How is Pope still here?

[FireMarkPope]

I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Cal wasnt fired after 9 and 16 or losing to a 15 seed or even a 14 seed. I know its apples to oranges as Cal won a lot that matters. Pope never has won anything. But UK seems to take a while to pull the plug.

Due to injuries Pope was always gonna get a 3rd season. It is what it is.

 

[TigerMoving]

Zero chance Mitch was gonna fire him on his way out. J Batt will get to make that call and we are better off for it. Mitch would have probably replaced him with Scott Drew or something similar.

 

[chroix]

Once he signed his contract there was zero chance he was getting fired in his first two years without doing something really wrong. You're fooling yourself if you thought it was going to go any other way.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"

Did your other account finally get banned?

Firing any coach after just two seasons is extreme and should be reserved for extreme situations. The shortcomings have not been extreme. When considering injuries and the toughest schedules in UK history the results are about what should be reasonably expected.

 

[Cats4321]

He probably shouldn't be here honestly. However, he is and I hope we are great this year. But if he doesn't put a top level team on the floor this year,, then he has to be gone. With his lack of success in his coaching career, 3 years would be a very fair evaluation period.

 

[Catastic5]

Most coaches get 3 years in to figure things out. Clearly the situation with Gillispie was untenable with the stuff going on behind the scenes. Pope is just bad at his job, not really doing anything that would constitute firing.

 

[Kantucke_rivals]

Barney,. and his sweet heart deal with the 1 yr automatic extension for making the sweet 16. I can see automatic extension for making the elite 8 or 4, but the sweet 16?

Just wild that Barney set the sweet 16 as the standard for Kentucky Basketball.

 

[CRZ4UK]

Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.

 

[Anon1773686487]

Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.

Golden is a product of 3 good players, when their frontcourt graduates he will be done, hurley is likely the best coach of the last 3 decades

Pope isnt a good recruiter and just an okay xs and os guy

so please stop with whatever your agenda is

 

[Resignmarkpope]

I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"

Couldn’t say it better myself!

 

[Hunting9]

Did your other account finally get banned?

Firing any coach after just two seasons is extreme and should be reserved for extreme situations. The shortcomings have not been extreme. When considering injuries and the toughest schedules in UK history the results are about what should be reasonably expected.

This ^. OP has one post and it’s on a subject that’s been beat to death. I’m not a Pope fan by any means but OP is a total phony. PLEASE don’t reply.

 

[Resignmarkpope]

Couldn’t say it better myself!

Mark pooop of a coach pope

 

[UKWildcats1987]

Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.

Compare pope to other uk coaches first 2 seasons.

He has a fat nil war chest and more advantages than any prior UK coach.

Do those comparisons please.

 

[Catastic5]

Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.

It’s been almost 4 months since Mitch has been gone and recruiting has still gone poorly. I’ve seen nothing from this coaching staff recruiting-wise that had changed since Barnhart has been gone.

 

[Resignmarkpope]

This ^. OP has one post and it’s on a subject that’s been beat to death. I’m not a Pope fan by any means but OP is a total phony. PLEASE don’t reply.

Mark pope isn’t a top 25 coach! Do you think the Kentucky job is a top 5 job? 7th in sec is pitiful! Pope is what he is.

 

[Snarks]

He shouldn’t have been hired in the first place. If he hadn’t played here would he have even been in the conversation? No. This is why you don’t hire someone merely because they played here.

Unfortunately Mitch gave him a bad contract. He’s already got an extra year simply for making the sweet 16. We’re also still paying off Stoops boneheaded contract.

This better be the year for Pope though. Seems like we’re on a great track in football, but I’ve never been less interested in basketball.

 

[UKBB4Ever]

I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"

Pope should have been fired at Vandy last season. Not allowed to travel home with the team. His stuff sitting on the curb when he finally did get back to Lexington.

 

[Cats4321]

Compare pope to other uk coaches first 2 seasons.

He has a fat nil war chest and more advantages than any prior UK coach.

Do those comparisons please.

This is true. MUCH easier to have immediate success now. In previous eras, you had to give a coach time to get "his guys". Every team is basically brand new now, so that is completely out the window.

 

[BlueWorldOrder74]

Mark was always getting year 3. From the start. And that is fine and I have no problem with it. But if he don’t win big this season he has to go.

My biggest complaint is why he was ever hired in the first place. I know we were all blinded by the dog and pony presser. Let’s be real, that was an awesome event. But that Thursday night meltdown was completely warranted and legit. He should have never been considered and not even part of the thought process.

 

[Ednunn]

Les Miserables

 

[Jazzycat]

He was a sentimental pick and the AD needed that after the way Calipari left. Pope has this year to make it to the elite eight, at most…I really hope he is successful.

i

 

[FireMarkPope]

Most coaches get 3 years in to figure things out. Clearly the situation with Gillispie was untenable with the stuff going on behind the scenes. Pope is just bad at his job, not really doing anything that would constitute firing.

Bad at their job is the reason most coaches get fired.

 

[Snarks]

This is true. MUCH easier to have immediate success now. In previous eras, you had to give a coach time to get "his guys". Every team is basically brand new now, so that is completely out the window.

This. I never want to hear about how Pope needs time. Dusty May and Cignetti both won it in year 2. Will Stein is doing great in year 1. It’s possible with the right coach…..which we don’t have.

 

[FireMarkPope]

Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.

Hurley had had meaningful success at lower levels and was building a program that was in dire straits before his arrival in the pre-portal pre-NIL era. Oats and Golden did remarkably well in their first two years relative to expectations and budget. Are you saying we should have the same expectations for basketball as UF and Bama?

 

[PooPooPeePeePoo]

I truly believe Pope’s ceiling is an elite 8. And that’s me being generous. That’s not UK standard and never should be. An automatic contract extension for a sweet 16 is pathetic and loser behavior. There’s a reason why Duke/Uconn/Michigan is the golden standard right now while UNC/UK/Indiana are falling off. Coaching is more important to college basketball than any other sport because you HAVE to be able to recruit studs to win in the NIL era.

 

[rick64]

J Batt hired Dusty May at Michigan correct? So I feel better about him making the hire for UK if needed vs Mitch.

 

[davtay]

J Batt hired Dusty May at Michigan correct? So I feel better about him making the hire for UK if needed vs Mitch.

J Batt was at Michigan State, so no.

 

[SenseMaker_Cats]

J Batt hired Dusty May at Michigan correct? So I feel better about him making the hire for UK if needed vs Mitch.

No sir.

 

[Trinity45]

I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"

Why does this site allow these trolls.

 

[Chadrock]

I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"

I just cannot understand why people hate Pope. He played basketball at UK and won at the highest level. He was a great ambassador for the program and appears to put everything he has into the job.

Like other college programs, NIL/TP have created parity for the field and the bluebloods are a thing of the past.

Support Coach Pope and the team!

 

[SECualHealing]

Because unlike our fans, UK athletic department understands that in the new era of NIL, overnight rebuilds are impossible. These things take years to turn a team around. I mean he's already winning 60% of his games. What else could we ask for?

 

[Pygmy Sasquatch]

 

[Catastic5]

I just cannot understand why people hate Pope. He played basketball at UK and won at the highest level. He was a great ambassador for the program and appears to put everything he has into the job.

Like other college programs, NIL/TP have created parity for the field and the bluebloods are a thing of the past.

Support Coach Pope and the team!

This is why you don’t hire former players as coaches unless they’re Roy Williams. You end up with people like this gaslighting you into thinking we can’t do any better. You’re like an abusive girlfriend.

 

[Chadrock]

This is why you don’t hire former players as coaches unless they’re Roy Williams. You end up with people like this gaslighting you into thinking we can’t do any better. You’re like an abusive girlfriend.

Who you gonna get? Do you think the roster sucks? Or just the coach? Girlfriend? Nah, I'd just ***** slap the **** out ya.

 

[Catastic5]

Who you gonna get? Do you think the roster sucks? Or just the coach? Girlfriend? Nah, I'd just ***** slap the **** out ya.

ANY-F*CKING-BODY. I don’t care as long as it’s not Pope. Bring back Cal for all I care.

 

[moses1uk]

I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"

Because he won in the tourney when Cal couldn’t maybe

 

[Resignmarkpope]

Who you gonna get? Do you think the roster sucks? Or just the coach? Girlfriend? Nah, I'd just ***** slap the **** out ya.

Coach definitely sucks! Only 2-3 good players!

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.

Cal is not actually killing it at Arkansas. He is doing alright but definitely not killing it. He was killing it from 2009-2019. Who was his AD from 2009-2019?

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

Compare pope to other uk coaches first 2 seasons.

He has a fat nil war chest and more advantages than any prior UK coach.

Do those comparisons please.

Compare Pope's SOS ratings, inherited roster and key injuries to the first two years of other UK coaches. Even at that he is ahead of Joe B's first two years at 33-21 61.1% and BCG's 40-27 59.7%. The mantra of Pope having more advantages than any previous UK coach is just what you believe because it supports your agenda and not at all factual.

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