Why is it OK for Pope to hire his friends?

Coaches want staff they are comfortable with. They should have "their guys" in there.

I have absolutely no issues with this. I had no issues with Cal doing this either. Just so long as they realize they share in the success if things go well but also the blame if things go south.

Coach Pope is battling to keep his job, so I understand why he’s hiring someone he trusts

He needs to hire a couple more people to do bag drops on the side. Recruiting Gurus

FatCatMan said:

With it sounding like Keegan Brown is going to be hired by Pope for some role, it seems like most of his staff consists of former colleagues when he was at other schools. Why isn’t he bringing in the best coaches he can find to fill in the gaps of his weaknesses? We didn’t like it when Cal started pulling this crap with Boozer and Coleman, so why is this fine?

Defend your coach’s honor, Pope Squad. Explain why this is acceptable.

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First of all, coaches should hire people they trust to foster a culture of trust and continuity.

Secondly, I complain a ton about Pope but I don't think he has done that.

He had never worked with Jason Hart before. He had never worked with Alvin Brooks before. He had never worked with Mikhail McLean before. He had never worked with Matt Santoro before. He had never worked with Brandon Wells before.

He only brought Feuger over from BYU with him- and then he moved a BYU assistant coach into an admin role, to make room for some of the coaches above whom he had never worked for.

There's a lot to complain about this year with Pope but hiring his friends is not one of them.

But, as @The_Answer1313_rivals said above, even if he did, there is no issue with that. Todd Golden hired a staff full of people he was familiar with as well. So did Dusty May.

There's no issue with it. But it's also not what Pope did.

FatCatMan said:

With it sounding like Keegan Brown is going to be hired by Pope for some role, it seems like most of his staff consists of former colleagues when he was at other schools. Why isn’t he bringing in the best coaches he can find to fill in the gaps of his weaknesses? We didn’t like it when Cal started pulling this crap with Boozer and Coleman, so why is this fine?

Defend your coach’s honor, Pope Squad. Explain why this is acceptable.

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Coaches frequently hire through their network, it’s not like Pope and UK posted this position and waited for resumes to start coming in. Fueger is the only main assistant who came with Pope from BYU, and then I think the basketball operations guy and some random support staff followed as well, as you would expect for an HC taking a promotion. Fox was a recent HC in the SEC, not exactly a frivolous pity hire. I don’t remember any obvious or direct connection between Pope and Brooks or Pope and McLean before he hired them. I think he overlapped with Jason Hart for a year or two in the NBA. If anything Pope might’ve brought along fewer assistants from his last stop than you would expect. I think Cal brought his whole staff except Pastner, and that was just because Pastner got the head job at Memphis.

Something that frustrates me the most about the hire is that Keegan was working under the Mormon umbrella, pre-Ryan Young NIL era. UK needs someone that is used to and understands recruiting players with zero commitment to religion.

The_Answer1313_rivals said:

Coaches want staff they are comfortable with. They should have "their guys" in there.

I have absolutely no issues with this. I had no issues with Cal doing this either. Just so long as they realize they share in the success if things go well but also the blame if things go south.

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Calipari can do what he wants because Arkansas has no expectations of anything they know what they signed up for. They’re owned Calipari.

Mark hasn’t earned anything in coaching and he has a massive problem bringing in a bunch of guys that have never been successful anywhere. It is a huge problem.

When you’re winning at a high level, no one truly cares but keeps an eye on it……..when you lose and have lost like we have, then it becomes an issue because it seems those guys are buddies and not doing anything to fix the problems.

When Pitino hired Ralph Willard....he knew him before his stint at UK.
When Pitino hired Herb Sendek....he knew him before his stint at UK
When Pitino hired BIlly Donovan....he played for him before his stint at UK

So its hard a have a stance as this is common for great coaches to hire not just friends but also people who share common philosophies...and in previous stints....they show some aptitude for coaching.

In the end, assistant coaches in basketball (a bit different impact in football) don't get much credit for what happens on the floor. It's teh players and head coach that get like 99% of the blame or credit.

FatCatMan said:

With it sounding like Keegan Brown is going to be hired by Pope for some role, it seems like most of his staff consists of former colleagues when he was at other schools. Why isn’t he bringing in the best coaches he can find to fill in the gaps of his weaknesses? We didn’t like it when Cal started pulling this crap with Boozer and Coleman, so why is this fine?

Defend your coach’s honor, Pope Squad. Explain why this is acceptable.

Click to expand...

The way I look at it, it's Pope's UK coaching career that's on the line here, so if he wants to play Patty cake with his friends, it's his choice.

But, I would rather hire someone I know and trust, than I guy I know nothing about. I see no issue with this.

K_TIME said:

When Pitino hired Ralph Willard....he knew him before his stint at UK.
When Pitino hired Herb Sendek....he knew him before his stint at UK
When Pitino hired BIlly Donovan....he played for him before his stint at UK

So its hard a have a stance as this is common for great coaches to hire not just friends but also people who share common philosophies...and in previous stints....they show some aptitude for coaching.

In the end, assistant coaches in basketball (a bit different impact in football) don't get much credit for what happens on the floor. It's teh players and head coach that get like 99% of the blame or credit.

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Pope isn’t Pitino

Anon1679859502 said:

Pope isn’t Pitino

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Great analysis Einstein....nobody is arguing he is.

The point is I can make this list of great coaches hire past relationships in almost every school....so why ding Pope for it. In the end, the head coach is what makes or breaks the team.....not an assistant.

All I know is, Pope will get a 3rd year and if he has a similar year to this year, he's done. Let's just hope the new AD is not in Mitch's circle of influence as well as Capiluto. We need someone fresh in there. Any AD worth a dang will fire Pope if he's as bad or worse next year.

So I agree with some of the posts here that he knows his job is on the line. This guy could be good or be a total flop. It seems like Pope's decision making has been suspect regarding basketball as of late. But remember, even in his first year, he still lost bad games and got blown out a few times as well as the team gave up with little effort.

It could be that no regular person wants to work for the robotic, analytic, goober??

UKnine said:

It could be that no regular person wants to work for the robotic, analytic, goober??

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I just think it's difficult to hire "good assistants". If the assistants are any good, they become head coaches lol.

UKGrad24 said:

Calipari can do what he wants because Arkansas has no expectations of anything they know what they signed up for. They’re owned Calipari.

Mark hasn’t earned anything in coaching and he has a massive problem bringing in a bunch of guys that have never been successful anywhere. It is a huge problem.

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I think we are placing wayyyyy to much importance here on this.

There isn't even anyone on this board that's going "yeah UK 20-12 but if Pope would just hire the right assistants, we'd be right in the thiick of things for national title contenders".

Not to completely dimish things.......I get it when Kenny Payne was with Cal, our bigs were better. When Welch came in, our offense ran better. So they do play a role but again it's like I mentioned in the analtyics thread, all this ever boils down to at the end of the day is talent. So much is place on the head coach (and in this thread assistants). But it starts and ends there.

Pope's success or failure here won't be determined by who he hires as an assistant. It'll be determined by his ability (or inability) to bring in talented players. That's all this amounts to.

The hire might be because he's darn good at what he does. That's what I'm hoping.

Please stop with these stupid threads.

Right or wrong, all coaches do that.
I have been more concerned about the appearance of a good old boy hires and contracts from the AD.

The head coach should be able to fill their ataff with who ever they want.

My issue is he only had mild success at BYU and getting the band back together here at UK is not inspiring for us as fans.

LOL.

"Defend your coach's honor." There's nothing sleezy or dishonorable. Pope's "honor" doesn't need defending. A lot of things Pope does are questionable. But I'm not really worried about this.

I think Mark Pope's 3rd season is do or die. Things either get way better, and this isn't cause for concern. Or he gets fired. And this isn't cause for concern.

There's this internet game of "You always have to treat things the same way, regardless of context. And you're not doing that internet posters!!!!"

The situations aren't the same.

Calipari was a hall of fame coach who once had good results. I knew what John Calipari was and could be. So when the results went bad, I didn't immediately think it was the hall of fame coach. And so when the results keep getting worse and his assistants aren't providing value--I think it's very fair to question what value they bring and whether or not Calipari is willing to get rid of those "buddies." I still think most of those assistants didn't bring a lot of value. But I also think Cal stopped really caring about game results.

Mark Pope so far is a very mid coach. I don't really consider the idea that the Assistants are the problem. Alvin Brooks was a monster recruiter at FREAKING Baylor. And now he can't land recruits? I think it's a Pope problem.

I'd add--Brooks and Hart certainly weren't Pope "buddies."

The post was made after the Keegan Brown news. The role didn't exist before. I think we NEED people focused on better roster construction. So part of me is happy that they're putting ANYONE in that role. And I was honestly scared we were just going to put one of the current guys on the staff in a GM role to say we did it. I'm not sure Brown is the "GM" and am hopeful they're still looking for that role as well. IDK enough about Brown to decide his qualifications. Some people on Twitter say it's a good move. Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. Mark Pope is coaching for his job over the next 13 months. If he trusts the guy with his future, I guess I'm going to have to as well.

Beatle Bum said:

Please stop with these stupid threads.

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Tall task for OP. Every thought that pops into his head gets a thread.

FatCatMan said:

With it sounding like Keegan Brown is going to be hired by Pope for some role, it seems like most of his staff consists of former colleagues when he was at other schools. Why isn’t he bringing in the best coaches he can find to fill in the gaps of his weaknesses? We didn’t like it when Cal started pulling this crap with Boozer and Coleman, so why is this fine?

Defend your coach’s honor, Pope Squad. Explain why this is acceptable.

Click to expand...

For the exact same reason, it is for every other coach around the country Duh!

The_Answer1313_rivals said:

Coaches want staff they are comfortable with. They should have "their guys" in there.

I have absolutely no issues with this. I had no issues with Cal doing this either. Just so long as they realize they share in the success if things go well but also the blame if things go south.

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This. If the administration forces hires on him then they have to accept, at least some, fault if it doesn't go well. Instead, give a head coach the autonomy to build his staff and then hold him/them accountable if they are not doing their job.