We ran off a hall of fame coach and the greatest recruiter of all time for this…
We did this to ourselves, folks!
- Thread starter BleedBlue_22
- Start date
Forced Cal to meet with Arkansas. Or else!
No one seriously thought that our AD was going to throw all his eggs in the Scott Drew basket, get rejected and proceed to not bother to have a proper coaching search and settle with the one guy he knew would take the job regardless. And I won’t pretend that his religiousness wasn’t a major reason why he was Mitch Barnhart’s second choice.
If we knew that we were going to end up with CMP, I’m sure most of us would have happily dealt with Cal for a couple more years.
If we knew that we were going to end up with CMP, I’m sure most of us would have happily dealt with Cal for a couple more years.
Just because Pope is our worst hire of all time, it doesn't mean Cal was getting it done here.
It just means that Mitch the Incompetent is the greatest villain in program history.
It just means that Mitch the Incompetent is the greatest villain in program history.
Calipari won 1 NCAAT game in 4 years. With the #2 ranked class every season. Stop the revisionist history.
This. Most thought Mitch would make a good or great hire. He whiffed first
It was time for Cal to go. No hard feelings from me, but was definitely time. No one could have envisioned that our AD would hire someone who had zero actual coaching achievements. Pope shouldn't have been in the top 50 of candidates.
Sybau Cal is washed. Pope is trash, but he has had more success than cal did his last 5 years. The problem lies with Mitch.We ran off a hall of fame coach and the greatest recruiter of all time for this…
What is it with you people the 2nd thread begging Cal to come back on your knees. **** that he sucked too. He needed to be gone 5-6 years ago. Mitch should've been gone when he hired BCG on a napkin.... Then we wouldn't be in this Mark Pope mess!
We look so dumb to other teamsWe ran off a hall of fame coach and the greatest recruiter of all time for this…
The last two years of Cal. UK was a top 4 seed in the SEC and a 2 and 3 seed in the NCAA. We would all kill for that right now minus St. Peter’s and Oakland.
Running him off was 1000% the right call and past due. Hiring Pope was another mistakeWe ran off a hall of fame coach and the greatest recruiter of all time for this…
I really wanted Lloyd when the coaching search started. The fact that there was quite a bit of heat in the Lloyd to UNC rumors, then he’d probably have taken the UK job back in 2024 while he struggling to get past the Sweet 16 at the time. Too late now.
It was time for cal to go HOWEVER the karma boomerang is definitely punishing us for those who made Cal into a personal punching bag.
Some of the meanest vile crap was spewed about that man when it was completely undeserved.
He did a lot for our program and the people of Kentucky. He failed to adjust his strategy to work with the transfer portal and it got him. But those that treated him like he stole their woman are the reason we are where we are.
but when all is said and done- the crappy few years at the end of cal still led to a 2 and 3 seed that got knocked out early. Mark pope will never sniff a 2 seed.
many of you cussed his name and wished bad things on a guy for essentially losing two games. The same guy that gave us some of the best memories and times in a long long time.
It was pathetic.
Some of the meanest vile crap was spewed about that man when it was completely undeserved.
He did a lot for our program and the people of Kentucky. He failed to adjust his strategy to work with the transfer portal and it got him. But those that treated him like he stole their woman are the reason we are where we are.
but when all is said and done- the crappy few years at the end of cal still led to a 2 and 3 seed that got knocked out early. Mark pope will never sniff a 2 seed.
many of you cussed his name and wished bad things on a guy for essentially losing two games. The same guy that gave us some of the best memories and times in a long long time.
It was pathetic.
No thanks.
Do you realize that Cal and Pope aren't the only two coaches in college basketball? We need to end this experiment and find an actual coach. Shouldn't be that difficult.
At least Cal gave us a Ferrari to wreck. Pope is giving us a junkyard salvage that an embarrassment to drive around in.
This nonsense again.We ran off a hall of fame coach and the greatest recruiter of all time for this…
He's the stop gap. New AD can get rid of Pope. Hire him with no buyout while UK pays for the buyout of stoops and pope.
We ride that 3-5 year wave. He retires. We're happy and back on solid ground.
You say MINUS St Peter's and Oakland like it was a trivial thing. My recollection of those losses were a bit different. You also conveniently neglected to mention that season he lost more games at UK than any coach since the Titanic sunk. Gimme a break!
A literal Covid Season where we didn’t even have attendance, played in empty arenas with mask on. It wasn’t a real season. That same season is one of the only season where Pope has single digit losses. Even Baylors national championship has an asterisk. Those two games were huge and cost Cal his job but up to those games we were relevant and good. Killed Kansas at Kansas, had a national player of the year, had two top ten draft pics. Made the finals in the SEC tournament. I look at the big picture. Duke and Kansas have suffered some terrible first round losses as well but those last two seasons for Cal eclipses anything Pope has done, minus a weak win over Troy, Illinois and a prayer from the heavens over Santa Clara.
Oh it wasn't a "real season" yet somehow its listed in all the record books. You sir can polish turds with the best of them
I was not one of those calling for Calipari to be fired, but at the same time I thought it was time to part ways.We ran off a hall of fame coach and the greatest recruiter of all time for this…
However, we did not "run him off", he ran himself off with his performance.
His last 4 years:
9-16 (worst season for UK in past 100 years)
1st round NCAA-T loss to a 15-seed
2nd round NCAA-T loss
1st round NCAA-T loss to a 14 seed
(1 NCAA-T win over 4 years, and 2 of our worst 3 NCAA-T losses in UK history!!!)
Yes, he has been better (but still not elite) the past 2 years, I think because by UK not begging him (paying him more) to stay re-motivated him; but he's not been significantly better than Pope in terms of winning.
Pope (46-26, 20-16 SEC, 3-2 NCAA-T)
Cal (50-23, 21-15 SEC, 4-2 NCAA-T)
Those 3 post season wins we enjoyed over the last 5 years the great recruiter cal was here sure were fun times. No matter what happens from here we will always have those fond memories to look back on,We ran off a hall of fame coach and the greatest recruiter of all time for this…
I was as ready for Cal to leave as the next guy, but I always had a “careful what you wish for” sense of caution.
I am not clamoring for the return of Cal, but perhaps if hindsight would’ve been available, recruiting well and being just above mediocre is much better than recruiting poorly and being firmly mediocre.
I am not clamoring for the return of Cal, but perhaps if hindsight would’ve been available, recruiting well and being just above mediocre is much better than recruiting poorly and being firmly mediocre.
No, UK’s NIL position, or lack there of, ran Calipari off, not the fans and not Mitch. And it will be what gets Pope ousted, and it will be the same reason UK will have to settle for a mid major replacement!
Folks, eventually the excuses are going to run dry, and you are going to have to face reality…
UK was never going to be in a position to compete with the majority of high caliber programs in the NIL era, they just weren’t!
You can’t rely on a relatively few majority boosters, and expect them to fork over millions of dollars year after year, with little to nothing to show for it, it’s just not sustainable!
The vast majority of programs with boosters doing it now, will be the next to say, no more, after the novelty wears off and their bank accounts are $50 million+ lighter!
Just think about it for a second… A few dozen teams, having to spend north of $15 million annually just to hope that their team can make a FF, and then only one will walk away with the trophy, everyone else will have totally flushed that $$$ right down the toilet, and do it all over again hoping for a different result!
Unfortunately, UK is just a little too early to the party, but it’s going to become more widespread, because these rich donors are just bleeding $$$, and THAT’S before we even consider football
Folks, eventually the excuses are going to run dry, and you are going to have to face reality…
UK was never going to be in a position to compete with the majority of high caliber programs in the NIL era, they just weren’t!
You can’t rely on a relatively few majority boosters, and expect them to fork over millions of dollars year after year, with little to nothing to show for it, it’s just not sustainable!
The vast majority of programs with boosters doing it now, will be the next to say, no more, after the novelty wears off and their bank accounts are $50 million+ lighter!
Just think about it for a second… A few dozen teams, having to spend north of $15 million annually just to hope that their team can make a FF, and then only one will walk away with the trophy, everyone else will have totally flushed that $$$ right down the toilet, and do it all over again hoping for a different result!
Unfortunately, UK is just a little too early to the party, but it’s going to become more widespread, because these rich donors are just bleeding $$$, and THAT’S before we even consider football