, for a moment the methods you use in your attempt to move the reader. These methods do not tell a pretty story. You attempt to shove your opinions down the reader's throat, telling us to "Deal with it", as if we don't have a choice whether or not to agree with you--I assure you, we do have a choice. Then, you assume that we "know" the same "facts" you know, again, whether we want to or not. You thus assert that these purported facts are not to be questioned, merely obeyed. Force, it seems, is the only language you understand.
