How is Pope still here?

FireMarkPope

Redshirt
Oct 22, 2026
3
3
0
I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"
 
Aug 23, 2024
3,317
7,051
113
I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"
Did your other account finally get banned?

Firing any coach after just two seasons is extreme and should be reserved for extreme situations. The shortcomings have not been extreme. When considering injuries and the toughest schedules in UK history the results are about what should be reasonably expected.
 

Cats4321

All-Conference
Nov 18, 2025
1,139
3,250
113
He probably shouldn't be here honestly. However, he is and I hope we are great this year. But if he doesn't put a top level team on the floor this year,, then he has to be gone. With his lack of success in his coaching career, 3 years would be a very fair evaluation period.
 

Catastic5

Senior
Sep 12, 2026
330
870
93
Most coaches get 3 years in to figure things out. Clearly the situation with Gillispie was untenable with the stuff going on behind the scenes. Pope is just bad at his job, not really doing anything that would constitute firing.
 

Kantucke_rivals

All-Conference
Mar 9, 2015
860
1,500
93
Barney,. and his sweet heart deal with the 1 yr automatic extension for making the sweet 16. I can see automatic extension for making the elite 8 or 4, but the sweet 16?

Just wild that Barney set the sweet 16 as the standard for Kentucky Basketball.
 

CRZ4UK

Heisman
Jun 6, 2008
5,439
10,743
103
Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.
 
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Anon1773686487

Redshirt
Mar 16, 2026
19
21
3
Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.
Golden is a product of 3 good players, when their frontcourt graduates he will be done, hurley is likely the best coach of the last 3 decades

Pope isnt a good recruiter and just an okay xs and os guy

so please stop with whatever your agenda is
 
Mar 13, 2026
644
537
93
I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"
Couldn’t say it better myself! 👊🏻
 

Hunting9

Senior
Oct 30, 2025
225
435
63
Did your other account finally get banned?

Firing any coach after just two seasons is extreme and should be reserved for extreme situations. The shortcomings have not been extreme. When considering injuries and the toughest schedules in UK history the results are about what should be reasonably expected.
This ^. OP has one post and it’s on a subject that’s been beat to death. I’m not a Pope fan by any means but OP is a total phony. PLEASE don’t reply.
 

UKWildcats1987

Heisman
Sep 9, 2021
20,764
37,151
113
Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.

Compare pope to other uk coaches first 2 seasons.

He has a fat nil war chest and more advantages than any prior UK coach.

Do those comparisons please.
 

Catastic5

Senior
Sep 12, 2026
330
870
93
Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.
It’s been almost 4 months since Mitch has been gone and recruiting has still gone poorly. I’ve seen nothing from this coaching staff recruiting-wise that had changed since Barnhart has been gone.
 
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Mar 13, 2026
644
537
93
This ^. OP has one post and it’s on a subject that’s been beat to death. I’m not a Pope fan by any means but OP is a total phony. PLEASE don’t reply.
Mark pope isn’t a top 25 coach! Do you think the Kentucky job is a top 5 job? 7th in sec is pitiful! Pope is what he is.
 

Snarks

All-American
Jan 31, 2005
8,740
7,549
93
He shouldn’t have been hired in the first place. If he hadn’t played here would he have even been in the conversation? No. This is why you don’t hire someone merely because they played here.

Unfortunately Mitch gave him a bad contract. He’s already got an extra year simply for making the sweet 16. We’re also still paying off Stoops boneheaded contract.

This better be the year for Pope though. Seems like we’re on a great track in football, but I’ve never been less interested in basketball.
 
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UKBB4Ever

All-Conference
Jul 3, 2025
2,375
4,122
113
I don't understand why Pope wasn't fired last year. His chances of success were always slim; he probably never should've been hired in the first place. So why is the administration allowing him to stick around for year 3? You don't do that with questionable hires. He's not a young upstart like Stein who's still learning the job of a head coach (and who also happens to be eating Pope's lunch by the way, with the lowest NIL budget in the conference).

Pope's career has amounted to little more than a pile of 10+ loss seasons everywhere he's been. His record at UK is barely better than Billy Gillispie's. Despite having one of the largest NIL budgets in the sport, he can't recruit, which in the NIL era is all about money money money. That's all we ever hear from the media. And somehow Pope is so repellent and incompetent that even that truism doesn't hold for him. If the embarrassing blowout losses aren't enough (it should be remembered that we had plenty of humiliating losses in his supposedly "successful" first season too), how about the fact that he is 1-7 against Oats and Golden here? What are we waiting for? Have our standards fallen so far that beating Alabama and Florida 1 out of every 7 games is "good enough?"
Pope should have been fired at Vandy last season. Not allowed to travel home with the team. His stuff sitting on the curb when he finally did get back to Lexington.
 
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Cats4321

All-Conference
Nov 18, 2025
1,139
3,250
113
Compare pope to other uk coaches first 2 seasons.

He has a fat nil war chest and more advantages than any prior UK coach.

Do those comparisons please.
This is true. MUCH easier to have immediate success now. In previous eras, you had to give a coach time to get "his guys". Every team is basically brand new now, so that is completely out the window.
 
Oct 9, 2015
14,227
37,845
78
Mark was always getting year 3. From the start. And that is fine and I have no problem with it. But if he don’t win big this season he has to go.

My biggest complaint is why he was ever hired in the first place. I know we were all blinded by the dog and pony presser. Let’s be real, that was an awesome event. But that Thursday night meltdown was completely warranted and legit. He should have never been considered and not even part of the thought process.
 

Jazzycat

All-Conference
May 23, 2002
16,104
4,734
113
He was a sentimental pick and the AD needed that after the way Calipari left. Pope has this year to make it to the elite eight, at most…I really hope he is successful.

i
 
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FireMarkPope

Redshirt
Oct 22, 2026
3
3
0
Most coaches get 3 years in to figure things out. Clearly the situation with Gillispie was untenable with the stuff going on behind the scenes. Pope is just bad at his job, not really doing anything that would constitute firing.
Bad at their job is the reason most coaches get fired.
 

Snarks

All-American
Jan 31, 2005
8,740
7,549
93
This is true. MUCH easier to have immediate success now. In previous eras, you had to give a coach time to get "his guys". Every team is basically brand new now, so that is completely out the window.
This. I never want to hear about how Pope needs time. Dusty May and Cignetti both won it in year 2. Will Stein is doing great in year 1. It’s possible with the right coach…..which we don’t have.
 

FireMarkPope

Redshirt
Oct 22, 2026
3
3
0
Golden and Hurley would have been fired if Firemarkpope was AD then. Nate Oats too. Pope has had a better start than any of them.
We had the worst AD in college ball and it wasnt close. No coach could have succeeded under Barnhart long term. Let’s give Pope a recruiting cycle out from under Mitch. Cal is the best recruiter in college ball and he was getting TyTy, Edward’s and the other highly rated flops. He is killing it at Arkansas with a bad AD. Shows you how bad Mitch was.
Hurley had had meaningful success at lower levels and was building a program that was in dire straits before his arrival in the pre-portal pre-NIL era. Oats and Golden did remarkably well in their first two years relative to expectations and budget. Are you saying we should have the same expectations for basketball as UF and Bama?
 
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