No doubt about it imo. The guy is who he is. A great man but not a very good college coach at this level. He’s got a career 60% win/loss record in his collegiate coaching career. That was NEVER gonna get it done here if we’re being honest with ourselves. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the man but this job is just way above his head and he’s done nothing to disprove that. Should’ve cut the cord as soon as we lost in the tournament imo.
We should’ve fired Pope the second this season ended
- Thread starter TreyzAllDay
- Start date
Amen. Has the best college basketball tradition in the United States as an after thought. Only time we make espn these days is when the governor talks about how bad it is.
I think the Pope pumpers realize it now too. its no longer 1996. you dont need 5 years to see your freshman get through your system. Is a new team every year and Pope was terrible at every aspect of the game. Coaching? terrible, Recruiting? Terrible, Player evaluation? Terrible, news media? guy said he thought about killing himself... there was never getting past any of this it was over and everyone knew except a few bozos who wish it was still the 90s.
Absolutely spot on. It’s really hard watching our basketball program become irrelevant.
The cats have won 2 national titles in the last 48 years, have the best tradition in the United States ? I think you are dreaming.
4 titles, 2 runner ups, and 10 final fours since 1977. What the hell are you saying? Did you forget 1996 or 1998? Gotta be a facebook boomer mom, with the name "rosie".
I am not so sure there are too many Pope pumpers remaining.
You can say whatever you want. This is a Kentucky board. Most people would agree with me on the best tradition part. I could choose to crap on my team tho.
Even if you needed five years he's going the wrong direction
You’re not good at math.
Kentucky has 4 championships in the last “48 years”
That is 2x2
How many does your school have in that time period? If you answer 6 ( UCONN) or 5 (Duke), I’ll fold my hand.
I wonder if Matt regrets giving the 3rd season his blessing, with the way this is going
He should have been left in Nashville after the Vandy game where the whole team quit. And his **** been sitting on the sidewalk when he finally got back to Lexington.
Bro, as much as I complained there is zero justification in firing a 2nd year coach who had 3 injured starters, but still won 20 games & won a NCAA tournament game. The PR would be disastrous.
One thing BBN fails to realize, you cannot treat people like crap & it not have repercussions on the program.
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In hindsight, yeah, I agree. I held out hope that maybe CMP could turn things around, get rid of some deadweight *cough*Mark*Fox*cough* and pick up some recruiters to compensate for his own weaknesses. But here we are, with one assistant coach still missing nearly a month later and Mark Fox still lurking in the shadows. I thought he was smart enough to change his methods to succeed. I was wrong.
Right now we’re a headless chicken. No direction, no leadership from either the AD or the head coach. We haven’t been in such a bad spot in decades.
Right now we’re a headless chicken. No direction, no leadership from either the AD or the head coach. We haven’t been in such a bad spot in decades.
“But but, we can’t just run off a coach that fast, who has had to battle so many unfortunate injuries, and has been used and abused on the recruiting front, and did we mention that he was Captain of the ’96 Championship team, and he’s an awesome husband and father, and he really really loves UK, and the fans, and he signs autographs and stuff, and he needs a 3rd season to get his players that fit his system, so let’s just see how this plays out, and give the man time to do his job, instead of being negative all the time!”
“Now, if after his 10th season, if he hasn’t shown marked improvement in those deficient areas, some hard conversations will have to be made about a possible coaching change after his 11th season, which we can discuss when the time comes, but until then, let’s rally behind our coach because he is currently hosting the 303rd best player in the portal, and we don’t want the negativity Nancy’s of BBN to scare that player off!”
“Now, if after his 10th season, if he hasn’t shown marked improvement in those deficient areas, some hard conversations will have to be made about a possible coaching change after his 11th season, which we can discuss when the time comes, but until then, let’s rally behind our coach because he is currently hosting the 303rd best player in the portal, and we don’t want the negativity Nancy’s of BBN to scare that player off!”
I think personally he does. But he can't really say anything like that too soon for his show. He has to keep a decently neutral reputation with this so he can get others on his show. So he can teeter just enough beyond each spectrum there to be safe. He doesn't want to burn any bridges is my guess.
Listening this morning, Matt in one breath says he doesn't see a top 25 program but also they also agree they have positivity. What in the fresh hell is this rat bastard situation
I think Matt has to say that about the positivity. But I don't like it. I wish matt would really tell us how he feels about Pope.
To think that I was the first to coin the term "Pope Pumpers" and it sticking is funny. Lol
But you're 100% correct on your assessment.
When Pope leaves here, he will say it was what needed to happen. Goober stuff
he'll say "i knew it from the Gonzaga game" or some bullsh*t
I love that we have a UK basketball oriented radio show because the fanhood wants it but this is the garbage that sums the show up. When the times eventually become good again, they'll soak up both that shite and the listener numbers
I’m gonna take it one step further. Pope should’ve never even been considered for the job to begin with. The minute I heard he was hired as the head coach, I got sick to my stomach. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see that this was going to be an absolute train wreck. Now once he was hired, I told myself I’m gonna give him a chance because he’s who we got. The first season went OK and I gave him a little bit of a pass. I saw this year‘s train wreck coming the minute the portal opened last year. He was missing left and right with every target he was going after. We were fed a line of BS with how good last year’s roster was supposed to be at the beginning of the season. I didn’t buy into it and I was crucified for it. You can’t sign a bunch of role players and expect to have a dominant team. The way it’s looking now. Next year’s team is going to be even worse.
Plenty of us have said that, but Mr. Barnhart in his infinite wisdom gives our extra years like they are nothing. Come coach here, if you beat NW Missouri state by 10 you get a year added to your contract!
Ohh they are on here just itching for something good so they can do the told so
There is only like 5 of them left. We as a fanbase should have went with our gut instinct when he was announced and made such a huge ordeal out of it that he would be forced to nix it and find a real coach. Like TA&M did to Stoops Poops.
Obviously. It’s not like we had a small sample size. Pretty clear to see what we had with 72 games out of the way.
yet you can find in this very thread his most ardent supporter making fun of you for stating the obvious.
yet you can find in this very thread his most ardent supporter making fun of you for stating the obvious.
It would be bad optics, he beat duke that one time, and he went to the sweet 16! It’s totally good optics, for UK to lose 16-20 games, and get abused in the portal, whiffing on every top target! And gosh dang it, he just loves the fans, did I mention he’s such a good husband and father?
I sometimes wonder if he regrets giving in so quickly the day Pope was hired, instead of going all out like Texas A&M.
Someone told him he/KSR has been too negative so today he was deliberately trying to find whatever positivity he could
Of course there is. Pope came to us with no resume. He’s on the job training as uks coach. This is UK. We don’t wait and watch while we know the coach is finished. We don’t waste seasons at Kentucky. We’re gonna get stuck with Pope with the attitude in the mentality too many people have this three-year mentality. If Pope, we’re a legit coach, he would’ve been to an elite eight or final four by now. He’s just figuring it out as he goes along. Kentucky has never been a place for you. Allow for on the job training.. not to mention Pope is part of the Barney regime. He’s kissed Barney’s butt to the moon and back and Barney is one of the most corrupt people to ever step foot in the state. You guys will find out soon enough.. all the people that defended him over the years when he was well passed his shelf date. This is what happens when guys pass a shelf date.. if they don’t wanna leave it’s because there’s their stuff there they don’t want people to see. The bottom line is this. I mean we’re set up for success if we go and we fill it out with Donovan and he says yeah I’d love to go to Kentucky Coach. We’re gonna let this guy who wants to get it right so bad but will never get it right we’re gonna continue and just have wasted seasons with this clown.. He hasn’t done anything to offset his non resume: I know former players who are pissed. I think a lot of people know former players who are mad with what’s happening. Did you guys not read the Derek Anderson article? About how they badmouth pope during the games on the 96 title chat they have. I feel like people didn’t read that article didn’t see it didn’t. And I feel like Kentuckians are becoming comfortable with 10-15 losses. We brought in pope because a Hall of Fame coach basically quit can’t even do a better job than a coach that checked out mentally.. once you see that you have to act man but we have no legitimate athletic Director. We have a Lane duck ad. Nobody there to fire Pope or to demand more. I’m sure he had no like end of season review. We still have brainwashed Kentucky fans defending Pope. I mean, he can’t get players they don’t want to play for him. His team scattered like rats once the season ended. They all or most of them signed with a new school very fast. I mean, Jalen Lowe who’s in all year whatever his name was oh boy was out in sign but I don’t know as soon as the freaking transfer portal open yet is team picked wait way before that. I don’t care about an injury every coach suffers an injury on their roster.. every single one. Injuries are not unique to UK.. I’ll see it one more time every team deal with injuries. That means we’re all on the same plane.. you don’t give a coach until he has no injuries. Because every year they’re gonna lose a player that’s valuable.
And let me say one last thing cause injury stuff the discussion of the injury stuff. It just makes me sick. There’s a pattern of players who played for Pope both seasons that just quit and I’m just gonna say it.. Jaxon Robinson, for instance he quit because he didn’t wanna play point guard he settled for elective surgery. Lowe I think you can make an argument that he quit.. I think you can art making an argument that he embellished injury because he too had elective surgery. My opinion it means doctor didn’t find a whole lot so the small thing they found they were like would you like to fix this? And these guys hated the season so bad that anything.. I mean JQ you’re gonna tell me that that guy that has been unhealthy for full season? As soon as the season ends, he’s working his *** off for the NBA draft.. there’s no injury this season. A lot of players were checked out for whatever reason and when they’re given a chance, Pope is a pushover man. So we have to end this discussion of injury when you don’t know whether players are injured or whether they’re just embellishing like Robinson did last year and I feel like couple guys this year. Use the same excuse.. I mean, pope recruited a big man that was already injured. So I know it’s a lot, but the injury excuse is invalid in this case..
The disastrous PR is losing and having Mark Pope as a coach because players don’t want to play for him. He has to pay guys far more than their market value to get them to come TO UK he is so bad he has to overpay guys to come to UK. Pope has a terrible reputation with recruits and that’s something that doesn’t change you don’t fix that. There’s so many red flags with Mark Pope. He’s already proven to be a failure in so many ways.. bring the brand itself is worthy of a tournament appearance and they’ll always try again in the tournament because UK brings money. That’s what Kentucky does for you gives you a floor of a sweet 16 even if you’re a bad coach. You have to be a really bad coach to negate the Kentucky effect.. and a guy with an awful résumé. Who has these types of results that you pull the plug ASAP and you pulled the plug on the guy that hired him. That’s a different thread..
That was a tough spot to put the fanbase in.
Our choices were begrudgingly buy in or absolutely eat one of our own through vocal revolt.
What we’re seeing now is why I am against hiring alums. It rarely works and when it goes south the fanbase turns on one of their own and devours them. Mitch should’ve learned from Joker.
Pope absolutely deserves a 3rd shot. That is the only logical conclusion after 2 injury riddled seasons at least that was the sentiment the moment this season ended IMO. Unfortunately the off season isn’t going well and now we’re realizing that the 3rd season probably isn’t going to be better because the players don’t have faith in him injuries or not.
Nobody should get a multi year contract until they prove it because now you could miss out on a proven coach with ties to the school and top talent can see the NBA experience.
Nobody should get a multi year contract until they prove it because now you could miss out on a proven coach with ties to the school and top talent can see the NBA experience.
Firing someone for not meeting expectations after paying them over 12 million for 2 years of work isnt treating them like crap.
Being critical of someone that’s being paid a top 10 salary in the profession for top 30 results isn’t treating them like crap.