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He probably won't be Kenny Payne bad, but

Agree.

But BCG proved that alone isn't enough.

I'm not saying Pope will be BCG bad either, but coming to UK doesn't automatically guarantee you will start recruiting at an elite level.
BCG was a DRUNK, big difference, add to that he never understood the weight of the history of the program, nor did he embrace it. I believe Mark is 1) not a drunk 2) speaks for itself as far as MP is concerned
 
i could definitely see him being Mike Woodson bad.

Struggling to make the tourney most years.

Middle of the pack conference finishes.

Lackluster recruiting classes.

Basically, a continuation of what his career has been so far.

And UK becomes an afterthought on the national stage.
I think he might very well be KP bad. KP at least had big time recruiting chops and actually got some decent players.

Mark Pope has zero, I repeat zero, recruiting chops. At BYU, at least he had the connection to the Mormon kids. The next 5 star recruit Pope lands will be his first 5 star recruit he lands and that is in 9 years as a head coach.

Do you honestly think Pope is going to win head to head recruiting battles with Self, Shyer, Izzo, Hurley, Hubert Davis or Cal? And that is just the A list. What about Oates and Sampson. If he doesn’t have the gravitas to go head to head, why would he be hired?!
 
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I could see him having success here after year 2 if the fans will guve him a chance. All you who want instant gratification need to relax ( and I’m not particularly referencing you Deplion).

Nobody is waiting 3 years. Another reason why Mitch is a GD idiot. We've already waited 4.

You had to make a splash hire, someone that could win and recruit, so we could quickly build a roster.
 
Do you honestly think Pope is going to win head to head recruiting battles with Self, Shyer, Izzo, Hurley, Hubert Davis or Cal?
Do you honestly think any of those guys would be getting 5 star players if they were at BYU in their early head coaching careers? Why don't you wait until he gets here and is on an even level before criticizing how his recruiting will go against them.
 
Do you honestly think any of those guys would be getting 5 star players if they were at BYU in their early head coaching careers? Why don't you wait until he gets here and is on an even level before criticizing how his recruiting will go against them.
Simple response. Why do we bank on him potentially growing into the job at some future point rather than hire someone that can do the job right now. Several coaches we didn’t even contact or seriously pursue fight, or have fought, each year those head to head battles and won their fair share. There is a reason Derby horses are not first time starters.
 
Kenny Payne was NEVER a head coach. That is why he failed.

Pope has proven he can win, albeit at Utah Valley and BYU. There is something to be said about that.

I'm going to support him, because he is one of us and he LOVES this place.

If you can win at BYU ... you for sure win at Kentucky (the NCAA wins will come).
He loves this place? He was here for two years and we hadn't seen him in 30 years. He's not winning at BYU. Hehas no NCAA Tournament wins to speak of. Not a one. He's coached for nine years.

This place had fans who didnt' want to get rid of Gillispie after his second year. I have no doubts there will be a legion of people who will still be all for Pope as he takes us down this road of diaster we're on.
 
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He loves this place? He was here for two years and we hadn't seen him in 30 years. He's not winning at BYU. Hehas no NCAA Tournament wins to speak of. Not a one. He's coached for nine years.

This place had fans who didnt' want to get rid of Gillispie after his second year. I have no doubts there will be a legion of people who will still be all for Pope as he takes this down this road of diaster we're on.
Just wanna say. IU fans said the same about Woodson.
 
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Would you say that UConn was negligent in hiring Hurley? What had he proven prior to the last two seasons? Absolutely NOTHING! His first four seasons at UConn were horrible. He had only won two tournament games prior at Rhode Island.
Big difference in where UConn was before Hurley and where UK was/is before Pope. I'm cautiously optimistic and always support the Cats but, Pope will have to convince me that he is ready for the stage UK plays on.
 
I think he might very well be KP bad. KP at least had big time recruiting chops and actually got some decent players.

Mark Pope has zero, I repeat zero, recruiting chops. At BYU, at least he had the connection to the Mormon kids. The next 5 star recruit Pope lands will be his first 5 star recruit he lands and that is in 9 years as a head coach.

Do you honestly think Pope is going to win head to head recruiting battles with Self, Shyer, Izzo, Hurley, Hubert Davis or Cal? And that is just the A list. What about Oates and Sampson. If he doesn’t have the gravitas to go head to head, why would he be hired?!

The Cal era is over.

Erase the “must have 10 5 stars” mindset.
 
I think he might very well be KP bad. KP at least had big time recruiting chops and actually got some decent players.

Mark Pope has zero, I repeat zero, recruiting chops. At BYU, at least he had the connection to the Mormon kids. The next 5 star recruit Pope lands will be his first 5 star recruit he lands and that is in 9 years as a head coach.

Do you honestly think Pope is going to win head to head recruiting battles with Self, Shyer, Izzo, Hurley, Hubert Davis or Cal? And that is just the A list. What about Oates and Sampson. If he doesn’t have the gravitas to go head to head, why would he be hired?!
This whole post stinks of not knowing a damn thing about Pope as a coach. If he was going to be Kenny Payne bad, he would have already shown to be that sometime during the last 9 years he's been in the role of Head Coach.

If Payne had big time recruiting chops, how come he didn't prove that at UofL? What was Paynes offensive system? Did he even have one? Did his teams look like they actually ran a set offensive scheme? did his teams defend? Pope beat Kansas, NC State, Gonzaga, Baylor and Iowa St. last year. all teams that would have or did beat us despite our roster being superior.

Comparing Pope to Payne is about as ridiculous as it gets.
 
i could definitely see him being Mike Woodson bad.

Struggling to make the tourney most years.

Middle of the pack conference finishes.

Lackluster recruiting classes.

Basically, a continuation of what his career has been so far.

And UK becomes an afterthought on the national stage.
Until you got to that last statement, I thought you were talking about Cal.:D
 
i could definitely see him being Mike Woodson bad.

Struggling to make the tourney most years.

Middle of the pack conference finishes.

Lackluster recruiting classes.

Basically, a continuation of what his career has been so far.

And UK becomes an afterthought on the national stage.
He can coach, he already has more NIL money than Arky promised Cal, and if he could recruit at BYU I know he can recruit at UK. Now I don't think you are going to see 4, 5 or 6 one and done's one the roster like Cal did. I think you are going to see teams more like Uconn and these other teams that are going to the final 4 over the last 3 years. Cal only cared about the NBA, he would most likely jump at the chance to fail in the NBA a second time.
 
Times have changed, NIL controls recruiting and the UK brand recruits itself too. A lot of talent in the portal looking for a bigger stage and UK is the biggest stage. Recruits shouldn't be a problem. Pope needs to hire some quality assistants and show some solid Xs and Os and he should do well.
UK fans are gonna have to let go of the Cal OAD formula and the idea that a successful coach elsewhere will be a successful coach at UK. I think Pope will do fine.
 
i could definitely see him being Mike Woodson bad.

Struggling to make the tourney most years.

Middle of the pack conference finishes.

Lackluster recruiting classes.

Basically, a continuation of what his career has been so far.

And UK becomes an afterthought on the national stage.
Pope will have us at the final four this coming season. You heard it here first.
 
i could definitely see him being Mike Woodson bad.

Struggling to make the tourney most years.

Middle of the pack conference finishes.

Lackluster recruiting classes.

Basically, a continuation of what his career has been so far.

And UK becomes an afterthought on the national stage.
It is a wonderful asset to see with clarity into the future. Would you be willing to help me build a stock portfolio?
 
i could definitely see him being Mike Woodson bad.

Struggling to make the tourney most years.

Middle of the pack conference finishes.

Lackluster recruiting classes.

Basically, a continuation of what his career has been so far.

And UK becomes an afterthought on the national stage.
I was annoyed about it last night. Or at least disappointed. But after taking it all in. All the stats. The difficulty of getting players to BYU....the fresher playing style. etc.

The people who say coaches have to be given a chance to prove their talent is right.

It's not ideal but BYU is not a good example of what he is capable of. If anything it was a tether holding him back from what he could possibly do.

I look at next year as a year like the 89 team. Bad....but fun. And the year after that. Respectable. The year after that... make some real noise.

My hope anyway.

I saw somewhere where it took Jay Wright.... 11 years to win an ncaa game? I may be wrong.
 
i could definitely see him being Mike Woodson bad.

Struggling to make the tourney most years.

Middle of the pack conference finishes.

Lackluster recruiting classes.

Basically, a continuation of what his career has been so far.

And UK becomes an afterthought on the national stage.
Ignorant.
 
It is a wonderful asset to see with clarity into the future. Would you be willing to help me build a stock portfolio?
May have missed the part where I said "could". ;)

I posted this last night before he was officially "the guy". It's just my gut take. I could be wrong, and I REALLY hope I am.

I think Mitch handled this whole thing about as stupidly as possible, but it is over now. Pope's the guy.

I'll support him and hope for the best!
 
Agreed.

There have been a couple of over-the-top posts trashing Pope, but the vast majority of us want him to do well.

It just feels like Mitch has set him up for failure by giving him a job he isn't prepared for at a time where we can't afford to fall even further behind our fellow blue bloods.

I mean the guy just lost to Duquesne in the Big Dance a couple of weeks ago, and we want him to come here and go to the Final Four and win championships -- and sooner rather than later?

Seems unfair to expect that from him. Mitch is to blame for that. Not Pope.
When will he be prepared? He is 51 and been a head coach for 11 years. When do you naysayers think he will be ready, when he is 70? Geez
 
If Pope can put a team together and build a roster to run his system, I wouldn't put it past us to overachieve. If the roster doesn't come together, it's gonna be tough.
 
i could definitely see him being Mike Woodson bad.

Struggling to make the tourney most years.

Middle of the pack conference finishes.

Lackluster recruiting classes.

Basically, a continuation of what his career has been so far.

And UK becomes an afterthought on the national stage.
in other words, like our program has been the last 6 years?
 
All of you naysayers on this board please go to the link that trueblujr created for you and post there forever. The ignorance shown on this thread is frightening and appalling. Do not post on this board with adults. It’s obvious you nothing about basketball and you definitely had no idea what went on during this hiring process. Get out. Total embarrassment to all UK fans and the program.
 
i could definitely see him being Mike Woodson bad.

Struggling to make the tourney most years.

Middle of the pack conference finishes.

Lackluster recruiting classes.

Basically, a continuation of what his career has been so far.

And UK becomes an afterthought on the national stage.
I say wrong
 
Is it really hard to see why a coach would stay away from this cesspool? Pope is one our own and he's being trashed. uK fans are toxic AF
What’s toxic about it? He’s not saying anything about him as a person. It’s completely fair to be skeptical, and question why we were in a rush to make the decision.
 
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So much retardedness in this thread I'll pass. No ones gonna give MP a chance I see and already writing his epitaph.
 
i could definitely see him being Mike Woodson bad.

Struggling to make the tourney most years.

Middle of the pack conference finishes.

Lackluster recruiting classes.

Basically, a continuation of what his career has been so far.

And UK becomes an afterthought on the national stage.
Wow. You seem to have changed a lot. Keep on truckin' with Cal if you want. Just head west young man
 
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He loves this place? He was here for two years and we hadn't seen him in 30 years. He's not winning at BYU. Hehas no NCAA Tournament wins to speak of. Not a one. He's coached for nine years.

This place had fans who didnt' want to get rid of Gillispie after his second year. I have no doubts there will be a legion of people who will still be all for Pope as he takes us down this road of diaster we're on.
I'm sure you can woo pig sooie yourself to Arkansas
 
Wow. You seem to have changed a lot. Keep on truckin' with Cal if you want. Just head west young man
I was done with Cal.

Keep in mind I started this thread when I first found out Pope was a candidate last night. It was my initial gut reaction to the news.

Since he has officially been named coach, I've not had anything negative to say, and will support him 100% and hope for the best.
 
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