Calling J Batt, hello? Are you alive?

[Cattorney]

Yeay he acts like Alabamas rosters are consistently at some super elite level. They arent.

If he had more budget he can sign better players n bulk for depth. Its common sense.

They just brought in the 5th ranked recruiting class on rivals in 2026. Had the same in 2024. They were 14th in 2023. They were 21st in 2025. 6th in 2022.

We literally just had one of their former players.


My Lord, some of you just totally ignore reality.

 

[HogCoyote]

At the VERY least, make a statement. Maybe I’ve missed one but to my knowledge I’ve not even seen the guy hold a press conference since he was brought in. Most likely a Mitch plant!

He's talked to multiple media outlets including doing live interviews on KSR, just because he's not coming out and blasting the conference commissioner and getting the the school heat with the conference doesn't mean he's not doing anything.

 

[HogCoyote]

Not sure I’d go that far. But he’s been a pretty clear disappointment. You’d expect the guy to be savvy enough and connected enough and bold enough to either have steered Koehler here —(he came from Michigan State!) to have warned Pope off Mitchell, to dig in and make the Mitchell thing work, and, or to have made it work with the Auburn kid Keyshawn Hall. Instead he seemed to be an innocent bystander as the fiasco unfolded.

It was a very “Millionaire Mitch” performance.

AD's don't recruit!

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

I disagree. His job right now is to prepare to hire the right man for the job in the optimal conditions. That’s Nate Oats in 19 months…..IF Pope doesn’t turn it around. Rush a hire to appease people and you cause a bigger mess.

Oats isn't the end all be all. I'd take him in a heartbeat, but if a move needs to be made it needs to be made. Oats's buyout/availability can't be the driving force in that decision. There are other guys that could kill it at UK.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

They just brought in the 5th ranked recruiting class on rivals in 2026. Had the same in 2024. They were 14th in 2023. They were 21st in 2025. 6th in 2022.

We literally just had one of their former players.


My Lord, some of you just totally ignore reality.

He would get number 1 classes here genius. More money means more funds to buy players.

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

Oats isn't the end all be all. I'd take him in a heartbeat, but if a move needs to be made it needs to be made. Oats's buyout/availability can't be the driving force in that decision. There are other guys that could kill it at UK.

I don't think we'd agree on the difficulty of landing a premier coach though. From your perspective, the top coaches are lining up to be here. From my perspective, there's a lot of give and take with a job like Kentucky in 2026. That's why I like the idea of Oats.

Don't get me wrong: there's levels to this. If Pope absolutely stinks next year, of course changes would be forced. I'm looking more along the lines of moderate results have you thinking 2028 for Oats rather than 2027. Go 22-14 and a 6 seed, say? That's bad, but not enough to risk making a move without a confirmed replacement.

 

[L.O.D.]

Whats he supposed to say? We shouldnt honor a rule we just recently re affirmed?

We knew this and we recruited him aggressively that part i dont understsnd

 

[SenseMaker_Cats]

I disagree. His job right now is to prepare to hire the right man for the job in the optimal conditions. That’s Nate Oats in 19 months…..IF Pope doesn’t turn it around. Rush a hire to appease people and you cause a bigger mess.

I’m not sure Nate Oats will be the guy after next year. I don’t see this coming year being all that great for him. If not, he could be looking at averaging 11 losses per year over the last 4 years. One could argue he would be trending downward.

You have to give him credit for the final four but he only had to beat one good team to get there and did have 12 losses that year.

That’s not a Pope vs Oats argument but an Oats vs the field argument.

 

[Cattorney]

He would get number 1 classes here genius. More money means more funds to buy players.

You think Bama is poor or isn't investing or something?

Also, when was the last time the #1 ranked recruiting class won a title?

 

[Cats192]

I don't think it's fair to expect Batt to go to war with the NCAA and SEC a few months into his new job. His University President voted for it. So issuing a statement also goes against Capiluto.

All of the other schools are firing off about LSU, talking about boycotts and expulsion from the conference.

I very much want UK to be relevant and have a chance of going back to the Final 4. But I'd be lying if I said I'd do things differently in Batt's shoes.

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

I don't think we'd agree on the difficulty of landing a premier coach though. From your perspective, the top coaches are lining up to be here. From my perspective, there's a lot of give and take with a job like Kentucky in 2026. That's why I like the idea of Oats.

Don't get me wrong: there's levels to this. If Pope absolutely stinks next year, of course changes would be forced. I'm looking more along the lines of moderate results have you thinking 2028 for Oats rather than 2027. Go 22-14 and a 6 seed, say? That's bad, but not enough to risk making a move without a confirmed replacement.

Oh no, we'd agree on that too. I realize the landscape has changed drastically. I giggle at those that think we could just go out and get whomever we want. My only point was Oats isn't the only gettable coach that would be a SIGNIFICANT upgrade that could be gotten. Also, don't get me wrong here either, I think he'd absolutely kill it too. I'm just not sold on waiting for something that might not happen (him actually taking the job) if a change is needed a year before it at least becomes financially realistic that Oats would be an option.

IMO, this team will perform about to the level that makes this a seriously murky decision. Which, after all, has been my biggest fear from day one with Pope. His teams will consistently perform just barely above the obvious firing line in most of his seasons.

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

I’m not sure Nate Oats will be the guy after next year. I don’t see this coming year being all that great for him. If not, he could be looking at averaging 11 losses per year over the last 4 years. One could argue he would be trending downward.

You have to give him credit for the final four but he only had to beat one good team to get there and did have 12 losses that year.

That’s not a Pope vs Oats argument but an Oats vs the field argument.

I definitely understand people being skeptical about Oats. I operate under the belief he would perform even better with the warchest NIL we have. I could be wrong.

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

Oh no, we'd agree on that too. I realize the landscape has changed drastically. I giggle at those that think we could just go out and get whomever we want. My only point was Oats isn't the only gettable coach that would be a SIGNIFICANT upgrade that could be gotten. Also, don't get me wrong here either, I think he'd absolutely kill it too. I'm just not sold on waiting for something that might not happen (him actually taking the job) if a change is needed a year before it at least becomes financially realistic that Oats would be an option.

IMO, this team will perform about to the level that makes this a seriously murky decision. Which, after all, has been my biggest fear from day one with Pope. His teams will consistently perform just barely above the obvious firing line in most of his seasons.

He's riding that late Tubby years line, just good enough (and with some baked in injury excuses) to make a case for keeping him. Not Gillespie bad enough yet, and no scandals, to force a firing. If he's middle of the pack in the SEC, gets a 5 or 6 seed, and makes the Sweet 16 he's probably getting year 4 and most all of the fanbase can agree, that's not good enough for UK. But if you fire him, you have sent a message to the prospective coaches that that same bar isn't good enough for them either. It'll give pause to some big names (like the UNC job opening did), who might not take the job knowing just how successful they have to be here right out the gate. And how short the leash is on them having time to do it.

We are in a lose/lose situation this year unless Pope wins big on the court or in recruiting. The line to replace him won't be as long and star studded as we hope it will be.

*This is not an endorsement of Year 4 of Mark Pope, thank you. This is more me preparing myself for a mediocre season justifying a year 4 of Mark Pope to those in charge at UK. Sigh...

 

[CB3UK]

Literally got a UKAthletics email from J Batt this morning giving a huge shout out to the fans, the state of the programs currently playing, going over the new concessions and GameDay changed for Saturday, etc.

OP has gone full retard

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

I definitely understand people being skeptical about Oats. I operate under the belief he would perform even better with the warchest NIL we have. I could be wrong.

I'm with you, while I don't think Oats is the "perfect" hire for UK, he'd be a stark upgrade and has an established relationship with Batt. He's also demonstrated the ability to land 5 star recruits, perform at a high level in the SEC, SEC tournament, and get to the final 4. With an assistant coach that could assist with coaching and recruiting defense, he could be a solid hire.

Homerun hires (like Tommy Lloyd for instance) I just don't see UK being able to pull away from their current jobs like we used to be able to do in the past. My fear is we reach out to our top 3 and they all choose to stay where they are (or worse we have a coaching search while the Kansas job is open and searching too) and we end up taking a mid-major guy with potentially high upside instead of having our pick of the litter. And then in 3 years time being in the exact same position with a fringe top 25 team with a sweet 16 ceiling every year.

 

[Eagles_Ball_69]

He's riding that late Tubby years line, just good enough (and with some baked in injury excuses) to make a case for keeping him. Not Gillespie bad enough yet, and no scandals, to force a firing. If he's middle of the pack in the SEC, gets a 5 or 6 seed, and makes the Sweet 16 he's probably getting year 4 and most all of the fanbase can agree, that's not good enough for UK. But if you fire him, you have sent a message to the prospective coaches that that same bar isn't good enough for them either. It'll give pause to some big names (like the UNC job opening did), who might not take the job knowing just how successful they have to be here right out the gate. And how short the leash is on them having time to do it.

We are in a lose/lose situation this year unless Pope wins big on the court or in recruiting. The line to replace him won't be as long and star studded as we hope it will be.

*This is not an endorsement of Year 4 of Mark Pope, thank you. This is more me preparing myself for a mediocre season justifying a year 4 of Mark Pope to those in charge at UK. Sigh...

If I could like a post a million times, this would be that post. I'm not sure I've ever agreed more with a post on here. Exactly where I am in all of this. I used the late Tubby years when he was hired and I continue to use them to this day. He's just there without all the built in equity Tubby had, which was obviously a lot.

 

[JakeKx]

He's talked to multiple media outlets including doing live interviews on KSR, just because he's not coming out and blasting the conference commissioner and getting the the school heat with the conference doesn't mean he's not doing anything.

Ksr interviews don’t count. I want a press conference with hard questions. Not the layups they give him beforehand on ksr

 

[JayEzzy]

The real test comes if Pope loses 12 games. If he doesn't fire him, then **** Batt too.

Well he averages 12.2 losses per season so are we betting on a guy suddenly changing who he is?

 

[Zoellersystem]

A real first name to start would be nice.

 

[HogCoyote]

Ksr interviews don’t count. I want a press conference with hard questions. Not the layups they give him beforehand on ksr

Well ya know what they say about wanting in one hand and doing something else in the other.