So much for the new hire........

[St.PatterSoN-54-]

......reuniting the fanbase.

I'll admit that I'm not thrilled with the hire, but I like Pope as a person, and think he's 5 times hungrier than Cal was his last 9 seasons.

I'm hopeful Mark can pull together a strong class from the portal and start this thing off right.

At the very least, I'm still excited that Calipari is gone, and that's enough for me to live on until we give Pope a chance.

 

[KYCAT78]

......reuniting the fanbase.

I'll admit that I'm not thrilled with the hire, but I like Pope as a person, and think he's 5 times hungrier than Cal was his last 9 seasons.

I'm hopeful Mark can pull together a strong class from the portal and start this thing off right.

At the very least, I'm still excited that Calipari is gone, and that's enough for me to live on until we give Pope a chance.

Give Pope a 3 year leash, I personally love having a guy as Coach who loves UK. I glad the clown and his clown show has hit the road. Pope cannot do much worse than our previous Coach has done the last few years and he is getting paid alot less money.

 

[bowfreak]

Personally, I’m excited. He will be a breath of fresh air. Fill out his coaching staff with some recruiters and a defensive minded coach and his style will take care of itself. Everyone wants to focus on the negative but you are looking at a guy who can be here a long time.

 

[rob_47]

Give Pope a 3 year leash, I personally love having a guy as Coach who loves UK. I glad the clown and his clown show has hit the road. Pope cannot do much worse than our previous Coach has done the last few years and he is getting paid alot less money.

3 years is a rather long leash

 

[Fox2monk]

Give Pope a 3 year leash, I personally love having a guy as Coach who loves UK. I glad the clown and his clown show has hit the road. Pope cannot do much worse than our previous Coach has done the last few years and he is getting paid alot less money.

I believe 3 years is perfectly reasonable and plenty of time in this day and age to build a competitive team.

 

[sam_o]

Mark Pope deserves the chance to be successful here. Hopefully in the next few days, the emotions wear off and our fans will get behind him as he takes over the program. He is going to do the best he can given the position Mitch is putting him in.

 

[Cleatortoises]

Hurley (king of college coaching) first 4 yrs at Conn
73-47
Billy D first 4 at FL
78-49
Pope first 4 at BYU
87-41
It will be okay.

 

[CASblue]

I think the shock is how out-of-the-blue this hire is. Here someone (Barnhart I assume) spent the entire day in NY getting turned down by Hurley, only to fly back and hire Pope. Like "oh well...F-it" I'll just hire Mark....

 

[OmahaCats]

3 years is a rather long leash

lol no it’s not

 

[PhattyJ4UK]

You can’t judge today with even five years ago.


The portal means we’re in a whole new era of college basketball and three years is perfectly plenty. Two is honestly. We’re Kentucky. Not byu. Not even uconn.

 

[BlueRunner11]

Its a MAJOR gamble. And yes, MB should be fired over a hire like this. But….

I think this could work.

 

[KA4Prez]

This hire united more of the fan base than Cal ever did. 90% hate this hire.

 

[Chief Paducah]

One thing I already like about him is who he will go get in the portal....shooters. BYU shoots a ton of threes, love to get up and go, shoot 3 pointers on the break. BYU presses at times, runs a zone when it is the right thing to do. Pope has a great demeanor and has an edge to him. People on here pine for the years of Pitino, well Pope is going to get us a taste of those years. He just has to be able to recruit and I think he will with his style of play and it just being UK with NIL.

 

[Bluegrassking]

3 years is a rather long leash

As compared to what?

It seems more like the bare minimum rational one.

 

[Rockfly78]

lol no it’s not

In today’s game it is. If the results aren’t there then they 3 years will feel like an eternity

 

[Seth_C]

I don’t know why everyone is so obsessed with the idea of “recruiting” still. That’s not what it is anymore. Schools buy players now. If Pope is given more guaranteed NIL than other teams, he can get players. There is a reason Calipari wanted guaranteed NIL money at his new job.

 

[K_TIME]

As compared to what?

It seems more like the bare minimum rational one.

What about compared to ole Kenny Payne

You just can’t come in here and miss the ncaa tournament two years….

 

[CatPatrick13]

As compared to what?

It seems more like the bare minimum rational one.

Agreed. I think the avg tenure at an nba team is like 4 or so years.

 

[frydaze]

This hire united more of the fan base than Cal ever did. 90% hate this hire.

Leave. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

 

[Kyhoward]

3 years is a rather long leash

Ellen’s roommate had UK fans on his leash the past 5 years!

 

[dl51344]

I don’t know why everyone is so obsessed with the idea of “recruiting” still. That’s not what it is anymore. Schools buy players now. If Pope is given more guaranteed NIL than other teams, he can get players. There is a reason Calipari wanted guaranteed NIL money at his new job.

This is what I am puzzled about when I keep seeing if he can recruit. You don't have to follow freshmen from grade school thru high school anymore. The Ky name gets you in the door and the money bags recruits the player. For the portal, if setup right, you tell your nil person who you want and they go after them with money bags in hand. Main thing is to make sure there is a good supply of money bags in nil, and it looks like there will be at Ky. As RP said yesterday we live in the ate of pro college basketball.

 

[bigblueinsanity]

......reuniting the fanbase.

I'll admit that I'm not thrilled with the hire, but I like Pope as a person, and think he's 5 times hungrier than Cal was his last 9 seasons.

I'm hopeful Mark can pull together a strong class from the portal and start this thing off right.

At the very least, I'm still excited that Calipari is gone, and that's enough for me to live on until we give Pope a chance.

Everyone is cheering for him. So we're united there. It's Mitch we're not united on and he pretty much doesn't count until he has to make another major hire.

 

[UKortho]

......reuniting the fanbase.

I'll admit that I'm not thrilled with the hire, but I like Pope as a person, and think he's 5 times hungrier than Cal was his last 9 seasons.

I'm hopeful Mark can pull together a strong class from the portal and start this thing off right.

At the very least, I'm still excited that Calipari is gone, and that's enough for me to live on until we give Pope a chance.

Same here. Kal was toxic,arrogant, lazy, etc Ourplayers (except one) didn’t give two shits about UK, the state, and Lex. It’s a great change- but there is a real risk in this hire. Looking forward to next year. Glad I renewed my tickets through the Cal mess. Knew I would wait the pos out.

 

[RexShepcat]

This hire united more of the fan base than Cal ever did. 90% hate this hire.

Coach Mark Popes lesser known BYU team beat Kansas, Baylor, Texas, Iowa State and North Carolina State this past season. Not bad IMO.

 

[BlueTick2]

After the Joker Phillips experience I will withhold my optimism.

 

[Bhad Rhabies]

I think the shock is how out-of-the-blue this hire is. Here someone (Barnhart I assume) spent the entire day in NY getting turned down by Hurley, only to fly back and hire Pope. Like "oh well...F-it" I'll just hire Mark....

I don’t think that’s what happened. I think he spoke with Pope and was wowed out of his shoes.

Pope is intelligent and passionately loves UK to the point where the guy is filming videos of him supporting UK on BYU’s court, and there’s interviews throughout the years of Pope talking about how much he loves UK.

When you start to look at the records, style of basketball, what he was working with at BYU, it becomes clear that Pope is a much better hire than we gave Mitch credit for initially.

I think Pope will be here 15 years. That’s how much I believe in this hire.

 

[kybloo92]

They just couldn't go on with the status quo of Calipari with 10 losses and a first round exit. At a minimum, with a good roster Pope can do that in year one if not better depending on how things shake out.

 

[Fox2monk]

Leave. Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

Just like Cal!

 

[lpkilla77]

NiL money aint keeping Big Z. Not on board till i see real recruiting success. And not guys ranked #50 portal or high school or worse. Thats a joke.

 

[MrHotDice]

Blocked neg

NiL money aint keeping Big Z. Not on board till i see real recruiting success. And not guys ranked #50 portal or high school or worse. Thats a joke.

Your the joke

 

[MonsterMash79]

Why can’t it be about what the coach does with the talent that he has? Doesn’t have to be a 5* to succeed lol.. It’s how they’re coached and I think Mark can do an awesome job compared to Cal.. You can recruit the best but if you can’t coach, what are you really getting out of it? I for one can’t wait to see an actual offense being ran. Plays executed out of a time out, actual X’s and O’s 🙏

 

[MrHotDice]

One thing I already like about him is who he will go get in the portal....shooters. BYU shoots a ton of threes, love to get up and go, shoot 3 pointers on the break. BYU presses at times, runs a zone when it is the right thing to do. Pope has a great demeanor and has an edge to him. People on here pine for the years of Pitino, well Pope is going to get us a taste of those years. He just has to be able to recruit and I think he will with his style of play and it just being UK with NIL.

I pine for Pressing defense. I think Pope will bring it.

 

[billoliver40]

NiL money aint keeping Big Z. Not on board till i see real recruiting success. And not guys ranked #50 portal or high school or worse. Thats a joke.

Just a real question :
How many players in the final four would have met that criteria?

 

[bigblueinsanity]

Why can’t it be about what the coach does with the talent that he has? Doesn’t have to be a 5* to succeed lol.. It’s how they’re coached and I think Mark can do an awesome job compared to Cal.. You can recruit the best but if you can’t coach, what are you really getting out of it? I for one can’t wait to see an actual offense being ran. Plays executed out of a time out, actual X’s and O’s 🙏

Don't have to be 5* but have to be much better than what he got at BYU. We're in this to win titles and Mitch paid him more than Danny Hurley.

So yes he needs to pull better guys.

 

[Bank Cat]

......reuniting the fanbase.

I'll admit that I'm not thrilled with the hire, but I like Pope as a person, and think he's 5 times hungrier than Cal was his last 9 seasons.

I'm hopeful Mark can pull together a strong class from the portal and start this thing off right.

At the very least, I'm still excited that Calipari is gone, and that's enough for me to live on until we give Pope a chance.

I have some faith that he will, Bill.

 

[Montana81]

......reuniting the fanbase.

I'll admit that I'm not thrilled with the hire, but I like Pope as a person, and think he's 5 times hungrier than Cal was his last 9 seasons.

I'm hopeful Mark can pull together a strong class from the portal and start this thing off right.

At the very least, I'm still excited that Calipari is gone, and that's enough for me to live on until we give Pope a chance.

I’m not thrilled with the hire but i’m in the same boat.

Win or lose it can still accomplish a few things that were desperately needed.

1. A culture change from players firsr back to Kentucky first, aka winning games being the #1 priority.

2. Ripping the the band aid off that was Cal’s roster building and recruiting strategy. We knew no matter when or how he left we were going to go into that off season with an empty cupboard. I’ve seen a few Cal cultists and a few non cultists that insisted we needed to hang onto him because they didn’t want to endure a mass exodus with a new coach. It never made sense to me. We have some really dumb fans. It’s maddening.

These were bridges that we should have crossed years ago tbh. It’s about damn time.

 

[awf]

This hire united more of the fan base than Cal ever did. 90% hate this hire.

90%......so you have done a poll.......you make foolish statements.......and no one listens to fools....

 

[MrHotDice]

I have some faith that he will, Bill.

33,000,000 saved from Kals crazy contract alone will make recruiting easier. UK will no longer be a place for the one and done but the place to go if you want to win a championships. I hate the NBA. It takes players to win championships. That is not what the NBA is about. Its about money

 

[Seth_C]

This is what I am puzzled about when I keep seeing if he can recruit. You don't have to follow freshmen from grade school thru high school anymore. The Ky name gets you in the door and the money bags recruits the player. For the portal, if setup right, you tell your nil person who you want and they go after them with money bags in hand. Main thing is to make sure there is a good supply of money bags in nil, and it looks like there will be at Ky. As RP said yesterday we live in the ate of pro college basketball.

This is the way. Pope is by all accounts a likable guy. He has an NCAA championship and a bit of NBA experience. He has the Kentucky brand. At that point, if he has more money bags than the people he’s recruiting against, he’ll do just fine.

People should take note of the “top recruits” the famed recruiter Calipari was getting in an NIL world. That’s what happens when you pissed off the money bag people. Give me someone who can actually coach and lots of money bags, please.

 

[Codeartist]

I know I'm probably in the minority here but I was completely against Cal and I'm completely against this hire. As much as I disliked Cal I think Pope is a worse coach. I don't really see how that can be disputed if you look at their resumes? There were many coaches I would have been excited by but this isn't one of them. I think he's worse than Hurley, Donovan, Drew, Pearl and many other of the names going around this board just a few days ago.