Pope is one of us and was a Captain of that 1996 team! He is a smart dude so let’s get behind him and let him put staff together and recruit!! 
Give Pope a chance
- Thread starter Woodrow24
- Start date
Mark has my support...and this from a long time UK fan and alum who has not watched since 'the kneel'.
K
Yes, let’s give him a chance to prove a lot of posters here wrong. However, one should not expect instant success like getting to the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 in his first year. I’m think he needs 3 seasons at Kentucky to solidify the team and bring in players who he can consistently win with.
Rupp - Coached High school: moved from high school to UK (rupp started out coaching wrestling) then only for a couple of years coached High school basketball.
Joe B Hall: Had never been more than an assistant at UK.
Those 2 stand out the most. Both worked out fairly good. One great one good. Pope who knows. I will give him a shot.
This thread to me is more about Mitch than Pope. I am no fan of Mitch as an AD either. I am sure he is a very good man and such.
"You'd have liked it if it worked."
Yeah, obviously if he's successful I won't be mad. But we're taking a pretty massive gamble here.
It's absolutely about Mitch - we expected an attempt at a home run hire and if not that then at least a coach who'd proven he can win at a high level. Pope's a wildcat, he's a great guy, I hope he wins. But that's the same things that were said about Joker. Maybe Pope is the next Joe B. Maybe he's the next Joker. Three of our last five coaching hires had a Final Four before coming to Kentucky. The other two had sweet 16s. Pope may work out, I hope he does, but this is NOT the sort of hire Kentucky basketball typically makes.
I agree 1000% with that statement. What I will say is after I heard on Field of 68 (i think) that Mitch did not have a plan b or c, that Mitch fully expected Scott Drew to take the job, I knew we were about to get the most Mitch thing ever. i was hoping it would be someone I could get behind and at least support. it is. I will support Pope till he fails, not first game loss fail but fails to uphold KENTUCKKY tradition. Might take a couple of years (with portal I hope not but could).
We did not get Pitino (so happy for that), did not get Pearl (extremely happy for that).
So we can go ahead and establish this instead of this forever vague “I’ll support keeping every single UK coach ever hired no matter what” mentality, what has to occur and the timeline for it before you wanna pull the plug?
Both of those schools hired someone with zero head coaching experience. At least Pope has that going for him. I seriously don’t see how this could be way worse. That’s a ridiculous statement. Obviously if Pope was that far up the list he had the backing of Craft and other Boosters. I can understand why. Pope is one of ours. He’s a Wildcat and will embrace this job with a passion and an eye on keeping it and I’m sure Craft and the Boosters will help provide him all the tools needed to keep up with the Jones’ so to speak. I’m sure we can get Pope for a whole lot less than the other candidates which maybe frees up dollars for needed facility upgrades.
Don’t look at Duke or UNC as a comparison. Look at Danny Hurley as that comparison. Hurley had a pretty similar path from Wagner to Rhode Island to UConn. He had limited success at his first two stops, but has excelled once provided the resources necessary to compete.
BYU, with its Code of Conduct that all students are required to sign and abide by or face expulsion, is one of the most difficult places to recruit to in all of D1, Outside of maybe the Ivy League or Military Academies. Yet he had his merry band of misfits in the top 10 at a point during this season. Ranked higher than us at times.
Let’s rally behind one of ours and give the guy a chance before we clobber him. He may prove us all wrong.
Say Calipari had left in 2018. What would you have said at that time if UK had plucked a coach named Danny Hurley out of Rhode Island to come here? How is this any different at all? Don’t cast judgement until he’s had the chance to recruit and coach some teams with infinitely better and more abundant resources.
Before anyone jumps of a cliff at Red River Gorge, or worse for a UK fan begins cheering for UL, take a deep breath and look at the reality of the landscape of college basketball.
I know that most of the non-troll members here would have given away their favorite dog just to walk-on at UK and sit on the end of the bench. It’s what separates BBN from every other fanbase. You can see it in their use of the personal pronoun “we” when discussing the program (and the team) and what they ought to do. As such, BBN fans tend to believe that everyone associated with college basketball think the same way…everyone from the top coaches at the top programs to every McD-level player from Long Island to Long Beach. However for most it is a business and family decision (well, if not a business decision for the players, it is at least for their handlers).
Cal understood that twenty years ago. But unfortunately other coaches caught up, and then when the game on the court changed he couldn’t adjust there regardless of the talent he continued to bring in. As such, given the expectations of BBN it was time for him to go…and he left. And so a new guy is needed to replace him, into a position that “we-using” BBN members expect every coach in America from Brad Stevens and Jay Wright would just naturally sprint to fill.
However, those and similar men don’t share your passion for UK, and (in the modern world of March Madness money and big conference football money) they earn (or have earned enough) that going from $5M to $10M outweighs the impact on their lives and on their families’ lives that moving from someplace they are comfortable (to somewhere strange to them) entails. And no AD or fanbase is going to convince them otherwise.
And that brings me to the “here are some examples” part of this diatribe.
The blue bloods on a level similar to UK:
Mark Pope coming to Lexington is closer to the reality of other programs like Duke and UNC than it is to what BBN dreamed would happen. That is a fact. And the jury is still out on Scheyer and Davis, so maybe that isn’t the model to follow. Nonetheless, while jury selection (aka BBN) was finished before the “defendant” was even identified (or had a chance to commit the crime) you “Twelve Angry Men” ought at least examine the evidence that will be generated before passing sentence.
I know that most of the non-troll members here would have given away their favorite dog just to walk-on at UK and sit on the end of the bench. It’s what separates BBN from every other fanbase. You can see it in their use of the personal pronoun “we” when discussing the program (and the team) and what they ought to do. As such, BBN fans tend to believe that everyone associated with college basketball think the same way…everyone from the top coaches at the top programs to every McD-level player from Long Island to Long Beach. However for most it is a business and family decision (well, if not a business decision for the players, it is at least for their handlers).
Cal understood that twenty years ago. But unfortunately other coaches caught up, and then when the game on the court changed he couldn’t adjust there regardless of the talent he continued to bring in. As such, given the expectations of BBN it was time for him to go…and he left. And so a new guy is needed to replace him, into a position that “we-using” BBN members expect every coach in America from Brad Stevens and Jay Wright would just naturally sprint to fill.
However, those and similar men don’t share your passion for UK, and (in the modern world of March Madness money and big conference football money) they earn (or have earned enough) that going from $5M to $10M outweighs the impact on their lives and on their families’ lives that moving from someplace they are comfortable (to somewhere strange to them) entails. And no AD or fanbase is going to convince them otherwise.
And that brings me to the “here are some examples” part of this diatribe.
The blue bloods on a level similar to UK:
- Jon Scheyer – played at Duke and had no HC experience before taking over there
- Hubert Davis – just swap UNC for Duke and it is the same story
- Dan Hurley – basketball family, but when he replaced successive coaches who had won three national championships between them he wasn’t thought to be a high level guy. I.E. BBN would NOT have welcomed him to the Bluegrass.
- Tom Izzo – he was Jud Heathcote’s long-time assistant, promoted up to the job. Sometimes that works out.
- Kyle Neptune - had you even heard of him before he followed Jay Wright at Villanova (or even before you read this sentence)? He was a long time assistant under Wright, that was his main qualification.
- UCLA – I can’t even begin to list the ins and outs of the coaching wheel in an area where In-and-Out Burgers rule.
- IU – The administration was too woke long before that became a term that meant anything, and so they leveled-up Mike Davis, fired Kelvin Samson and then hired Crean, Miller and brought in a coach based on his being a beloved IU-alum.
- Michigan – Repeat the above for IU
- UL – I don’t think I need to remind anyone here of where they are, hoping the new guy is as good with X’s and O’s as he is with quips and snips.
- Texas – revolving door
- Ohio State – ditto
- Alabama – Nate Oats. Was he a sure-fire thing? Did their football money bring in a big name basketball guy in 2019? They seem to have gotten lucky.
Mark Pope coming to Lexington is closer to the reality of other programs like Duke and UNC than it is to what BBN dreamed would happen. That is a fact. And the jury is still out on Scheyer and Davis, so maybe that isn’t the model to follow. Nonetheless, while jury selection (aka BBN) was finished before the “defendant” was even identified (or had a chance to commit the crime) you “Twelve Angry Men” ought at least examine the evidence that will be generated before passing sentence.
Like I said, he MIGHT be the next Joe B. I'm hoping he crushes it. He's never had the resources and the promise of every night national exposure that UK will give him, and he's clearly a solid coach.
But Dan Hurley had a substantially better resume than Pope. He took a program that hadn't been to the tournament since 1999 and was 7-24 the year before he took over and built them to two straight NCAA tournaments and a league title in the A-10, a much better league than the WAC and WCC Pope was coaching in most of his career. Pope took over BYU and did about as well as the previous two coaches had done there. If we didn't get someone from our wish list, I was hoping we WOULD get someone like Hurley who had showed success building a smaller program up to a level of success they hadn't previously had.
I agree. This could be a great hire or the worst hire. Have to let this play out. I just hope we can get some nice recruits. I am guessing there will be no more one and dones. That to me is a plus.
I have and idgaf who thinks what of it. Wasn’t my first choice. Wasn’t even my third. However, I honestly think he’s a really good coach. Bet he could coach circles around that clown that just departed. Bet!
How is two ncaa tourney wins at Rhode Island not success? Pope doesn’t have limited success. Pope doesn’t have any success.
A few thoughts on this:
1. I like Pope, think he is a rising coach but is nowhere near ready for this type of job. He’s completely unproven as a HC at any major program and I fear this place will be too much to handle for him.
2. What the hell was Mitch thinking after Drew and Hurley said no. Did he not say himself he wanted a PROVEN coach? If so why would he not go after proven guys out there like Donovan, Oats, or Pearl before settling on Pope. He will be “highly dedicated” (as Mitch also pointed out in the tweet) as an alum but this leads me into my next point……
3. Some have been pointing out his connection to UK as an alumnus and former player/1996 title winner which is nice and all but that doesn’t exactly help. Ask Louisville, Michigan, or Georgetown how it worked out for them hiring the likes of Kenny Payne, Juwan Howard, and Patrick Ewing as their HC. Being an alumni of a school doesn’t necessarily mean they will be successful.
All in all, this is not the hire I or many others wanted but I am willing to give this a chance. Let’s get behind this hire and move forward.
1. I like Pope, think he is a rising coach but is nowhere near ready for this type of job. He’s completely unproven as a HC at any major program and I fear this place will be too much to handle for him.
2. What the hell was Mitch thinking after Drew and Hurley said no. Did he not say himself he wanted a PROVEN coach? If so why would he not go after proven guys out there like Donovan, Oats, or Pearl before settling on Pope. He will be “highly dedicated” (as Mitch also pointed out in the tweet) as an alum but this leads me into my next point……
3. Some have been pointing out his connection to UK as an alumnus and former player/1996 title winner which is nice and all but that doesn’t exactly help. Ask Louisville, Michigan, or Georgetown how it worked out for them hiring the likes of Kenny Payne, Juwan Howard, and Patrick Ewing as their HC. Being an alumni of a school doesn’t necessarily mean they will be successful.
All in all, this is not the hire I or many others wanted but I am willing to give this a chance. Let’s get behind this hire and move forward.
Where do keep getting the "we" from?
Worry about you. Don't worry about anyone else.
There is Night and day difference between UK Hiring Pope who has head coaching experience versus, the Payne, Howard and Ewing hires who all left NBA assistant roles to coach at their alma maters. Payne was the only one with any college level experience. Memphis gave Hardaway a job with only some minimal High School level coaching. It would be like us going and offering the job to Tayshaun Prince. This isn't like that at all. Pope will have far more abundant resources than he's ever had at either of his stops, but at least he knows how to run a team from the top. just give the guy a chance.
I understand it’s different but I’m just saying it’s along that same vein and people shouldn’t get too wrapped up in that. Definitely going to give it a chance, I just hope that he gets enough support and surrounds himself with the right guys. What’s done is done and we can only hope for the best with this hire.
Mitch said Pope had already had 2 players (not BYU), reach out to him. He tried to get them to BYU and they said no. As soon as news broke he is coming to KENTUCKY, they called him and wanted him to know they would come with him to UK. So there is that.
Hey Woodrow you do know a "pope trumps a cardinal"
This is like one big sociological experiment into how quickly you can gaslight a group of people into believing an obviously terrible decision is actually good
Noone Hates Pope - EVERYONE WANTS POPE TO DO GREAT! People are hating mitch not Pope.
What folks are pissed about is it was indeed a panic hire. Could of had Pope in a week or even 2. Needed to go after more established folks with actual accomplishments. Pope has done nothing in 4 years at BYU he has actually done worse then who he replaced.
That said it's over now just got to support him and get behind the program as can't chsnge it now for next 5 years. I always liked Pope just not for this job but he's here and maybe he ends up the guy.
I'm done griping just gonna climb on the bandwagon now.
What folks are pissed about is it was indeed a panic hire. Could of had Pope in a week or even 2. Needed to go after more established folks with actual accomplishments. Pope has done nothing in 4 years at BYU he has actually done worse then who he replaced.
That said it's over now just got to support him and get behind the program as can't chsnge it now for next 5 years. I always liked Pope just not for this job but he's here and maybe he ends up the guy.
I'm done griping just gonna climb on the bandwagon now.