Bruce Pearl would have been terrible here.
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Best i remember about that elite 8 game against Auburn, PJ Washington missing some key FT that cost us, however, he played his *** off in that game other than the misses.
Pearl at UK in the NIL era would be a serious contender. The folks telling you otherwise are people who want UK to fail. There are no guarantees in winning a title, and too many things can happen along the way to detail a run. But Pearl would probably put us in a position to have the players to be in the hunt year after year.
He's not the only good candidate out there. What we are dealing with is a scenario where Pope isn't the answer. There's probably a dozen or more coaches who could do great things with our resources. But you also have to have the admin in place and a strong AD to make the right hire.
He's not the only good candidate out there. What we are dealing with is a scenario where Pope isn't the answer. There's probably a dozen or more coaches who could do great things with our resources. But you also have to have the admin in place and a strong AD to make the right hire.
I would've taken him in a heartbeat considering what we have right now, however, one thing I don't like about him is the undisciplined stuff, he let's his teams jack up shots whenever they want it seemed to me, kind of like Nolan Richardson did. If we're being honest though, he should at the very least have a national runner up on his resume, that Virginia player walked & got away with it before hitting that late 3, Auburn should've won that game & played for the national championship.
I never liked Pearl. Carnival barking jackass is my description of him. He’s a good motivator, average recruiter known to recruit absolute turds, has many early NCAA flameouts as a high seed, teams play without discipline and the shoot selection is hideous at times.
Had a losing record against Clyde and was Cal’s ***** for the better part of 15 years.
Sure, he’d probably be better Pope and I would support him if hired, but never would love him.
Had a losing record against Clyde and was Cal’s ***** for the better part of 15 years.
Sure, he’d probably be better Pope and I would support him if hired, but never would love him.
Haven't adjusted? B2B elite 8's and #1 recruiting classes with excellent portal hauls. Amazon just signed a three game deal with them but hey we got JMI.
Pearl won a D 2 title, has reg season conference titles, sec tournament title, and a final 4. Kinda decent prerequisites
Bench coach is just one part of it. Peak 2010-2015 Cal had a run like Pearl has never had. That doesn't mean you have to think Cal is the greatest and should still be here, but to say that we didn't have things rolling then is crazy.
I like you Cowboy and the way you respectfully post, but If by bench coach you mean making tactical decisions I have to disagree. Neither guy is considered great at making in-game adjustments, but besides watching Pearl I’ve also sat directly behind the Auburn bench and been able to mainly hear everything Pearl said (when talking only a little louder than one-on-one normal conversation level). From my experience, Pearl is a cheerleader on the sidelines, not a tactician. I never heard him offer any instruction to his players other than “good job” “you’ve got to fight” or “we want this more than them” type statements all game long. During the game I saw him grab his white board one time – and this is true – and then almost immediately he handed it back to an assistant and didn’t use it. Although admittedly the game was lost for his team by that time.
HOWEVER, all that said, that doesn’t mean he’s not a good coach. What matters is a coach’s ability to get his team over the finish line with a win. And motivator’s can OFTEN do that much better than good X & O guys. In fact, I have some first-hand experience with seeing a great motivator get the better of an infinitely better X & O coach. And I think Pearl is one of, if not the best motivators in CBB. Which is why I agree with you that he would have probably been successful at UK. But I’ll never agree that Pearl is a good bench coach - or even a better bench coach than Calipari (who I also don’t think is a great bench coach, but has other things he was good at as well).
This notion that a coach just magically jumps up several levels in recruiting when he comes here simply isn't true. Pitino and Cal were great recruiters before and after UK. Other coaches in my lifetime didn't show remarkable improvement in recruiting just by coming to UK. You can't just say "X coach is good here, so will be GREAT at UK." It doesn't work that way. At least not anymore.
Cal was starting to bring in elite talent while at Memphis. I'm pretty sure he was pretty in with Wall and company while there and convinced them to switch.
Also, he's not having much trouble at Arkansas either.
We have different opinions on what all coaching entails. Here is what I do know...even when we would play Auburn and I wanted to beat their ***, there was never any denying that his teams played a fun style, played good defense, and every one of them played their butt off. Ill take that for starters
Peak Cal, Cal in the entire decade and a half he was here resulted in one championship. With the talent he brought in, he should have won 5-6
He would have almost definitely done better than Pope if that’s the bar we’re setting. I do actually agree that the people who act like hiring him would have guaranteed a championship are overstating their case though.
I think all the “if he could do that at Auburn, imagine him with our resources” talk is mostly a relic of a bygone era, and that we would have mostly seen the same kind of teams he had at Auburn. Granted, he had a couple of teams who could have won a championship with a little better luck, so I’m not saying it would have been impossible, but he also had a few years where we’d start talking about how he wasn’t maintaining the standard in between those Final Four trips.
I think all the “if he could do that at Auburn, imagine him with our resources” talk is mostly a relic of a bygone era, and that we would have mostly seen the same kind of teams he had at Auburn. Granted, he had a couple of teams who could have won a championship with a little better luck, so I’m not saying it would have been impossible, but he also had a few years where we’d start talking about how he wasn’t maintaining the standard in between those Final Four trips.
I don’t know if he would have been a great hire. But compared to Pope?
He’s light years better than Pope.
He’s light years better than Pope.
I agree, Duke is doing all the right things from an administration point of view. But my argument was that they are still running the same actions that was being run under coach K. If their coaching was as innovative as their administration they would have won back to back championships. I'm glad they haven't.
Bruce & Pitino would have been bad hires then and would also be bad hires today, even with Pope's demise. Those two guys are NOT what we need, yet every day some one cries, fire Pope and hire Bruce/Pitino. Pope is not going to be fired at the earliest, next season end. Why can no one understand that Pope is our 2026-2027 head basketball coach. Pope may surprise everyone and earn a 4th year. That seems very doubtful but stranger things have happened. Bruce should never be mentioned as a future coach of UK basketball, that shvt will never happen. I think the same goes for Pitino.
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Not defending Bruce but any coach can have the most talent and best team and still not win the Championship because so much luck is involved. The fact that he did not win a championship has zero to do with him not being a great coach. I will go on record and say that Rusty May will probably NEVER win another championship. He may have the best players and best team again some year but maybe not have the luck required to win.
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Pearl would've been perfect for this job, but unfortunately he can't stop ranting on social media. But he was literally made for this job, every single aspect of it otherwise.
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Sheeeiiittt...Billy Joe Wildcat would love those rants. Match made in heaven
Why would they publicly announce every phone call or communication they had?..
If you honestly think no one would hire Pearl to coach their team, may I suggest you are blinded by YOUR personal issue(s) with him?
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He would do a great job of promoting the university too. That is a big part of recruiting with the high school talent. I believe he would have been great at UK.
I wouldn't clump Pitino in with those two - Pitino is a lever puller who squeezes the most out of his players. He's also smart. I can't say that for the other two.
Pearl would have been a horrible choice. Need a smart technician that fits the culture. I don't feel like Lucas is the guy. Oats, or Hodgson would have been a great choice.
So you think Pearl and Pitino would be bad hires but you don’t say why. Well you are dead wrong and either one would have been better than Pope back two years ago or now. Wake up.