I feel like Pope will adjust with the times and as the game evolves to solve offenses like his.
Cal's honeymoon at Arkansas is already over
- Thread starter silentsaregolden2.0
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I don’t agree with the criticism of Aidou…he should be one of the best considering the work he’s put in. It’s Wagner, Davis, etc that are lacking in production. Arkansas fans should be elated that A.T. is stepping up. However full agreement on the criticism of Cal.
Well he didn’t have much of a choice after Mitch hit him with the “breach of contract “ clause . I know for a fact that Mitch had the resignation papers drawn up and delivered to Cals house the very night he found out that Cal was in talks with Arkansas. I don’t know how Mitch found out , maybe Cal told him maybe he found out otherwise. Maybe Cal was definitely going to take the Arkansas job or maybe just consider it. But the decision was made for him .
As long as Mark doesn't have health issues. I seriously think he will be the coach for 20 years or more.
I live in Memphis and the fans told me that he would burn the program down to the ground and leave it in ruins. He did win a championship and put UK back on the National Radar. But, he didn’t put us on probation or forfeit wins like at UMass and Memphis. Guess we were lucky
I would bet most arky fans assumed they were going to at least get a couple seasons of vengeful Cal, out to prove he wasn’t washed. He should’ve just retired and lived a cushy life as an ambassador to the program.
Cal is hanging on for that next $50M.
It was 2013 for me.
I could NEVER stomach Swaggy Cal, but that cluster that he put on the floor in 2013 opened my eyes to the obvious reality that the "one and done" model would destroy the UK program, and IF we missed on the top recruits in any one year, we were toast.
Also knew the cupboard would be left bare for the next coach when Cal eventually slithered out of Lexington.
Sooooo glad that dude is history for UK.
Because the dude is an ego maniac. You left Kentucky for Arkansas, because you thought you were bigger than the program. The end.
Do you think Cal really didn't intend to leave? Is there truth to the rumors he was trying to get his job back/stay up until the Arkansas press conference?
I don’t know. I just know that when Mitch found out he had zero opportunity to return. And the papers were hand delivered to Cals house that night .
Interesting. Mitch must have been less than impressed with the decision to talk to Arkansas lol.
Cal is their problem now, thank the lord.
Memphis fans endured a different kind of demise, it was nothing like ours. He allowed the Rose thing, but it was the university that decided not to fight the NCAA, not Cal.
Heck, Memphis was nothing before Cal coached there, he took them to the title game, then left, they have sucked since.
They lost the 07/08 season, but they didn't go through what we have from 21/22 through last year.
As far as Arkansas fans, they don't have to listen to us, the proof is right there on Google. All they have to do is look, we would. So I don't feel sorry for them, they're gonna find out if they don't already see it.
They aren't getting the 09-17 version of Cal, they're getting a narcissist with a mental issue.
Actually, I believe Mitch was thrilled about it. He and Cal had a terrible relationship and he finally had a way out of it .
It was his own fault though, he was the one that bit hook, line and Sinker on Cal's UCLA job offer sell job. Cal used it as leverage and Mitch made UK Cal's bitch.
You would figure he would have learned his lesson, but he didn't, he gave Stoops a very similar contract with a massive buyout.
I'm just glad Mitch had the nads to jump on the mistake Cal made. If he had the termination papers dropped off at Cal's house that night, I'm impressed.
Can’t argue with you there . And I KNOW he had the papers delivered to Cals house that night.
That's a boss move on a guy that thought he was a boss, now he's in Fayetteville wondering wth happened.
Barnhart is actually a pretty good AD......as long as he's not allowed to offer contracts. He was sick of Cal, but he screwed himself by giving Cal that huge contract. He's in the same situation with Mark Stoops.
There was a lot of checks and balances at UK for him, is my understanding for some of that stuff he was “accused of” in the past.
I’m not saying this is true but, it’s been mentioned on the HOB that Mitch was hesitant to sign the contract that Cals agent presented but was told by the board of trustees to do it . Don’t know if that is true but since he has basically done the same thing for CMS , I’m kinda doubting it.
He HATED Sandy Bell , lol .
Tubby’s 1/10 the recruiter and 100x the bench coach of Calipari
lol. Tubby was 10x times the bench coach Cal was. Tubby also knew when his time was up here. He didn't suck the fan base dry. He saw AAU ball was the way CBB was heading, didn't want any part of it, and went elsewhere. Cal meantime decided he was gonna bleed us dry and kill the program.
And Tubby wasn't too bad a recruiter up until the AAU game started kicking in. When that did start up, it was obvious that Tubby couldn't compete in that world.
That doesn’t track the same though because he was in his prime when he left Memphis. Way different than when BBN soured on him
Yeah, honestly, this is what I expected. I thought Calipari would be out to prove himself and it would drive him to push his players and his coaches harder, maybe as he did when he first arrived at UK. But I don't think we're seeing this.
I think we should also acknowledge that Calipari lost Assistant Coach John Welch when he left UK. Welch ended up back at Fresno St. Calipari ended up in Arkansas without Welch. I'm sure most remember, Welch was the guy brought in to help Cal's offense, and he did help, by all accounts, significantly. Last season's issues were on the defensive end primarily.
So, now Cal is back to running the offense and Welch is in Fresno. This has left some selling Arkansas stock and seeing Cal trot out the same offense he ran back when he had Wall, Bledsoe, Cousins, et al. I think the game has passed Cal by and he needs a guy like Welch to inject some analytics and modern offense to the team, but he has the same coaching staff he had before. We shall see what happens. Cal has some talent here, but i don't expect the same old offense to produce better results.
I hope not, I’d love to see this staff stick around a couple years.
It took all Summer to move him down there.
Yup and more and more will see it as the year goes on.
Has nothing to do with how they are ending their career, which I was clearly speaking to.
He’s winding it down just like Tubby did, right down to getting his assistants (buddies) paid.
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He did us no favors.
He was relieved of his duties.
Fired!
No props required.
Carry on.
If he was fired, we would have owed him. He left on his own after Mitch publicly embarrassed him with that interview thingy where he said he was going to be Cal’s shadow going forward, lol.
He 💯 did us a massive financial favor when all people said was how the “POS” was going to stay and drain our bank account. Yet people still want their pound of flesh. Sickos diseased with CDS, lmao.
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In his first season when UK played WVU in the E8. That 1-3-1 zone that Huggy Bear played. CCC had no clue how to attack it. The players had no clue what to do. That got me scratching my head, how does an experienced coach not know how to adjust here.
Again, not true. He was relieved for violating the terms of his contract.
When he had spoken with Ark without the consent of Mitch it was a violation.
This is widely documented.
So, I stand on he did us NO favors.
In fact, he tried to pull a fast one and use Ark a a negotiating ploy.
In fact, he tried to pull a fast one and use Ark a a negotiating ploy.
I predict Cal will be a changed man next year - not because he wants to be but because he has to be.
He thought he could coast in at Arkansas and ride the "wait until March" wave but he just doesn't have the credibility from past performance to get the benefit of the doubt at this point. He'll need an elite 8 this year to over come it.
Next year he'll build a veteran team from the portal. he'll have at least 2 veteran 35%+ 3 point shooters, a true PG and he'll have at least a 9 man rotation. That's my prediction anyways, of course, he could just get the money, recruit and then just show up like he has for the past 6 years now
He thought he could coast in at Arkansas and ride the "wait until March" wave but he just doesn't have the credibility from past performance to get the benefit of the doubt at this point. He'll need an elite 8 this year to over come it.
Next year he'll build a veteran team from the portal. he'll have at least 2 veteran 35%+ 3 point shooters, a true PG and he'll have at least a 9 man rotation. That's my prediction anyways, of course, he could just get the money, recruit and then just show up like he has for the past 6 years now
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Show me the sources.
Mitch could have very well leveraged that to get him to leave but he was never actually fired as you claim.
