Matt Jones says UK will not have as much NIL for next season

Cerberus

Freshman
Mar 17, 2026
49
58
18
He’s already a multimillionaire. Is $15 million really worth sacrificing your so-called beloved basketball program for?
So you would just walk away from the money? Cool
Look that’s not would happen in any event but still my hats off to you.
 

BigBlue1992

All-Conference
Apr 17, 2011
1,960
3,596
81
I don’t think they have a choice. Eli puts a video out this weekend talking about how the university has to start cutting costs. Matt Jones mentioned it on the KSR postgame show. Stoops is owed $38,000,000 or $39,000,000. Barnhart is getting his $900,000+ for the retirement gig. You’d have to pay Pope and his staff’s buyout which is like $17,000,000 for just Pope I believe and hire an entirely new basketball staff. That would probably be at least $6,000,000 - $12,000,000 and that’s if they don’t hire another coach with a buyout like Pope had. They had to give BYU $5,000,000. Our programs are in bad shape financially from these ridiculous contracts. People hate Cal on here, but he could have REALLY held the program hostage with his and we’d be even worse off financially
Uggghh man that is a lot. I hear you and agree with all that. I just think at least 90-95% of the fanbase, maybe more, has checked out and an even bigger percentage of boosters. I don’t know what the answer is as I have no idea what our finances are but I stand by what I said in that I still don’t see how they can bring him back.
 

ComebackCats98

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
605
1,764
93
Uggghh man that is a lot. I hear you and agree with all that. I just think at least 90-95% of the fanbase, maybe more, has checked out and an even bigger percentage of boosters. I don’t know what the answer is as I have no idea what our finances are but I stand by what I said in that I still don’t see how they can bring him back.
I agree with you
 

FatCatMan

All-Conference
Feb 19, 2026
1,355
3,222
113
So you would just walk away from the money? Cool
Look that’s not would happen in any event but still my hats off to you.
He’s already rich, man. He’s set for freaking life and will likely coach at some mid-major for over a $1 million a year after the Kentucky job. If he wanted to show his love for Kentucky basketball, he’ll move on without a fuss.
 

BetterThanYou

Junior
Jan 31, 2026
213
349
63
I don’t think they have a choice. Eli puts a video out this weekend talking about how the university has to start cutting costs. Matt Jones mentioned it on the KSR postgame show. Stoops is owed $38,000,000 or $39,000,000. Barnhart is getting his $900,000+ for the retirement gig. You’d have to pay Pope and his staff’s buyout which is like $17,000,000 for just Pope I believe and hire an entirely new basketball staff. That would probably be at least $6,000,000 - $12,000,000 and that’s if they don’t hire another coach with a buyout like Pope had. They had to give BYU $5,000,000. Our programs are in bad shape financially from these ridiculous contracts. People hate Cal on here, but he could have REALLY held the program hostage with his and we’d be even worse off financially

if we owe that much to Stoops and Pope, why the hell was it decided that Barnhart gets his 950K? Send him packing, WTF is he going to do about it?
 

AllBall

All-American
May 5, 2015
4,361
5,548
93
I don’t think they have a choice. Eli puts a video out this weekend talking about how the university has to start cutting costs. Matt Jones mentioned it on the KSR postgame show. Stoops is owed $38,000,000 or $39,000,000. Barnhart is getting his $900,000+ for the retirement gig. You’d have to pay Pope and his staff’s buyout which is like $17,000,000 for just Pope I believe and hire an entirely new basketball staff. That would probably be at least $6,000,000 - $12,000,000 and that’s if they don’t hire another coach with a buyout like Pope had. They had to give BYU $5,000,000. Our programs are in bad shape financially from these ridiculous contracts. People hate Cal on here, but he could have REALLY held the program hostage with his and we’d be even worse off financially
You see the hypocrisy in this statement. The guy responsible for the mess (Mitch) gets money for creating it. Only in America and only in college athletics. Mitch Barnhart is a clown.

Barnhart shouldn't be allowed on Kentucky campus or the state for that matter.
 

peterpiper09

All-Conference
Mar 19, 2006
1,023
2,054
112
I think we can all agree it doesn’t take as much as we supposedly spent to be good. We just need to get better chemistry next year with players who aren’t injured and who are engaged.
 

Cats192

Heisman
Apr 22, 2011
14,840
17,647
93
This is what is forcing Hubert Davis out. The boosters aren't going to keep giving him money. They'd rather spend the money buying a better coach.
I wish our boosters were this loud and clear.

Davis has a Final 4, NC game under his belt. Pope doesn't even have an Elite 8. I realize Davis inherited a Roy Williams team. And he got 5 years.

But the reality is--UNC will wasted 4 years because of a "family hire." And now they're cutting the cord. Self may also retire.

Kentucky has wasted this year. You could argue we've wasted 2 years based on where we stand today. We'll be cutting the cord next year. But if UNC and Kansas both take elite coaches from P5 programs, we've given them a head start by digging our heels in to "stand by our guy."
 

true-blue1

Heisman
May 15, 2007
12,316
10,511
93
Guys, I promise you if Mark Pope was a coach in a pee wee league that only played 10 games in a season he probably would win six games. Check his resume!! The guy can’t coach!!!!
 
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Genediesel

Sophomore
Mar 18, 2022
203
172
43
Good. Should have never had the number they had this year. Teams are doing great with much less.
It is sooo frustrating when fans say things like this:

"Should have never had the number they had this year."

Honestly, what is wrong with you?

- IT'S NOT YOUR MONEY
- IT'S NOT THE UNIVERSITIE'S MONEY
- IT'S NOT YOUR TAX DOLLARS

As a fan, you should want the coach to have as much money as possible. I wouldn't complain if UK spent 50 million (also, we don't even know how much UK actually spent because it's not public).

The money comes from rich boosters and wealthy corporations for advertising. Why do you care how much money they spent? I, personally, want them to spend all their money on UK basketball. I want to see the best team possible and win a championship.

Think even past Pope. If we get a new coach, do you think they would want the fan base complaining that they spent too much money? Again, who cares, let's get the studs. Pay them whatever it takes.

I've only been on the forums a year or two, but been a fan for 25 years. The forums have shown me that this fan base truly is toxic. We were lucky to get Cal to come here. The longer time goes on, the more toxic the fan base becomes, it seems.

I wish people with Twitter accounts would give Oweh and DA their props and not talk trash. They were not the problem.

I will say, that IMHO, JQ should have to give most of his NIL money back. IMO he was able to play. However, I said I wouldn't talk about this anymore because it no longer matters so I will stop there. So I won't bother to explain my logic/argument again.
 

BradyJames

All-American
Apr 8, 2024
940
6,282
92
Sounds like boosters already told Pope to piss off about big NIL $$$ for next season so he’s using the ‘right players” BS .

Did he also use the term “student athlete”? So dated. He’s a throwback going through a mid-life crisis, reliving his glory days and

taking the program straight down the tubes.
He is the HC version of Mitch.

Just insane to be talking about t the front of the jersey in this day and age. You finished 9th in our league you idiot.
 

King1959

Sophomore
Jun 6, 2012
62
102
33
I don’t think they have a choice. Eli puts a video out this weekend talking about how the university has to start cutting costs. Matt Jones mentioned it on the KSR postgame show. Stoops is owed $38,000,000 or $39,000,000. Barnhart is getting his $900,000+ for the retirement gig. You’d have to pay Pope and his staff’s buyout which is like $17,000,000 for just Pope I believe and hire an entirely new basketball staff. That would probably be at least $6,000,000 - $12,000,000 and that’s if they don’t hire another coach with a buyout like Pope had. They had to give BYU $5,000,000. Our programs are in bad shape financially from these ridiculous contracts. People hate Cal on here, but he could have REALLY held the program hostage with his and we’d be even worse off financially
Then Eli let Barnhart give himself a million dollar per year umbrella. What the hell is going on at UK athletics?
 

Loucatfan30

Senior
Apr 11, 2024
796
906
87
Uggghh man that is a lot. I hear you and agree with all that. I just think at least 90-95% of the fanbase, maybe more, has checked out and an even bigger percentage of boosters. I don’t know what the answer is as I have no idea what our finances are but I stand by what I said in that I still don’t see how they can bring him back.
I can't watch this s*** show anymore until all this mess is cleaned up. A fish rots for the head and the head of this rotten mess is Eli and Mitch. If these guys weren't here we would never have this Mark Pope mess.
 

Damage_inc

Senior
Oct 4, 2019
418
755
91
GOOD! I hope booster and fans don’t give a single cent to the program. Starve UK and Pope out until they’re forced to cut bait. We are going to suck next year whether Pope has $15m or $1m.
This is not the way. We spend out the *** and care more than anyone else because we are Kentucky. We act crazy because we are Kentucky. If we do what you said then we stop being Kentucky. We lose what makes us special. Everyone’s bummed but chill with the rain cloud