Sounds like Self retiring is our only shot.
MO WILLIAMS HIRED AS AN ASSISTANT
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I didn’t read this thread but I assume everyone is bashing pope for hiring this guy and not hiring Jason crowes father. Maybe Travis Perry dad will be the next one hired
Said in the other thread he could be Pope’s Rod Strickland.
Someone who can evaluate, recruit, develop that position and has the credibility having done the job at the highest level
Mo was a very good player. Has HC and recruiting experience.
Someone who can evaluate, recruit, develop that position and has the credibility having done the job at the highest level
Mo was a very good player. Has HC and recruiting experience.
Assistants are very important. I felt like Pope was a little rushed and frankly did a poor job putting together his staff. I believe that's the reason we looked so unprepared to start games this season. It looks like he's going to attempt to fix this problem this off season. We shall see.
WELCOME COACH!!
Rushed? AB3 was one of the best recruiters in the country when Pope scooped him up. And Hart had some hype from his G League connections. I don't think it's fair to say he was rushed and made bad hires. He WAS the bad hire.
Yeah yeah. We all get it. Pope sucks. We know where you stand dude, give it a rest.
Agreed. He wants to coach his son. Pope wants Mo and Mason is also a perfect guard for Pope’s system. But, the coach was the target.
I understand you're a Pope guy, but being honest now...which of these is wrong?
1. AB3 was hired as an assistant here, 3 years after he won a national title as lead recruiter at Baylor. He was a good hire. It would be absurd to argue otherwise. It didn't work out but hindsight is 20/20
2. Pope got hired by the biggest program in the history of college basketball as head coach, before he had won a single NCAA tournament game, or conference title, or conference tournament. That was a bad hire. Even if you like Pope as a person or think he's overachieved so far, surely we can agree that that was a bad rushed hiring job by Mitch.
According to Jacob Poopycheck another coach to keep an eye out is Kevin Keatts
Here's the thing. Folks and those in your camp think that just because someone doesn't trash Pope every post then he must be "A Pope Guy." I'm not a Pope guy. I hope he works out because it would be better for the program if he does. Do I think he will? I don't know. I doubt it. But he's getting another year. Instead of just saying Pope sucks every post like you, I prefer to talk about solutions and what went wrong, and how it could potentially be fixed. Either it will or it won't. I personally think he didn't put together a good staff overall. That's on him, not a defense. I simply said he looks like he's changing things up. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. We will find out.
My camp? I'm not aligned with any camp. I just get on here to talk ball. Maybe you're mistaking me for someone else.
And to be fair to me, not all of my posts are about how Pope sucks. Maybe like 3/4 of them. I just don't like crapping on qualified and accomplished assistants to prop up Pope. He doesn't deserve that imo. You can hope or think that the assistants were to blame but there is nothing to suggest that that is true. Pope's the head guy, he ultimately signs off on all the decisions.
I was excited about Brooks and Hart for recruiting. And even Fueger because he was instrumental in Pope's "video game offense".
I was disappointed that Fox was hired but hopeful that that was just a "scratch my back" gig since Fox started Pope's career.
So yeah overall I thought initially it was a solid staff. Again, hindsight is 20/20 on the recruiting stuff. We shall find out soon enough who the problem with recruiting was.
There's a "special" group on here that know more than all the rest of us and they immediately called it a downgrade (or worse)
That's not my point. My point is he's never done it before. Coaching at UK shouldn't be somewhere someone proves that they can do something they've never done before. Pope isn't in a position to hire those guys. At least when Hart and Brooks were hired, there was proof they could do what they were being asked to do because they had done it before. It's why they didn't do it at UK that should be a concern.
his last 4 years of 3 point shooting stats: 30%, 32%, 30%, 21%
he is tiny and cant shoot.....unless he is as fast the Flash i don't think it matters.
Agree he needs to be able to shoot better than those stats but quickness is second most important thing after shooting. No one has mentioned assists or handle. Wasn't he conference player of the year? Must have done something right?
We took a 4 star to get his dad, who is a former NBA all-star and NBA champion. I know you know that, but I just wanted to reply to make it obvious to everyone that you are behaving like a child.
Sad thing is... thats an equally fair assessment.
We don't have any data or insight to know what the recruiting issues were, and can only guess. We were clearly unprepared to start games this season. Played as a completely different team from the Purdue game forward.
Pope may BE the issue. May not be also, but Alvin Brooks WAS NOT. Likewise, I don't see Hart being the issue. Did no one get along on the staff (did they all have different visions)? Or is the JMI stuff REALLY the problem after all?
“Behaving like a child” by mentioning the ridiculousness of having to do this for a four star?
Anyone disagreeing with your 100% sunshine pumper BS is “behaving like a child.”
There was nothing in my post that was out of bounds. You’re just sensitive.
If we have to make deals to get the 134th ranked player in the country to come play here we are in the trouble. I don’t doubt it wasn’t part of a deal but were we even looking at his son before this? I doubt it.
I don’t think he was rushed, he got a couple guys who were highly thought of. I wonder if Fueger is an issue? He’s been with Pope the longest and is supposedly the analysis guy. Pope has played the same with him at his side evaluating players and game planning. We will find out next season when everyone is new except him.
Why do you let the opinions of others get under your skin? Who cares?
LOL, what? I made a statement… . a very true statement.
But for the record, the smount of flaming coming my way because I'm not spitting fire st Pope, is ridiculous.
You seem to be kind of in the middle- not pro or against Pope. More even keel. Just surprised.
I'm not really in the middle. I'm 60/40 Pope. I'm more interested in giving Pope a fair shot. He earned that 3rd year by what he did last year. How soon we all forget.
2025/26 might be his worst year here and that's because it wasn't built right, it had injuries and it had a serious chemistry problem. He still made the tournament. Most coaches wouldn’t.
If Butler and Robinson don't get injured, that team might get to an E8 and possibly the FF.
If he doesn't live up to expectations next year, I'll be ready for him to move on.
But right now, it doesn't matter what he does, the torch and pitchfork gang has nothing good to say.
Yeah that's a good point. Could very well be Fueger. Whoever does the game planning is awful. Maybe it's Pope, I don't know. But like you said, we will most likely find out next season.
We didn't make the deal to get his son. Ffs people can't read. We made the deal with his father. His son is the bonus.
From what was reported the son committed without any thought regarding the father coming on staff. Pope and Mo Williams (maybe the son too) have the same agent/agency and after the son committed the agent asked Pope what he would think about the father as an Asst. Coach. Pope expressed some surprise that the father was willing to do that considering he's a head coach at a Div. I program and not considered to be in any "hot seat" situation; and Pope was all for it.
Regardless of how that coach hire situation went down, I'm very happy with the Mason Williams commitment. That's a future starting PG prospect in my mind, and I think he plays meaningful minutes as the back-up PG as early as next season - not because he has to, but because he's good enough to. He has a more mature body than often seen with incoming freshmen PGs. He doesn't seem to get sped up easily. And I love his shot - not just 3pt. range, but from anywhere - great form and soft touch. If it were me I'd hope one of my portal 2G options could be the 3rd-string PG in a pinch; and if not find a cheap 3rd-string open-only-in-case-of-emergency PG option somewhere.
He’s a top 15 point guard in the country. You missing that?
There is really nothing good to say about a man that took a job he was extremely unqualified for and we have to watch this dumpster fire because some people feel like he needs to get a fair shot. He should have never gotten a shot at all being so unprepared for the job. Can you or anyone else justify to me why he deserved this job other than being a former player? If so please do so. Otherwise just stfu and let all the others vent.