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Will you support Mark Pope

Will you support Mark Pope if hired as UK head coach?


  • Total voters
    229
I’m going to give him a fair shot. He wasn’t even on my list of coaches I wanted to get an offer, but he’s who we got and maybe we got a young coach before he hit his stride. Let’s see who he hires as assistants, if the Crafts maintain their pledge, and what kinda guys he recruits before passing judgement.

We either got a hot up and comer before he got hot, or we got a BCG level hire and he and Mitch will be out of here in 2-4 years. Either way, it’ll be fine and supporting him will only help his odds. Pope has done nothing wrong and deserves our support and so I will give it.
What if I told you Mark Pope is older than Cal was when we hired Cal? He’s not “young”. He’s just INEXPERIENCED. At least for this job. Again, no way in hell he’s even considered for this job had he not played here. And that’s unfortunate.

All that said, of course BBN will support him. Or at least they will root for the Cats like always. Can I still hope the board comes to their senses and votes no and then turns around and fires Mitch? Because that’s where I’m at currently.
 
Are you still beating your wife? Same type of question.
Dummy Feeling Dumb GIF
 
I believe that is the way it should be. This dude was a former player who won us a Natty. He should be respected and cheered at the very least. He is from a time where players really cared about the front of the jersey.
Coach Pope will have a fire in his belly. He hasn't coached at a blue blood and hasn't had the UK brand to recruit with. He will be fine.
 
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They haven't actually posted in the thread.

They need to explain why they don't support the new UK coach before he's done anything.
Many in the threads are pussing out and won't vote, yet they are bashing Pope.
 
What if I told you Mark Pope is older than Cal was when we hired Cal? He’s not “young”. He’s just INEXPERIENCED. At least for this job. Again, no way in hell he’s even considered for this job had he not played here. And that’s unfortunate.

All that said, of course BBN will support him. Or at least they will root for the Cats like always. Can I still hope the board comes to their senses and votes no and then turns around and fires Mitch? Because that’s where I’m at currently.
I didn’t think Cal was old either. Like I told the other poster, age is relative and compared to other top tier programs he’s on the younger end.

He’s only been a head coach for 9 years.

I agree 51 isn’t a spring chicken but in the world of top tier college basketball program coaches he’s one of the younger ones.
 
Was it who we wanted or expected? No. But at minimum he's going to get what it means to be the coach at UK. And he's going to run an offense that we enjoy to watch and players will enjoy playing in.

We don't know what level he will be able to recruit at because, frankly, he's been at two schools are aren't exactly the type of schools big time recruits want to play at.

He's had some great wins at schools with not much tradition so the man can clearly coach ball. He deserves better than what he's getting from some "fans"
 
Pope will coach for KENTUCKY. Pope will put 110% into the program. Pope is a UK fan just like the rest of us. Pope needs the right staff to get recruits in and help with the day to day. Pope will be out there with the big donors plugging what we need to take it to the next level. Pope will get a fair shot from me. I hope he does from all of us.

I never like Cal (from day 1 with his message about playing for the names on the back of the jersey) and such. I was always hard on him and was so happy when he left.
 
i like pope. although he wouldn’t have been my first pick i’m excited to have him. i’ve watched his teams these past few years when i could and he’s a good coach. i hope he can get off to a good start by putting together a good staff and bringing in some players.
he’s 51 years old and has a chance to be great at uk for a long time.
 
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I am concerned about recruiting. I know many of you say NIL will save us and I hope you are right. I have no reason not to support Pope. I hope he proves us all wrong and he turns out to be one of the best coaches in the country. Time will tell. Mitch is either going to look like a complete dumbass for hiring Pope and not enough experience to run a program like Kentucky or a complete genius. 50/50
 
Of course I’ll support him. I don’t like the hire but damned if I’m not gonna give the man a chance. I still have my Pope, McCarty, and Delk autographs from 1996. Would love a new trophy with Popes name on it
 
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Yes. Why wouldn’t I support him? He bleeds blue. Now it’s all about results and getting wins. We will see what he can do but I’ll give him a fair shake and support him for sure to start.
 
Yes, I’m a Kentucky fan and pope is Kentucky personified. My issues is if Barnhart was so set on this hire, why not bring pitino in for 3 years get pope as a top assistant/ coach in waiting and let pope learn for 3 years and go from there, that would of been the best case situation for everybody involved
 
He wasn't the big name hire we expected nor was he the one with the best looking resume but as others have said this program can make you better. Heck being able to recruit everyone and not just Mormons has to help too. His offense looks to be modern and fun to watch but he needs to hire an assistant that specializes in defense as his teams seem to not be as good defensively as they are offensively. Those things along with the UK brand and NIL fund means he should have all the tools he needs to be successful and it's up to him to do just that.
 
Yes. There is 0 reason to wallow in misery over this right now. He's the coach, get on board. Show the man that BBN takes care of its own.
 
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Yes. I'm looking at it like this.

The timing of Calipari to decide to leave here couldn't have come at a worst time(from a coach hiring perspective). Hurley off 2 titles. Drew, never should have gotten a call, Donovan and Bulls are not in a bad relationship right now, Oats and some others have expensive buyouts in contracts that were just extended.

So, the timing to get one of those guys, just wasn't there in 2024. So, now, Pope comes in, gets 2-3 years to show his mettle as a Head Coach, and if it doesn't work out the timing for some of those other coaches could be better if Mark doesn't succeed. If he does succeed then WGAF what happened in 2024.
 
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