Pope's combined BYU/Kentucky winning percentage is exactly 67%. That's almost 9 points off the Kentucky average.

Anon1759768907

All-Conference
Oct 6, 2025
2,282
3,691
113
2026: 68%;
2025: 67%;
2024: 68%;
2023: 56%;
2022: 69%;
2021: 74%;
2020: 75%;


Does Pope get a fourth year here if he wins 67-70% of his games again next season?
if we are just average again yes he will be back, we won't fire him for being just ok
 

Anony Moose

Senior
Dec 2, 2025
668
834
93
Even better metric is his last 3 because that's all been coaching at the p5 level

23-11
24-12
17-8

That's combined 64-31.

Conference play:

10-8
10-8
8-4

Combined 28-20.


Pope is what he is. He is a mediocre coach that will have a winning record but will never win anything of substance. He's mediocre.
 

seccats04

Heisman
Dec 6, 2004
14,392
23,039
113
Everyone talks about all the top 15 wins we got last year and that was a nice statistic. What they didn't mention were all the awful losses to mediocre teams that, to me, cancelled out a lot of those big wins.

And after yesterday's loss, Pope is now 12-13 against top 25 teams at UK. This is about where Cal was, percentage wise, his last several years. At least with Cal, we had a little faith that some 5 star freshman might catch fire in March and lead us to a F4, despite him not coaching. With Pope, we're gonna have rosters full of B-/C+ players. That's not gonna cut it.
 

Anon1759768907

All-Conference
Oct 6, 2025
2,282
3,691
113
Everyone talks about all the top 15 wins we got last year and that was a nice statistic. What they didn't mention were all the awful losses to mediocre teams that, to me, cancelled out a lot of those big wins.

And after yesterday's loss, Pope is now 12-13 against top 25 teams at UK. This is about where Cal was, percentage wise, his last several years. At least with Cal, we had a little faith that some 5 star freshman might catch fire in March and lead us to a F4, despite him not coaching. With Pope, we're gonna have rosters full of B-/C+ players. That's not gonna cut it.
funny how cal leaves and now hes getting the season changing guys again, not the cason wallaces and tytys of the world
 

tyerose12

Redshirt
Feb 11, 2026
3
11
3
It's pretty easily accessible on Wikipedia and other sources. Unless you're completely unfamiliar with how to use the internet, it shouldn't take more than a minute or two to put together. Lulz.
No sh*t Sherlock? All dude does is ***** and complain (except when we win) about Pope. That’s what I was referring to but thanks for chiming in.
 

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preacherfan

All-Conference
Oct 11, 2003
28,982
4,545
113
One of the most successful coaches in the country right now and a coach a LOT of folks on RR wanted is Danny Hurley. He never went to a S16 before 2023! His overall winning percentage at Wagner was .667. His overall winning percentage at Rhode Island was .558. In his first 4 years at UConn he went 6-12, 19-12, 15-8, 23-10. Posters on RR would have cried if Mitch had hired Hurley after the 2022 season.

My point is that great coaches may not start out as well as we hope they will. I still think Pope can get us back to the top of college basketball. I am encouraged by what he did last year and by the turnaround this year. Let's just wait and see how this plays out.
 

Anony Moose

Senior
Dec 2, 2025
668
834
93
No sh*t Sherlock? All dude does is ***** and complain (except when we win) about Pope. That’s what I was referring to but thanks for chiming in.
You said he had too much time on his hands, genius. I was just pointing out what he does actually takes very little time.

And you do realize you're spending time bitching about someone else bitching. Do you not see the hypocrisy?
 

Hitman206

Senior
Jul 11, 2009
440
573
93
He is like Tubby in that he will win games you don't think he will win and lose games you don't think he will lose.
 
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peterpiper09

All-Conference
Mar 19, 2006
1,054
2,106
112
You’re too worried about stuff that don’t matter and don’t worry enough about stuff that does matter. Think “The team is getting better despite so many injuries”, or “The program is heading in a good direction and being built the right way” rather than “our metrics are 2% off of historic numbers”, or “we don’t have enough stars coming in next season compared to the average of the last 10 seasons”. Damn!!!
 
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Mossip

All-American
Jul 20, 2007
5,914
5,393
60
Umm, if you bothered to look at Hurley's resume. Uconn improved each year he was there. We're regressing.
The Hurley thing is the new gotcha all the losers are clinging too. They ignore the fact that the situations are completely different. Give Hurley 22 million in 2018 lol.

Even if the Hurley thing wasn’t a complete fallacy, are we supposed to sit around getting worse hoping for the next outlier? Dumbass es…
 

KYFOSSIL

Heisman
Jan 13, 2005
7,724
10,283
62
Everyone talks about all the top 15 wins we got last year and that was a nice statistic. What they didn't mention were all the awful losses to mediocre teams that, to me, cancelled out a lot of those big wins.

And after yesterday's loss, Pope is now 12-13 against top 25 teams at UK. This is about where Cal was, percentage wise, his last several years. At least with Cal, we had a little faith that some 5 star freshman might catch fire in March and lead us to a F4, despite him not coaching. With Pope, we're gonna have rosters full of B-/C+ players. That's not gonna cut it.

The Hurley thing is the new gotcha all the losers are clinging too. They ignore the fact that the situations are completely different. Give Hurley 22 million in 2018 lol.

Even if the Hurley thing wasn’t a complete fallacy, are we supposed to sit around getting worse hoping for the next outlier? Dumbass es…
The Hurley thing is not a fallacy. It's a fact. And as far as an I own money to buy, a team teams have to be built and ultimately become cohesive. That's why Houston successful Yukon successful Villanova before them was successful. I actually think we'll have a great year next year if we get four or five players back such as Moreno and Chandler and Williams and jelly with some very strong portal guys. Moreno was absolutely hanging with the bigs in my opinion doing better than they were until they start getting those bogus foul call. Chandler stepped up big time as well.
This season has far from being over looking forward to seeing it be played out and then see what team we have coming next year. I agree if we have a subpar year after three years, we might need to look to see if there needs to be a change.
 

Son_Of_Saul

Heisman
Dec 7, 2007
45,135
98,007
113
You’re too worried about stuff that don’t matter and don’t worry enough about stuff that does matter. Think “The team is getting better despite so many injuries”, or “The program is heading in a good direction and being built the right way” rather than “our metrics are 2% off of historic numbers”, or “we don’t have enough stars coming in next season compared to the average of the last 10 seasons”. Damn!!!
Your assertion is actually illogical. How is the program headed in a good direction when we have no recruits committed?
 

preacherfan

All-Conference
Oct 11, 2003
28,982
4,545
113
Umm, if you bothered to look at Hurley's resume. Uconn improved each year he was there. We're regressing.
This season isn't over yet so that is premature to say, "We're regressing." Besides that, I work with troubled organizations to bring them back to stability and growth. Every situation is different and there are so many variables that it is impossible to lay out a plan and say that things will be turned around in a predetermined amount of time.

Pope took us to a Sweet 16 last year. The previous 4 seasons included missing the tournament, 2 rounds of 64, and 1 round of 32. I consider a Sweet 16 an improvement, don't you? This year's team has greatly improved. Let's see how it plays out.
 

preacherfan

All-Conference
Oct 11, 2003
28,982
4,545
113
The Hurley thing is the new gotcha all the losers are clinging too. They ignore the fact that the situations are completely different. Give Hurley 22 million in 2018 lol.

Even if the Hurley thing wasn’t a complete fallacy, are we supposed to sit around getting worse hoping for the next outlier? Dumbass es…
At least Son of Saul does a good job of arguing his positions based on facts and reality. You should learn from him.
 
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Anony Moose

Senior
Dec 2, 2025
668
834
93
This season isn't over yet so that is premature to say, "We're regressing." Besides that, I work with troubled organizations to bring them back to stability and growth. Every situation is different and there are so many variables that it is impossible to lay out a plan and say that things will be turned around in a predetermined amount of time.

Pope took us to a Sweet 16 last year. The previous 4 seasons included missing the tournament, 2 rounds of 64, and 1 round of 32. I consider a Sweet 16 an improvement, don't you? This year's team has greatly improved. Let's see how it plays out.
Not at all. We have 6 regular season games left and have 8 losses. Very likely going to have losses against Vandy and UF. TX am will also be a tough one. The other 3 we likely win. That's already 11 losses. Unless we win the SEC and or National Cham, we will have 13. Win one of those 3 and it's the same as record in a much easier SEC. Say we get lucky and finish with only 11 losses, again the SEC is much weaker, so is that really any better?

We do we do for a sw16? Is there a banner? I don't think just being better than Cal's last 4 years is some accomplishment or improvement. We beat 2 teams we were supposed to!

Improved what?
 

UKGrad24

All-American
Apr 2, 2024
2,814
6,789
100
Even better metric is his last 3 because that's all been coaching at the p5 level

23-11
24-12
17-8

That's combined 64-31.

Conference play:

10-8
10-8
8-4

Combined 28-20.


Pope is what he is. He is a mediocre coach that will have a winning record but will never win anything of substance. He's mediocre.
I didn’t realize this! That’s better than Hurley his first 3 at power 5!

I be damned, that’s evidence! He’s the next Hurley!
 

UKGrad24

All-American
Apr 2, 2024
2,814
6,789
100
One of the most successful coaches in the country right now and a coach a LOT of folks on RR wanted is Danny Hurley. He never went to a S16 before 2023! His overall winning percentage at Wagner was .667. His overall winning percentage at Rhode Island was .558. In his first 4 years at UConn he went 6-12, 19-12, 15-8, 23-10. Posters on RR would have cried if Mitch had hired Hurley after the 2022 season.

My point is that great coaches may not start out as well as we hope they will. I still think Pope can get us back to the top of college basketball. I am encouraged by what he did last year and by the turnaround this year. Let's just wait and see how this plays out.
This is such a bad argument. Now do all the guys who have Popes 10 year record and end up the same after that? The list will be endless. And preach you’re definitely smart enough to see how bad of an argument that is. But if we’re going to make that argument, now do all the guys with that record who don’t end up Hurley. You’re going to be working on that all week.
 

UKGrad24

All-American
Apr 2, 2024
2,814
6,789
100
The Hurley thing is the new gotcha all the losers are clinging too. They ignore the fact that the situations are completely different. Give Hurley 22 million in 2018 lol.

Even if the Hurley thing wasn’t a complete fallacy, are we supposed to sit around getting worse hoping for the next outlier? Dumbass es…
Not only are they totally different, it’s flat out ridiculous to make that argument. What about all of the coaches that DONT end up Hurley? lol. That list is massive.

He wasn’t in the NIL era and allowed to buy rosters. He took over an absolute sht show. It was traditional, not NIL. It’s the worst argument they make.
 

Tri-Countycat

All-Conference
Jul 1, 2025
1,282
2,737
113
Apparently the apathy that has built up with our football team has spilled over to basketball. The administration and some fans are perfectly fine with just being an OK team. We no longer compete with the other blue bloods in any other fashion except for attendance and revenue. That is all Mitch cares about. Kentucky Basketball should be a higher standard and the powers that be should do anything short of cheating to keep it that way. Some on here are perfectly fine with being the worst of the blue bloods, double digit loses every year, haven’t even made the weekend in the SEC tourney in 5 years. I fear its almost over for UK and people want to wait on Pope to pull out a miracle when he has never proven that he can even come close. Can’t even get a 5 star to come to a blue blood.
 

Anony Moose

Senior
Dec 2, 2025
668
834
93
I didn’t realize this! That’s better than Hurley his first 3 at power 5!

I be damned, that’s evidence! He’s the next Hurley!
Not even. His 3rd year in a power five, Uconn won the NC. Did it in his 4th, too.

AAC wasn't power 5, which is where Uconn was during his first 2 years.
 
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Apr 14, 2019
250
656
83
gotta see the fire through the smoke, its been only two years and theres more glaring issues that have shown more than any of the past what 7 coaches here
They have a rule where any coach automatically gets a 3 year period to prove themselves even if the writing is on the wall. You do that a couple of times in a row, you become irrelevant fast. Dude may be the worst recruiter in the nation and can’t coach a decent first half to save his life.
 

Anon1759768907

All-Conference
Oct 6, 2025
2,282
3,691
113
They have a rule where any coach automatically gets a 3 year period to prove themselves. You do that a couple of times in a row, you become irrelevant fast.
the simple fix to that is to not mess up the hire, the good thing is if pope doesnt work out i dont think we will mess up the hire again
 

preacherfan

All-Conference
Oct 11, 2003
28,982
4,545
113
This is such a bad argument. Now do all the guys who have Popes 10 year record and end up the same after that? The list will be endless. And preach you’re definitely smart enough to see how bad of an argument that is.

It isn't an argument, it is an example. As such, it is only to make the point that even one of the most successful coaches in America didn't exactly wow anyone for a number of years after he started coaching. As much as it hurts me to cite this example, Dean Smith was once hanged in effigy at UNC. I could cite a number of other examples but the point is that not all highly successful coaches make a FF their first season or two like Mike Davis did at Indiana. Of course, Davis would never again even get close to a FF.

I see some very valid criticisms of Pope. You and SofS are fairly good at pointing those out and I can agree with a lot of what you both have said. My only real point is that I do see some hope for the future with Pope as our coach. He isn't a BCG situation which had disaster written all over it from day 1. Maybe in a year or two I will be screaming for Pope to be sent packing but, for now, I am more in the camp of "let's see what he can do!"