Pope is now on the clock. Yahoo Sports story.

JwUKFan11

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To be fair, it’s been like that most of the year. We have fans booing Kentucky at home games.
It hasn't felt the same to me. I think it's because everyone realized Pope couldn't live up to the expectations of the UK program or even to what Cal did in the majority of his time here.
 

NociHTTP

Heisman
Mar 8, 2023
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Being a Kentucky fan us such a helpless feeling at the moment. The VAST majority of fans know it's time to move on from Pope, but we are likely stuck with him for another season.
Helpless? I'm ready to move on to a new coach, too, but there are A LOT of circumstances in this world that would much better qualify for the term 'helpless' than our favorite team gettings its brakes blown off today. It's just sports, none of us are getting paid for it. I'm hoping something's announced soon regarding a change in staff, some problem children leaving the program and more BOOM posts.
 
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kfwa

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Nate Heise on Iowa State trying to break Kentucky's spirit in the second half: "I think that's something we identified before the game... I think, when you get (Kentucky) to that point, it's like 'let's just be done.' I think that's their mindset."
 

FitchandMurray29

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Dec 11, 2021
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The seat will be extremely hot going into next year. Media knows it, everyone knows it.
What’s weird is we probably will know come June 15th or so. If he doesn’t have an undoubted top 15 roster, it’s over, we’ll just be counting down the days till April 2027 firing.

UK fans really want another 1 or 2 seed season. The 1 and 2 seeds this year in the preseason AP poll were:

1,2, 3,4, 6, 7, 13, 16

These coaches we fawned over all year generally just had better teams than everyone lol.

It does make you wonder how Pope takes what he’s working with now to a high preseason ranking. He had insane resources and momentum last year and got us to 9th. Chandler’s 3 point percentage and the generally positive perception of Moreno are probably the only things on the roster that pollsters will view positively of possible returnees. So a lot of work to do
 

FatCatMan

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It hasn't felt the same to me. I think it's because everyone realized Pope couldn't live up to the expectations of the UK program or even to what Cal did in the majority of his time here.
Legitimately, outside the Pope Cult, no one bought what Pope was selling. That press conference attempted to rally the base, but it looks like we’re more restless than ever. The coming months are going to be HARD for Pope and his family. If he genuinely cares about himself and his family’s sanity, he’ll resign and move on before fans or Pope does something they’ll regret. Save your freaking reputation, man.
 

Bugs092056

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Sep 20, 2022
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Nate Heise on Iowa State trying to break Kentucky's spirit in the second half: "I think that's something we identified before the game... I think, when you get (Kentucky) to that point, it's like 'let's just be done.' I think that's their mindset."

Meanwhile Pope year 3 is in effect. What the hell is going on here
 
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Cerberus

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Mar 17, 2026
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Being a Kentucky fan us such a helpless feeling at the moment. The VAST majority of fans know it's time to move on from Pope, but we are likely stuck with him for another season.
Another season, how about more, our athletic department is so lame he will likely be here for years to come! So enjoy this is as good as it gets! IMO.
 
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Cats4321

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Another season, how about more, our athletic department is so lame he will likely be here for years to come! So enjoy this is as good as it gets! IMO.
You are probably right. They might give him an extension and much larger buyout for winning a first round game.
 
May 4, 2015
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Legitimately, outside the Pope Cult, no one bought what Pope was selling. That press conference attempted to rally the base, but it looks like we’re more restless than ever. The coming months are going to be HARD for Pope and his family. If he genuinely cares about himself and his family’s sanity, he’ll resign and move on before fans or Pope does something they’ll regret. Save your freaking reputation, man.
The first reaction to Pope on here was the real reaction by the fanbase. “Holy crap did we just hire a guy with 0 tournament wins?!” They later rallied everyone with a big speech convincing BBN to give him a chance with nostalgia
 

Jazzycat

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May 23, 2002
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That giving up attitude has been on full display all year. That is a reflection of the coaching. I am ready to move on from this experiment. Pope is not a good fit at UK and the sooner he is let go, the better.

would love to see what Tommy Lloyd would do here. He is a great recruiter and good in game coach.
 

NoDef

All-American
Sep 1, 2001
5,148
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You remember the feeling around Cal and UK going into the tournament the last few years? The tension was incredible. We're about to feel that again.
Those teams had the talent to get hot and make a run. This roster had zero chance of coming close to win it all.
 
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Tri-Countycat

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I think NIL and millions of dollars should shorten the clock to success. It’s not like you are building a program from scratch. You are taking over the programs with the biggest fan base and most wins in history. If you can’t buy a winner in two years, you should be done. We should have at least finished top 2 in the SEC by now with the money that has been spent.
 

FatCatMan

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A lot of great points made in this article. Can’t rely on the “Kentucky brand” in this new world
To be fair, when we hired Calipari, we made him the richest basketball coach in the sport. We used our passion to make a big money hire. That’s what we should’ve done last time: hire the best possible coach with the highest possible amount of money.
 
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Cats4321

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Helpless? I'm ready to move on to a new coach, too, but there are A LOT of circumstances in this world that would much better qualify for the term 'helpless' than our favorite team gettings its brakes blown off today. It's just sports, none of us are getting paid for it. I'm hoping something's announced soon regarding a change in staff, some problem children leaving the program and more BOOM posts.
I'm obviously talking about wanting him gone but not having any say so in that decision. That makes you helpless to do anything about it. Not sure how you could take that any other way...pretty obvious.