Pope had to shop at the thrift store this year..... He wasn't aloud to shop with the big kids...
NIL Spenders Per Sean Miller
- Thread starter BookofMormon
- Start date
Consequences to wasting $20 whatever million last year.
I'd say that the definition of Blue Blood has been defined through a few decades. It's more of a past tense term now that the 5 teams are held up against, with only 2 really showing their worth. UConn could be called a new blood, perhaps that's term for both.
He could have been a combination of Hugh Hefner and Liberace and he’d still whiff.
i think both things are true. pope wasn't given a blank checkbook to spend whatever he wanted. but he also completely miss read his targets. stokes and freeman were never going to come here. yes he had to do more with less but where he decided to spend on we had no chance.
now we are totally screwed with a roster that just cracks the top 50.
Mark pope did this to himself. He is incapable of building a roster that could complicate their plans plan to fire him if he had 20 million dollars? How do I know? Because we just watched him go 22-14 with a 22 million dollar roster. He still missed out on players because he sucks as a coach, he doesn’t develop players, he can’t get players to the NBA. He is one of the worse head coaches in the SEC, and country, considering wins-losses AND recruiting
this summer will be the final nail in the coffin. if we exit the summer without a commit or two despite shaking up the staff than its just clear pope cant continue to coach here after his 3rd season. you cant run a high level program and be unable to attract players. its just not sustainable.
I miss the days when players were paid by airport envelopes and hookers
Will be a lot of 20 million dollar rosters with below average results next season.
Speaking of Sean Miller, he would have crawled on hand and knee to be the coach at UK. Second year at Texas and already has them a contender. WTF did the hiring committee and Mitch even do three years ago.
Was reading the North Carolina boards and a lot of them believe Duke is eventually going to have their own TV package like Notre Dame football . As soon as the ACC dissolves .
When pope is replaced we might see who we can replace him with given our annual NIL money. I really don’t think we can keep up with the big spenders. We simply don’t have the numbers who can give a couple of million dollars each and every year.
One of the reasons I had some optimism for Pope to still find his way through this was by having a high enough budget relative to the rest of college basketball to buy his way to relevancy.
It became obvious this spring that the rest of the power players caught up financially and a decent amount passed us…then I went “uh-oh, he’s in trouble now”.
If part of that set aside Stokes money is pulled off the table, I just don’t see him being able to pay a star to come from Euro or draft opt outs. Gonna be a couple of role players with upside from overseas and the Pope hot seat will be scorching.
It became obvious this spring that the rest of the power players caught up financially and a decent amount passed us…then I went “uh-oh, he’s in trouble now”.
If part of that set aside Stokes money is pulled off the table, I just don’t see him being able to pay a star to come from Euro or draft opt outs. Gonna be a couple of role players with upside from overseas and the Pope hot seat will be scorching.
That was one of the worst decisions I've ever seen from a head coach. Why would you perpetuate such a narrative? It was never going to help the cause. Whether true or not, just deny and move on.
Did Pope think other schools would be intimidated and just wave the white flag? Instead he ran with it and got painted into a corner.
Oh don't say that! Some on here think Miller is awful. A few even contended Pope was better.
Texas is lined up to do well moving forward. Miller has limited expectations and plenty of NIL.
********, if they really planned on firing him at the end of next season they wouldn't give him a dime of their money. Why not just go ahead & fire him right now if that were the case, it makes no sense at all to give a coach millions of your money to just fire him anyways. They may not give him as much money this year but he's signing players that fit his system this season rather than overspending for role players like last year, Mo & Aberdeen were 6th men at Florida & Alabama. If anything, they may be asking him who he wants to sign & then decide if it's worth it to give him that much for said player or not, above the rev share agreement & how much they've alloted him. I know so many people on here hate Matt Jones but he knows people inside the program, he said it was nowhere near 22 million, that **** came out of the goofy looking ****** Jeff Goodman's mouth. Maybe I'm wrong but if I was a rich booster & planned on firing Pope after next season, I'll be damned if I'd give him one red cent.
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You might be right. Kentucky would probably never bring back a dead man walking.
Idk if you're being facetious or not but like I said, if I'm firing a coach anyways, I ain't giving him ****.
Texas has a chance to be in that convo too. They’re notoriously big spenders in revenue sports since NIL started
I was being facetious; sorry about that.
I'd have fired him but I just don't think UK has the balls to do something like that after 2 years without a scandal. I'm sure they'd have liked to have given him next to nothing but that would have been obvious sabotage. But it's all on Pope now. He can add another 2 guard and it's a roster some coaches could have a good year with and he can do the same if he wants a fourth year.
I think the current roster has the potential to be better than last year, obviously they need another big man but right now, they have 2 guards that can create, legit point guards & they have more shooting, both of these are improvements. Time will tell.
Miller is who I wanted the moment Cal announced he was leaving.
I really dont understand that though... duke competes for fans in north Carolina with UNC and NC state...so how do they have enough fans for that. Their games bring big ratings due to people watching hoping they lose ...so haters aren't buying a TV package to watch duke hoping they lose.
Kentucky games bring biggest ratings as well... thats why you would think we would be the next team to get some sort of deal like dukes amazon deal ...maybe with Netflix.
But mitch and Eli Crapiluto have screwed us so bad with JMI and everything else I dont kmow
I’ve always heard that very few fans in North Carolina are Duke fans . Supposedly ,the vast majority of their fans are in the north east . But I think you’re underestimating how many Duke fans there are nationwide.
The term Blue Blood has absolutely zero weight these days - no one cares. That club is kapoot. Anyone holding on to that has their head in their head in the clouds.
As a UK fan, this makes me sad. Our “premiere blueblood” status is our claim to fame. It’s hard to accept that it no longer means much.
But I think you’re basically right. Today’s players are just programmed differently. They couldn’t care less about history, tradition and stuff that happened before they were born. It’s only about what they’re gonna get out of it now.
This is going to be more important than a lot of fans realize…
If UK wants another big name/ resume coach to replace Pope, they will have to show/ pledge a qualifying NIL commitment annually, part and parcel from a competitive salary package, or that coach will wait for the job that can!
Imagine the money spent building the Craft Center, being the money necessary to fund the men’s basketball program for a mere season and a half now!
That’s just crazy to think about… A new “practice” facility built every 18 months, for the same $$$ its takes to buy a championship contending team, in the same time period, and that’s if UK lucks into the right coach!
Good luck finding enough deep pocket boosters in Kentucky willing to fund that craziness, year in and year out… And THAT’S before the football roster is even taken into consideration!
It's about the coach - and the NIL.
The term "blue blood" was only relevant when prestige and tradition mattered. It means 0 right now. There is not a kid out there that cares about titles in the 40's and 50's, which is the majority of UK's.
Why? Because people just become duke fans that have no affiliation with the state or school...
Duke is only 17,000 students and UK is 38,000