One thing holding Mitch back says Pilgrim

[TankedCat]

I'm apprehensive to post a positive about Cal, because some here have a freaking meltdown unless you group Cal with the worst people to ever walk the earth..

.. but he did make SOME changes last year, that most of this board really liked to see, and were almost in disbelief when he did them. The offense changes for examples. Even if those were Welch's doings, it was still Cal who knew he needed help here.

Do I think, hes going to fix all his problems, no. But maybe there's more things coming. And he has had talent like this in the past, and used it to stumble his way into Fainl 4's and championships games. Is Reed the type of player who could win games in spite of Cal trying to ruin it? I think it's possible.

Just trying to think of the few positives we have. It's not many.

whats worse though - no changes and bad results or making changes that as a HOF HC you think will work and it fails?

Cal is past the point of learning on the job

plus, the guy is still clinging to his " all I know is freshmen" approach which probably motivated a bunch of people in a position to do so to speak their mind on his future

 

[ftp000]

Fire CAL get Pearl let’s roll for a few years. He would unite the fan base and try his best to win a title. Underwood at Illinois is interesting if Pearl has to much baggage

This time last year Pearl's buyout was over 17 million.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

In continuation. Another thing will be to see if Welch's offense can continue to grow, as some players will be used to it coming into the season. Stuff like that usually gets better and better each passing season. We saw a heck of a lot of offensive improvements this season, and maybe we can see more next year.

It's our defense we need to figure out though.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

The #2 ranked class?

Tough crowd.

The number 2 ranked class in a town when college basketball is as old as it’s ever been

 

[LineSkiCat14]

whats worse though - no changes and bad results or making changes that as a HOF HC you think will work and it fails?

Cal is past the point of learning on the job

plus, the guy is still clinging to his " all I know is freshmen" approach which probably motivated a bunch of people in a position to do so to speak their mind on his future

Yeah, I guess I just think that maybe if we have some returnees, that an ultra talented roster might be able to fall into a Final4.. which is probably how we got some of the other Final4's now that we know what we know.

Of course, we need these guys to come back. But aside from Reeves and Dilly being gone.. everyone seems to still be in play.

I still don't like this route, but it seems to be all we have right now.

 

[LowerLevelSeatA]

Sounds like they are trying to use pilgrim to drive home the narrative to change peoples minds about wanting to get rid of him.

 

[Swifterz]

You make Brad Stevens , Billy Donovan and Jay Wright all say no.

Then you consider guys like Mark Few, Scott Drew, Bruce Pearl, etc.

All of those would be a grand slam replacement for Calipari.

 

[truebluewildcat]

The problem with your thinking is that you're making a case that Cal can still do the job. He can't. Not anymore.

That's why he's toast. I also think it's narrow to believe that only 4 or 5 guys can do the job. No one really knows that. Whatever the case may be, Cal is certainly no longer one of them.

My thinking is I want to avoid a disaster.

It's kind of NFL QB math. The old gunslinger may be past his prime but how certain are we that we can go get a free agent or find a guy in the draft who will be an upgrade. Odds are against both.

I would say Mitch has had a plan since the 9-win season and is currently enacting it.

If the guy is out there, available and interested...get him.

If there's not an obvious candidate immediately and/or if the ones who are obvious either aren't interested or not available just yet. Lay low, don't make knee jerk, emotional, fire a guy at the tarmac type of decision. Be patient, pay attention to who's advancing in the tourney, maybe even wait for them to get bounced in a later round or win the whole thing.

 

[TankedCat]

Yeah, I guess I just think that maybe if we have some returnees, that an ultra talented roster might be able to fall into a Final4.. which is probably how we got some of the other Final4's now that we know what we know.

Of course, we need these guys to come back. But aside from Reeves and Dilly being gone.. everyone seems to still be in play.

I still don't like this route, but it seems to be all we have right now.

anything is possible, but it doesn't seem likely at this point

it just seems like whatever team he puts together just becomes a hot mess as it progresses, regardless of personnel

I mean he had POY, he went veteran heavy, went back to talented freshmen - and nothing lead to any success

 

[permdaddy]

The #2 ranked class?

Tough crowd.

You have to look deeper than the team ranking. First off it's a weak class overall that's not deep. Secondly we missed on most of our primary targets which led to us settling for guys lower ranked in a class with not much depth. Third it's much more like our Wallace, TyTy classes than this past years class that had guys atop NBA draft boards. Fourth it's a hodgepodge of guys that lack skill.

 

[Dontworryboutit23]

In continuation. Another thing will be to see if Welch's offense can continue to grow, as some players will be used to it coming into the season. Stuff like that usually gets better and better each passing season. We saw a heck of a lot of offensive improvements this season, and maybe we can see more next year.

It's our defense we need to figure out though.

I do really like Welch and wish cal would have fully embraced the 3 guards being the center of the offense at the end of the year. That offensive gameplan at the end of the year might be one of the worst I he’s ever seen

 

[KYCAT78]

If you can get any of the first 4, then make a move. None of the last 4 are an upgrade.

There are 50 coach's in CBB that would be a upgrade from Cal. What has 10 loss Cal proven the last five years in either Tournament. He is so dumb he thinks he can take 5 star HS talent and beat grown men with basketball experience from portal. The players he recruits have one foot out the door when they step on campus.

 

[TOMCATS1990]

Pretty sad KY stuck with a washed HOF Coach that can’t Coach and AD gives him a lottery jackpot to destroy the program but probably going to keep him another year.

 

[LXWildcat]

If we ended up with Drew, there’s a chance VJ could follow him to Kentucky. Add some older players a maybe a couple more recruits and you could have a solid team

 

[entropy13]

I'm apprehensive to post a positive about Cal, because some here have a freaking meltdown unless you group Cal with the worst people to ever walk the earth..

.. but he did make SOME changes last year, that most of this board really liked to see, and were almost in disbelief when he did them. The offense changes for examples. Even if those were Welch's doings, it was still Cal who knew he needed help here.

Do I think, hes going to fix all his problems, no. But maybe there's more things coming. And he has had talent like this in the past, and used it to stumble his way into Fainl 4's and championships games. Is Reed the type of player who could win games in spite of Cal trying to ruin it? I think it's possible.

Just trying to think of the few positives we have. It's not many.

This is not an unreasonable post. However, I think the entire situation with the program is so entirely toxic, changes have to be made, starting with Cal.

He's adversarial with the fans. He has no relationship with the AD. He burned all the bridges with the big UK boosters. That's not sustainable in the long term. The man is an arrogant narcissist. Stubborn to a fault.

I mean hell, if he'd played the Benny lineups the majority of the time the past two seasons, and which are/were supported by analytics, we most likely wouldn't have the panoply of Cal threads right now because the results would have been better.

 

[RunninRichie]

Oh yay, you're back to being a fake insider. I still remember when you told me Big O was too scared to drive his Porsche and then deleted the comment.

LOL I remember that.

 

[RunninRichie]

The #2 ranked class?

Tough crowd.

The 9-16 class was ranked #2..

 

[blubo]

bs

 

[Cat in ga]

Pearl would kill it here. Plays to win and gets good players. Imagine what he could do here. Donovan is a no, he’s made that known several times. Make Hurley or Stephens say no. Hell I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’d take Putin back at this point

 

[Cat in ga]

Pearl would kill it here. Plays to win and gets good players. Imagine what he could do here. Donovan is a no, he’s made that known several times. Make Hurley or Stephens say no. Hell I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’d take Putin back at this point

Pitino autocorrect to Putin wow

 

[LineSkiCat14]

This is not an unreasonable post. However, I think the entire situation with the program is so entirely toxic, changes have to be made, starting with Cal.

He's adversarial with the fans. He has no relationship with the AD. He burned all the bridges with the big UK boosters. That's not sustainable in the long term. The man is an arrogant narcissist. Stubborn to a fault.

I mean hell, if he'd played the Benny lineups the majority of the time the past two seasons, and which are/were supported by analytics, we most likely wouldn't have the panoply of Cal threads right now because the results would have been better.

I think we are 99% going to have a new coach by this time next year. The question just becomes, if we are sort of stuck waiting a year to really get the coach we want, while saving close to $10mil (which I imagine, that saved money will help with landing the next coach). We might just have to gut through another year.

 

[azubuikefan]

Offer Pitino a 5 year deal. Buy yourself some time.

No. He hired underage escorts. Stop it.

 

[blackcat714]

The #2 ranked class?

Tough crowd.

9-16 was number one ranked class

 

[LXWildcat]

Matt Jones just said Cal is coming back to town tomorrow, he’s currently in New Jersey and has been there since the loss. Said there’s a lot of people around Kentucky within the administration that want a change and he thinks it’s the most likely option they will go with

 

[LXWildcat]

Matt also said Jay Wright will most likely be Mitch’s first call he thinks there is some interest with Wright and Drew

 

[TOMCATS1990]

Wright is fine Drew ok but he will be a much better Coach than CAL.

 

[LXWildcat]

Wright is fine Drew ok but he will be much better Coach then CAL

Give me Jay Wright any day of the week

 

[TOMCATS1990]

Give me Jay Wright any day of the week

Watching Baylor Drewhas Coached his team back into the game pressing changing Defenses running good offensive sets.

 

[entropy13]

Watching Baylor Drewhas Coached his team back into the game pressing changing Defenses running good offensive sets.

What are these strange, foreign concepts of which you speak?

 

[HagginHall1999]

So Drew has now been to one EE in the past 12 years....

 

[TOMCATS1990]

What are these strange, foreign concepts of which you speak?

You find out next year hopefully

 

[wfc7]

Not sure if this was posted or not already but full quote below….

“On the administrative side, I've heard it's not as much a financial issue as it is a lack of clear-cut candidates you're certain will be upgrades over Coach Cal. If there was a guy Mitch Barnhart knew was a fit, he'd make a move. It just can't be an emotional decision without an answer you buy into completely with so much on the line.”

"They're tired of the underwhelming results," one source told KSR. "But if you move on, who do you go get? That's the question."

That would be on Mitch and would be a reason he would need to face consequences too. He should have been back-channel working on this from the beginning of the season because it was clear Cal was expected to perform better this year, or else. Of course, because of this, I’m not buying that this rumor has much merit. I think UK has been in conversation with representatives for other coaches for awhile in case of this very situation. So, if Cal stays, it’s because they will have given him one last chance with an agreement this is his last year at UK if certain metrics aren’t met to include a more appropriate focus on winning as a stated goal and a better relationship with the media, administration, and fans.

 

[ralphdaltonfan]

How would you feel about Billy Donovan?

That would be a no brainer but NEVER going to happen. Why would this even be brought up? He's not going back to CBB. Love to be wrong, but....

 

[HagginHall1999]

anything is possible, but it doesn't seem likely at this point

it just seems like whatever team he puts together just becomes a hot mess as it progresses, regardless of personnel

I mean he had POY, he went veteran heavy, we back to talented freshmen - and nothing lead to any success

Yep, that is why I thought it was funny when some of pundits kept yelling about 1AD. Cal tried old teams before most were doing it. Hell, I'm pretty sure Oscar was 25 years old his first year here.

I don't know what the issue is but he has lost his fastball or he was just incredibly lucky in the past.

 

[Fox2monk]

I mean, are we not reaching out to guys and at least inquiring? No one wanted to text Hurley just to see if he's open to the idea?

I also still like the idea of going somewhat of the interim route, hiring a mid major coach for a few years on the cheap, and seeing if he can be a great young coach that we just locked down for 20 years.

Of course, the other side of this, maybe a lot of these players are looking to come back and therefore, getting a new coach might change that. I still find it a little odd that here we are, 3 days after a brutal upset, and we've yet to have even 1 players say "I'm out, see yah". I figured we'd have heard 1 or 2 of these by now.

That’s a matter of time, plenty will be gone no matter what.

 

[ULisnotmyman]

U f’ing serious Mitch? U can GTFO too bruh…

 

[JRS_OH_Cat]

I mean from not likely to would happen…

Billy Donovan
Jay Wright
Danny Hurley
Scott Drew
Nate Oats
Bruce Pearl
Tang
Paris at South Carolina

I’d take any of these as an upgrade over Cal… if you can win at a smaller school UK sells itself we just need a damn coach that actually coaches!!

Ridiculous list.

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

People can say all they want that Cal is the only guy who can get the job done at Kentucky. But what about Duke? What about UNC? How are their seasons going with new coaches? They gambled on guys and now look at both teams.

Sadly, it’s looking like last year’s UNC team was a glitch in the system for Herbert. His other two years he’s made the Final Four and the Sweet Sixteen.

 

[RipThru]

There are 50 coach's in CBB that would be an upgrade from Cal. What has 10 loss Cal proven the last five years in either Tournament. He is so dumb he thinks he can take 5 star HS talent and beat grown men with basketball experience from portal. The players he recruits have one foot out the door when they step on campus.

Name them. I think it’s time for him to go as well, but some of this talk is hyperbole.

 

[ukalum1988]

Not sure if this was posted or not already but full quote below….

“On the administrative side, I've heard it's not as much a financial issue as it is a lack of clear-cut candidates you're certain will be upgrades over Coach Cal. If there was a guy Mitch Barnhart knew was a fit, he'd make a move. It just can't be an emotional decision without an answer you buy into completely with so much on the line.”

"They're tired of the underwhelming results," one source told KSR. "But if you move on, who do you go get? That's the question."

Do you have a link for this? This and other posts you’ve made set off my BS detector.