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If next season is a disaster

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Goingfor9

All-Conference
Jan 27, 2003
16,064
2,853
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Should we fire Mark Pope midseason? I noticed in college football, the top tier of teams they fire their guys during the season. Then they spend the rest of the season evaluating who would be the best fit. I feel like this is a tactic we may need to take. You can’t really talk to any college coaches, but you can talk through their agent to feel things out. But I don’t see any point in waiting if it’s looking like we’re gonna be like mid tier SEC team. Or if we get out to a slow start.. Let’s no wait and start looking for a coach. If we want to fix basketball program, that’s probably what we’re gonna have to do..

I know in college basketball usually coaches finish a season. But based on the thin résumé this guy brought, based on limited success last year you could say it was a failure, based on the incoherent speech of our coach, based on the fact that his entire team entered the transfer portal for the draft with the exception of a couple walk on caliber players. Based on the fact, this guy can’t connect with the types of players we need to win titles at Kentucky.. Mark Pope just doesn’t have it. Everybody knows it. We’re being told by the entire team. No one wants to come back.. I think I think a lot of guys wanna play for Kentucky, but they don’t wanna play for Pope. Stokes for instance he’d be a lock for Kentucky if Pope wasn’t the coach.. it’s like that’s what he wants. to go to Kentucky, but then he sees the coach and it’s a hard no
 
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Catphright23

Senior
Dec 6, 2023
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Every thread by some is fire coach pope. In more original thoughts. First year team played over head, last year was bad. 70 percent of fans 3 or ,2.5/4 are the same ones who wanted cal to stay.. jj Uncle, did they not offer Jasper enough is that why you guys mad. Last year we had kk transfer and he was worse, perry transfer and no better...
 
BBNUK4Life

BBNUK4Life

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Mar 13, 2026
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Jack Nicholson Yes GIF
 
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G

Goingfor9

All-Conference
Jan 27, 2003
16,064
2,853
113
theBlues said:
If it's clear midway through the season that there will be a change at the end of the season, it's just chickenshit to wait.
Click to expand...
Look Florida hired their football coach early so they were ready to go in this season ended for sumerall. The day after Florida hired Sumerall Barney fired stoops.. see if he had fired stoops midseason. He made a run that sumerall. But Barney has a loser mindset man and maybe this young guy will be OK but our AD didn’t wanna step on any of his understudy toes he always deferred to anyone he knew. Nevertheless, we end up with an unproven coach when we could’ve had a hot up and comer. Or at least shoot our shot.. Barnhart didn’t even work the last four years now make it like 14 years Ben he had everybody bamboozled
 
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theBlues

theBlues

All-Conference
Oct 18, 2025
1,397
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Goingfor9 said:
Look Florida hired their football coach early so they were ready to go in this season ended for sumerall. The day after Florida hired Sumerall Barney fired stoops.. see if he had fired stoops midseason. He made a run that sumerall. But Barney has a loser mindset man and maybe this young guy will be OK but our AD didn’t wanna step on any of his understudy toes he always deferred to anyone he knew. Nevertheless, we end up with an unproven coach when we could’ve had a hot up and comer. Or at least shoot our shot.. Barnhart didn’t even work the last four years now make it like 14 years Ben he had everybody bamboozled
Click to expand...
I think the football hire was actually good this time but it doesn't matter as far as Barnhart goes since nobody could make a terrible hire every single time.
 
L

Loucatfan30

Senior
Apr 11, 2024
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He needs to be fired early so we get the first choice of coaches. Best case I believe is we hire the AD from Alabama who has ties to KY and get Oats to come with him following year.
 
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LineSkiCat14

LineSkiCat14

Heisman
Aug 5, 2015
38,886
60,971
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They probably wont mid season. But you absolutely fire him by the start or the SECT when the season is all but over.

Im very skeptical we are even going to have a team that can legitimately compete in the SEC.. and with the money we throw around, that's absolutely pathetic. If Pope truly tanks next year, then THAT is the type of coach you run out of the state, regardless of 7 pts/game he put up on the 96 team.

Honestly a small part of me is hoping for an absolute disaster, because maybe thats what will wake up the program. Making the tournament as a 9 seed might not move the needle enough. Kentucky fans need to be enraged.
 
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AllBall

AllBall

All-American
May 5, 2015
4,431
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Goingfor9 said:
Should we fire Mark Pope midseason? I noticed in college football, the top tier of teams they fire their guys during the season. Then they spend the rest of the season evaluating who would be the best fit. I feel like this is a tactic we may need to take. You can’t really talk to any college coaches, but you can talk through their agent to feel things out. But I don’t see any point in waiting if it’s looking like we’re gonna be like mid tier SEC team. Or if we get out to a slow start.. Let’s no wait and start looking for a coach. If we want to fix basketball program, that’s probably what we’re gonna have to do..

I know in college basketball usually coaches finish a season. But based on the thin résumé this guy brought, based on limited success last year you could say it was a failure, based on the incoherent speech of our coach, based on the fact that his entire team entered the transfer portal for the draft with the exception of a couple walk on caliber players. Based on the fact, this guy can’t connect with the types of players we need to win titles at Kentucky.. Mark Pope just doesn’t have it. Everybody knows it. We’re being told by the entire team. No one wants to come back.. I think I think a lot of guys wanna play for Kentucky, but they don’t wanna play for Pope. Stokes for instance he’d be a lock for Kentucky if Pope wasn’t the coach.. it’s like that’s what he wants. to go to Kentucky, but then he sees the coach and it’s a hard no
Click to expand...
Honestly, unless this portal haul is anything short of amazing a good AD would start the process.
However, foresight isn't something our athletic department has or uses.
 
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anot

anot

Junior
Mar 27, 2026
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RunninRichie said:
Pope isn't the answer, we have to sit through one more year and then it's over. Hopefully the next AD hires a good coach.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't be so confident in this being his last year. He should have never been hired. Should have already been fired. So I'm not expecting him to go anywhere until he feels like it. We just placed 9th in the SEC. His job is safe. We aren't a sports school anymore. Thanks Capalato or whatever your name is.
 
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U

UKBB4Ever

All-Conference
Jul 3, 2025
1,780
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Goingfor9 said:
Should we fire Mark Pope midseason? I noticed in college football, the top tier of teams they fire their guys during the season. Then they spend the rest of the season evaluating who would be the best fit. I feel like this is a tactic we may need to take. You can’t really talk to any college coaches, but you can talk through their agent to feel things out. But I don’t see any point in waiting if it’s looking like we’re gonna be like mid tier SEC team. Or if we get out to a slow start.. Let’s no wait and start looking for a coach. If we want to fix basketball program, that’s probably what we’re gonna have to do..

I know in college basketball usually coaches finish a season. But based on the thin résumé this guy brought, based on limited success last year you could say it was a failure, based on the incoherent speech of our coach, based on the fact that his entire team entered the transfer portal for the draft with the exception of a couple walk on caliber players. Based on the fact, this guy can’t connect with the types of players we need to win titles at Kentucky.. Mark Pope just doesn’t have it. Everybody knows it. We’re being told by the entire team. No one wants to come back.. I think I think a lot of guys wanna play for Kentucky, but they don’t wanna play for Pope. Stokes for instance he’d be a lock for Kentucky if Pope wasn’t the coach.. it’s like that’s what he wants. to go to Kentucky, but then he sees the coach and it’s a hard no
Click to expand...
“If”???
 
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UKGrad24

UKGrad24

All-American
Apr 2, 2024
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RunninRichie said:
Pope isn't the answer, we have to sit through one more year and then it's over. Hopefully the next AD hires a good coach.
Click to expand...
It’s amazing to me anyone actually thinks Mark needs another season and actually thinks he might be able to turn this around. There’s really no way for that to happen because there’s no way he can recruit well enough to sustain even a decent season let alone putting together a great season. There’s no chance Mark can win here. None. It’s been over since the offseason of the first year. Just not many understand why that is.

Mark begins next season losing big and I’d begin immediately back channeling and if continues to the middle, yes, I’d fire him mid season. Given recruiting and his inability to manage the roster, I would have fired him after 2 and there is a ton of justification for it. I wonder how many are going to say “I didn’t say he’d win I said he was getting a third year anyway”, while they backed and backed him and made every excuse they could. Several have the back door excuse card ready to come out. lol.

if Kentucky administration is not right now searching for the next head coach, as we speak, then we are in serious trouble. No serious institution wouldn’t know enough to know he’s finished. It will prove they want a lower bar and less expectations. Forcing this on everyone and hoping half the fanbase enjoys beating Tennessee sometimes instead of competing with our real tier Duke UNC and Kansas. / maybe UConn right now.
 
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J

JonathanW2

Senior
Aug 6, 2025
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I don't ever think mid-season firings are a good idea, unless there is some inappropriate behavior going on. It just creates a bad look, which could be a negative for the top candidates. Just wait until the day after the final game.
Plus almost anyone you would want to replace him with (not named Kiffen) would want to finish out his current coaching season.
That doesn't mean you couldn't be having those critical discussions behind closed doors, while still trying not to "tamper".
 
CELTICAT

CELTICAT

Heisman
May 21, 2002
19,232
18,803
113
You don’t get fired mid season just for being a loser. Everybody with half a brain knows where next season is headed and it’s far below our standards. It very well may end up being a total disaster, like .500 record or worse but he won’t get canned mid season.

Because of who he is, they’ll negotiate a buyout and send him off into the sunset once the season is over.
 
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LineSkiCat14

LineSkiCat14

Heisman
Aug 5, 2015
38,886
60,971
113
To add to my top comment: Kentucky is gonna need all the runway it can to find the next guy.. which is why ideally, if we cant win an Elite8 or better with a strong team next year, then the next best outcome is to miss the tournament entirely and start the coaching search end of the regular season.
 
CRZ4UK

CRZ4UK

All-American
Jun 6, 2008
4,955
9,912
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Goingfor9 said:
Look Florida hired their football coach early so they were ready to go in this season ended for sumerall. The day after Florida hired Sumerall Barney fired stoops.. see if he had fired stoops midseason. He made a run that sumerall. But Barney has a loser mindset man and maybe this young guy will be OK but our AD didn’t wanna step on any of his understudy toes he always deferred to anyone he knew. Nevertheless, we end up with an unproven coach when we could’ve had a hot up and comer. Or at least shoot our shot.. Barnhart didn’t even work the last four years now make it like 14 years Ben he had everybody bamboozled
Click to expand...
To be honest I don’t think Sumrall would have come here. He knows how Barney operates. He knows the NIL problem with JMI. He could easily have waited or contacted Barnhart if he really wanted to be here. Obviously, he didn’t.
A complete unknown is all Barnhart can recruit here. No established coach want to work under his system.
 
A

Anon1774630942

Redshirt
Mar 27, 2026
50
37
18
Goingfor9 said:
Should we fire Mark Pope midseason? I noticed in college football, the top tier of teams they fire their guys during the season. Then they spend the rest of the season evaluating who would be the best fit. I feel like this is a tactic we may need to take. You can’t really talk to any college coaches, but you can talk through their agent to feel things out. But I don’t see any point in waiting if it’s looking like we’re gonna be like mid tier SEC team. Or if we get out to a slow start.. Let’s no wait and start looking for a coach. If we want to fix basketball program, that’s probably what we’re gonna have to do..

I know in college basketball usually coaches finish a season. But based on the thin résumé this guy brought, based on limited success last year you could say it was a failure, based on the incoherent speech of our coach, based on the fact that his entire team entered the transfer portal for the draft with the exception of a couple walk on caliber players. Based on the fact, this guy can’t connect with the types of players we need to win titles at Kentucky.. Mark Pope just doesn’t have it. Everybody knows it. We’re being told by the entire team. No one wants to come back.. I think I think a lot of guys wanna play for Kentucky, but they don’t wanna play for Pope. Stokes for instance he’d be a lock for Kentucky if Pope wasn’t the coach.. it’s like that’s what he wants. to go to Kentucky, but then he sees the coach and it’s a hard no
Click to expand...
Really good look. My god some of us here are truly morons.

Yes, let's paint the state of the program as being TOTALLY dysfuntional, with a bunch of psychotic fans and administration. That will really lure in the good ones. This place is truly a psych ward. The guy played here - let's run him out like he's yesterday's dishwater.

Being professional, buttoned up and respectful is what attracts good coaches. This ain't 1997.

Here's what you do - stick with Pope for one more year, watch and observe. At that point if it's not working, you move out respectfully. Good lord.
 
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