Regardless of Pope coming back next year or not. I know things got bad with BCG but I cant remember the fan base being this vocal about how terrible of a coach he was compared to Pope. I can’t think of one thing I can hang my hat on that Pope has done well other than about 4-5 come from behind wins. We have played well one game this year, the Arkansas game is the only games that we have been impressive and executed from start to finish.
I love Pope but for a guy that seems sincere about wanting to get the program to prominance, he is either stubbornly hanging on or is clueless about his defenciencies in coaching the game, particularly with his subsitution patterns and game management. Why he tolerates Jasper Johnson going into the game and immediately reverting to a heat check is beyond me, I mean I get it like 2 games into the season but that should have been squashed by December 1. Then the continual fatigue thing - coming from a coach who threw up into his jersey running for Pitino. I mean none of it makes sense, Pope was hired to deliver us 1996 type teams, high offense, intense defense, wearing the other team down. He freaking said as much in his opening press conference and we're not anything close to that. Its not injuries, that isn't an excuse because he has a solid 7 man rotation and Aberdeen at this point is probably a better PG than Lowe.
I've been bagging on Mark Fox since day 1 and whether its fair or not, UK looks like his old Georgia teams. I'm fully convinced Pope needs to serve up some sacrificial lambs in the off season and bring in some killer coaches that will challenge him or at a minimum, deliver on his vision of the program. What Pope is doing right now is contrary to what he knows is Kentucky basketball, and the worst part of it is, he isn't holding the players, his staff or himself accountable for it.
Its so bad, ok, just to put this in perspective, he talked about having players that play for the name on the front with some biblical type reference of the uniform clothing them, and these freaking guys continually show they are only interested in the money.
HOW THE F DO YOU LET THAT HAPPEN ?
This team is not fixable because it was assembled under the wrong circumstances. I understand NIL is a huge driver but we should never had a team talking about getting that money as a chant before a game. That is a coach who isn't in charge and isn't getting his message to the team.
I don't have a problem with Pope getting another year. I have a serious problem with the people around him returning and he better not be willing to throw serious money at players on this team who have shown they can't play as a team player or keep their emotions in check.