Number 4 cannot be understated. We even have some foaming at the mouth in this fan base to cheat our asses off to win. That’s not victory. That’s vanity. And a lot of people in America have forgotten that.
Can anyone ever unite this fanbase?
- Thread starter Big BlueBeard
- Start date
We will. We rallied around BCG. Heck I took up for him for a year when some were calling for his ass in like three months. But of course it was laid fully obvious by year 2 he wasn’t right for the job.
You DO have to give a coach time. Very very few can come in and do what Cal did for us in 2009.
I hope we remember that when Cal does leave.
Good post and very accurate , thank you for your input .. I'd like to buy you a beverage someday
How long you been a UK fan? Uniting the fanbase is easy. Win. It’s that simple. Cal could reunite the fanbase with a title. And tbh the fan base isn’t fractured against itself. The vast majority want a change. The fan base is fractured against cal and and the program he’s running. I don’t understand this “uniting the fan base”. The fanbase will be happy if we are winning by uk standards the cbb platinum standard.
Yeah. Put that situation in Kentucky. It would have been a firestorm. Heck it brought national media condemnation as it was. Had that happened at UK, holy hell.
The next coach HAS to be able to handle PR well like it or not.
“Lie how he operates”. So you like having PR disasters and shoving players? Oats does coach decently enough but remember the spotlight here is MUCH brighter. Can you imagine the UK program involved with murder case? and then said coach offering no sympathy and then tone deafness? The media would’ve eaten him alive.
And we would’ve been drenched with metaphorical pigs blood.
The problem is that teenagers these days doesn't care about tradition and really don't care to play for Kentucky or any other team it's about money! Whoever can pay the most
Not that long, actually. Only 57 years. You?
And I'm not sure about your fanbase opinion, but I hope you're right. I think some here will never be happy, regardless of wins/losses. There will always be some who will find a reason to bitch and moan.
I think Oats runs a program well. As a Basketball Coach. The Darius Miles situation is one I don't know enough about nor was I there, but from everything that has taken place, seems that has been forgotten about rather quickly seeing the person(s) who should be up for being charged are and others are not. Go look up Tyreke Evans history when he was in HS and what happened and it's far more incriminating than anything Brandon Miller did--and the current HC is the guy who signed him at Memphis. If we're going to be holier than thou, better be consistent. At end of day Barnhart wants to keep his job-he needs to get the best coach for the job or he can go too.
To add "shoving a player" near your huddle to this is laughable. Way players/coaches from opposing teams interact during a game is far more competitive than you obviously assume. Even with slap dick players at the HS level that we face, you have them talking trash to my boss or our bench or they get offended when we tell someone "get up on that kid-he can't dribble" or sag off" he can't shoot"-and they'll say something etc..it's competitive. Usually your players take care of it-but some MF'er comes near your huddle they need to be dealt with and Oats become more of a coveted candidate by doing that then the cuckold act Cal has turned into as a Coach. Guy wins 1 of his last 4 games and showed "support" for Musselman and hopes they "get right". Really? How have things worked since for Cal? Have things worked for Oats since he stuck up for his team?
Winners win and guys who lose that fire drop off and get fat and satisfied. All is lost when the HC is looking for the meaning of life rather than the meaning of how to win games/contend for championships. They are hired to Coach sports-not be in contention for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Realize this won't be popular and don't care if you like it which obviously you don't. But do some background on the guy who is currently coach if you want to throw out incidents and you'll see he's done same/if not worse-he just doesn't have the fastball anymore. Barnhart hired him too. Why? Winning.
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Well you would know that the fan base was united under pitino. And the first part of tubbys tenure. It was united in 78 and the first half of Cals tenure. So idk what you’re talking about. It’s common for fans to be critical of a game or a decision (pitino not putting someone on grant hill in 1992 I mean he was raked but bbn was united). So your assertions are BS. People calling in or posting their frustration doesn’t signify division. What signifies division is when fans boost the coach above the program as the cal cult does. Based on your 57 years I can recall everything you can and no out fanbase has never been divided like this. Even when Sutton was having a losing season the fanbase was unified. The division didn’t happen until the second half of tubby and again the second half of cal. Bcg again united: there was no question he needed to go. See cal when he took the program he brainwashed a significant part of the fanbase the ones who back him no matter what because they love the nba success. Unifying the fan base is simple. Get UK back where it belongs. Don’t conflate people analyzing a game or string of games for division. I mean isn’t that what people complain about rupp these days? That fans aren’t into it? Being a fan means celebrating big when you win and bitching when you lose. If you can just shut it off and go like nothing happen the day we re bounced from the ncaa that is called apathy not fandom
Go look up what Tyreke Evans did in HS and signed with Memphis--he actually drove his cousin that he knew was going to shoot someone-was a drive by (murder took place) and he was driving the vehicle--yet he didn't miss a beat and played for John Calipari at Memphis/NBA. Now Tyreke claims that he didn't know his cousin was going to shoot that person. So believe what you choose.
Morality is a funny thing. Barnhart would have to be a secluded troll to not know about that incident. I mean look at timeline of Evans playing career in Memphis and when Cal got the UK job.
So Barnhart wants to be a highly morale person now and the Miller incident isn't nearly as incriminating as Tyreke Evans--yet he needed to get a W to keep his job and what he did he do? What happened after he hired him? Winning. Barnhart is a fraud if he wants to play morality king now.
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Half our fanbase thought cal was a cheater before he was hired. There was a movement to not consider him the first go round because of his checkered past. In general uk fans considered him filthy. Nate oats is totally qualified for the job if cal who vacated two final fours can be our coach and be granted ridiculous extensions oates is very clean compared to cal pre hire in the eyes of uk fans. This is why Barney has to go. He will try to find a perfect human instead of a winner. Eli, Barney both are very long in the tooth for their jobs and house needs to be cleaned.
I agree with the better part. Cleaner though? Idk honestly idk what he did at alabama that has been dirty other than mismanage that issue last year. I don’t consider that diet more inexperience of never dealing with anything like that. Nevertheless oats would be about 4th on my list and Bruce pearl who is dirtier than oats would be my go to if Hurley tuned us down. I would go hard after Hurley and if not then hire Bruce. Pearl plus Kentucky equal a massive juggernaut. Pearl is always hungry
Pearl I think would struggle under the heat lamp here. Remember Billy Clyde was a basketball “guru” supposedly and had decent success before he came here. The heat lamp of UK is different than any program anywhere else.
You can’t compare pearl and bcg. Pearl has had massive success at fb schools. Bcg was a flash in the pan. Pearl is a proven program builder and he has a final four he beat cal to get to. Why not pearl? He would be hungry to get a title. Pearl isn’t a guy who shys away from pressure or the spotlight. He would thrive at UK
If we’re using “success at a FB school” as a prequalifier to take the reins of a blue blood. Why not Mike White? Dude is doing ok at UGA.
Oearl has a grand total of ONE FF. That’s it.
Here’s his post season record:
17–11 (NCAA Division I)
1–1 (NIT)
13–10 (SEC)
5–2 (Horizon League)
8–4 (GLVC)
That’s not exactly stellar.
If you don’t think Bruce Pearl would thrive at UK I can’t help ya. He’s a great coach and if we can’t get Hurley then we have to look to fb schools for coaches. He has a ff at auburn. How many have they been to in history? When he took the job auburn basketball was a trainwreck. Hurley of course would be top option. He is exactly what uk basketball needs. He may or may mot leave UCOnn. We’d have to make him the highest paid coach to have a shot
This is what we are, always have been. Tubby, BCG and now Cal. The next three coaches will be the same for the fan base.
Thanks, social media…
Thanks, social media…
Unite the fanbase? What a loony idea. It's just a game. United? Disunited? Whatever. As Bill Murray pointed out in Meatballs, "It just doesn't matter." (repeat as needed)
The fanbase is fine. There is a clatch of Cal staffers who sow dissension in this forum. Everybody else is a Cat fan who wants the best for the program.
The right coach can, run up tempo style, communicate with the fans don't talk down to them. Be open. Be a positive face of the program. Put the program UK first. Have players play for name on front of the program. The right coach would be meet with open arms.
Comes down to integrity and loyalty to the institution that employs you over your own selfish ego and motives.
You can still be a great leader and mentor to the kids under your care while prioritizing college over NBA. You can even be “legacy” driven if you attach your self identity to success at the college level and not your players success in the nba. But Cal would rather be known as the guy who “produced” more nba talent than anyone else then a great college coach. Once he realized he’d never go down as the GOAT college coach, he chased the thing he can be the greatest at
He changed to a Players First at Memphis. He was hired here as a Players First coach.
Little Quiz. Justin Edwards looks like he might be coming into his own. Who on this board would have had the patience and focus that Calipari exhibited to coax him out of his shell. Amazingly idiotic and nasty comments have been directed at Calipari and Edwards. And did I mention "short-sighted"?
I don't really expect people on a sports board to have the foresight that actual responsibility demands. Not when there's so much fun to be had acting like a lynch mob.
Tommy Lloyd? That's supposed to be a joke right?
Bryce Drew, the coach of Grand Canyon University? He's better than Oats?
Boy you better go drink some water.
The same Mike White who got ran from Florida ? Exactly what has he done at Georgia ?
Number 1 has never been a thing ever and isn't realistic. It's also subjective to what the hunt is. Is it an elite 8 or better finish? What if we have a great regular season and then lose in 2nd round ala 2004 or first round like 2022?
We weren't in the hunt most Tubby years.
We weren't in the hunt many Hall years.
We weren't in the hunt some Rupp years either, especially post 58. He won 4 titles though so he gets a big pass there.
I didn't mention either drunk because they weren't here that long.
Bryce Drew has won as much as Oates. neither has done jack shit in the tournament.
Rupp and Cal shouldnt be mentioned in the same category. Rupp won multiple titles which understandably bought him more time. Cal has had as much talent as Dean Smith with similar results and has blown it more often than not.
It was toughening cheek. Although he’s gotten decent players and is doing better than expected.
The negativity is all on Calipari. When he's gone the negativity is gone and everyone will want to rally around a fresh start. UK needs a COACH ... not someone with the title of coach.
Whoever that can come in and coach this team to the standard of Kentucky basketball
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