How is Pope still here?

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

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.

This is the ranting of an irrational spoiled brat.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

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?

Hurley won at a 62.3% at Wagner and a 57.9% rate at RI while Pope won at 57.9% rate at Utah St. and 67.9% at BYU. The fact Hurley won a conference title against weak competition (second place St Bonaventure never appeared in one AP poll the entire season) while Pope twice finished second to Gonzaga teams that finished AP #1 and #2 those years establishes nothing in Hurley's favor.

 

[HeismanWinner]

Cal wasnt fired after 9 and 16 or losing to a 15 seed or even a 14 seed. I know its apples to oranges as Cal won a lot that matters. Pope never has won anything. But UK seems to take a while to pull the plug.

Due to injuries Pope was always gonna get a 3rd season. It is what it is.

Cal had equity and his buyout is why that was never going to happen.

 

[Catastic5]

Hurley! Hurley! Hurley! Nobody gives a rat’s a** about Dan freaking Hurley. Hurley is coaching at UConn. Mark Pope is coaching at Kentucky. Mark Pope is not Dan Hurley. They’re two entirely different people with entirely different personalities.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

Hurley! Hurley! Hurley! Nobody gives a rat’s a** about Dan freaking Hurley. Hurley is coaching at UConn. Mark Pope is coaching at Kentucky. Mark Pope is not Dan Hurley. They’re two entirely different people with entirely different personalities.

You do realize your partner in misery was the one who brought up Hurley? He claimed Hurley had proven so much more than Pope in his 12 seasons prior to year 5 at UConn which is obviously false. Do you think Hurley got a personality transplant somewhere along the line that totally changed his fortunes?

 

[JimboBBN]

He will be gone after we have another meh season and JB will make a home run hire next spring. Be patient BBN

 

[Snarks]

I just cannot understand why people hate Pope. He played basketball at UK and won at the highest level. He was a great ambassador for the program and appears to put everything he has into the job.

Like other college programs, NIL/TP have created parity for the field and the bluebloods are a thing of the past.

Support Coach Pope and the team!

Nobody hates Pope. We just don’t think he can get it done here and don’t want to waste years on the obvious decision.

 

[Snarks]

Compare Pope's SOS ratings, inherited roster and key injuries to the first two years of other UK coaches. Even at that he is ahead of Joe B's first two years at 33-21 61.1% and BCG's 40-27 59.7%. The mantra of Pope having more advantages than any previous UK coach is just what you believe because it supports your agenda and not at all factual.

Kentucky Wildcats Men's Basketball Index | College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com

Check out the Kentucky Wildcats College Basketball History, Stats, Records, Polls, Leaders and More College Basketball Stats at Sports-Reference.com

www.sports-reference.com

You always point to Joe B and Hurley. Did they have the transfer portal or NIL? Could a team be flipped entirely in a year? No. It can now, you cannot compare the landscape even 5 years ago to what it is now.

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

You always point to Joe B and Hurley. Did they have the transfer portal or NIL? Could a team be flipped entirely in a year? No. It can now, you cannot compare the landscape even 5 years ago to what it is now.

Did you actually read the post I responded to and the comparison it requested? Try to follow along. You are now the second poster to accuse me of bringing up Hurley when it was a member of your fellowship of the miserable who brought him up.

It is in no way established that the portal and NIL are the easy button for UK you have continued to insist them to be as I said.

 

[AustinTXCat]

He remains here with permission from a higher power.

Next question.

 

[Cleatortoises]

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.

is killing it? Really?

 

[Cleatortoises]

ANY-F*CKING-BODY. I don’t care as long as it’s not Pope. Bring back Cal for all I care.

We have a winner.
#1 DA.
He started this roll. He hated your guts Bennie.

 

[Cleatortoises]

Hurley won at a 62.3% at Wagner and a 57.9% rate at RI while Pope won at 57.9% rate at Utah St. and 67.9% at BYU. The fact Hurley won a conference title against weak competition (second place St Bonaventure never appeared in one AP poll the entire season) while Pope twice finished second to Gonzaga teams that finished AP #1 and #2 those years establishes nothing in Hurley's favor.

You stop it with all your pesky facts.
FAAAAAR POPE!

 

[warrior-cat]

Once he signed his contract there was zero chance he was getting fired in his first two years without doing something really wrong. You're fooling yourself if you thought it was going to go any other way.

Common sense here. I don't get the fire him now crowd after 2 years. Especially after having to have to start from scratch the first year and then with all of the injuries from last year. The optics throughout the BB community across the nation would have made UK look bad for the next potential coach.

 

[chroix]

Common sense here. I don't get the fire him now crowd after 2 years. Especially after having to have to start from scratch the first year and then with all of the injuries from last year. The optics throughout the BB community across the nation would have made UK look bad for the next potential coach.

If OP had his way he'd be fired because he only won the exhibition by 20. All of the best coaches would be beating down our door for an opportunity like that...

 

[Johnnie Africa]

This is why you don’t hire former players as coaches unless they’re Roy Williams. You end up with people like this gaslighting you into thinking we can’t do any better. You’re like an abusive girlfriend.

lol that was an obvious troll/satire post my lord I feel like some of you just joined the internet

 

[NociHTTP]

He will be gone after we have another meh season and JB will make a home run hire next spring. Be patient BBN

Love your optimism.

 

[NociHTTP]

You stop it with all your pesky facts.
FAAAAAR POPE!

 

[FireMarkPope]

You do realize your partner in misery was the one who brought up Hurley? He claimed Hurley had proven so much more than Pope in his 12 seasons prior to year 5 at UConn which is obviously false. Do you think Hurley got a personality transplant somewhere along the line that totally changed his fortunes?

Obviously false? Hurley had won two NCAAT games at URI and had won both a regular season conference championship and a confrence tournament championship. Pope hadn't accomplished any of these at the time of his arrival at UK and still has not won a conference title--regular season or tournament. Hurley's resume was more impressive.

Hurley also arrived at UConn, a program that was in the garbage, where they had just vacated their previous season, and in the pre-portal, pre-NIL era, he turned them around immediately and improved each season. Pope has not done anything to show he can be successful here in his first two years.

 

[CRZ4UK]

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?

Actually yes I am. Because you’re living in the past. None of these young kids care anything about Kentuckys past Championships . We are all on equal plains in the NIL era. Money is what talks and it’s the biggest difference maker.

Cal is not actually killing it at Arkansas. He is doing alright but definitely not killing it. He was killing it from 2009-2019. Who was his AD from 2009-2019?

Last year he recruited the National Freshman of the year, The SEC freshman of the year, Who was a top draft pick. Had another freshman go first round . This year watch out. His class is crazy. You obviously don’t follow basketball. He is killing it.

is killing it? Really?

Really. Last year he recruited Two top ten draft picks including the SEC and National Freshman of the year. Acuff was a complete difference maker. This year…..
Recruiting Class Ranking

Arkansas finished with the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class according to 247Sports.

The class features several five-star prospects, led by Jordan Smith Jr., who was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally.
TyTy, Justin Edward’s, and all his complete flops here his last 6 years say hello. Cal couldn’t recruit difference makers here under Barnharts NIL stance. It’s why they hated each other by the end.
Don’t forget he is also bringing in Murriaman (AKA) slim Jesus some say might be a generational foreign player.
Do your homework.

 

[AllBall]

Golden and Hurley established themselves by year 3. There was vast improvement within those programs. Pope is out of excuses!

 

[megablue]

It appears that Mark Pope still embraces the pressure and challenges of coaching at Kentucky. He knew it was a tough job when he took it.
I'm not CERTAIN that this will be a make-or-break year for him, but there's little question that he's under the watchful eye of alumni, fans, boosters and administrators in this third year. What success must be achieved is uncertain, but I think the program needs to make huge strides this year for Pope to reduce (if not eliminate) doubt and foster increased confidence that he is fit to lead it.

This piece, released this morning, is interesting to read and consider:

NIL arms race: Matt Painter leads ranking of college basketball coaches outperforming their roster budgets

Purdue's Matt Painter and Alabama's Nate Oats lead a group of high-major coaches routinely beating college basketball's biggest spenders on a fraction of the budget

www.cbssports.com

What I think would be ranking of coaches by salary dollars per win.

A comprehensive nationwide ranking of college basketball coaches strictly calculated by "salary dollars per win" (dividing total annual compensation by single-season or career wins) is not officially published or tracked as a standardized composite metric by the NCAA or USA TODAY Sports.
However, we can look at the highest-paid men's college basketball coaches and their approximate compensation-to-performance efficiency based on recent contract data and win totals.

Highest-Paid Men's College Basketball Coaches (2025–26)

Coach	School	Total Annual Salary
Bill Self	Kansas Jayhawks	$8,853,800
Dan Hurley	UConn Huskies	$8,025,000
John Calipari	Arkansas Razorbacks	$7,750,000
Tom Izzo	Michigan State Spartans	$7,200,000
Rick Barnes	Tennessee Volunteers	$6,200,000
Todd Golden	Florida Gators	$6,000,000
Chris Beard	Ole Miss Rebels	$6,000,000
Nate Oats	Alabama Crimson Tide	$5,510,000
Kelvin Sampson	Houston Cougars	$5,500,000
Tommy Lloyd	Arizona Wildcats	$5,500,000

How Dollars-per-Win Works in Practice

• • High Efficiency/Lower Cost: Coaches at mid-major or rising programs who win 25+ games a year on $1.5M–$2.5M salaries yield a much lower "cost per win" (roughly $60,000 to $100,000 per win).
  • High Cost per Win: Elite programs paying $6M–$8.8M per year face a much higher dollar-per-win ratio. For example, a coach making $8 million who wins 20 games in a rebuilding or tougher conference season costs roughly $400,000 per win, whereas a 30-win season drops that figure closer to $266,000 per win.

Of this group of ten, it seems to me that Chris Beard is clearly overpaid.

 

[Cleatortoises]

Actually yes I am. Because you’re living in the past. None of these young kids care anything about Kentuckys past Championships . We are all on equal plains in the NIL era. Money is what talks and it’s the biggest difference maker.

Last year he recruited the National Freshman of the year, The SEC freshman of the year, Who was a top draft pick. Had another freshman go first round . This year watch out. His class is crazy. You obviously don’t follow basketball. He is killing it.

Really. Last year he recruited Two top ten draft picks including the SEC and National Freshman of the year. Acuff was a complete difference maker. This year…..
Recruiting Class Ranking

Arkansas finished with the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class according to 247Sports.

The class features several five-star prospects, led by Jordan Smith Jr., who was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally.
TyTy, Justin Edward’s, and all his complete flops here his last 6 years say hello. Cal couldn’t recruit difference makers here under Barnharts NIL stance. It’s why they hated each other by the end.
Don’t forget he is also bringing in Murriaman (AKA) slim Jesus some say might be a generational foreign player.
Do your homework.

There's homework?
cant coach a lick.
If the pieces fit it'll work out ok if not....
But killing it is a bit much.
Sluuuuurrrrp!
Perhaps there is a red jersey in your future.

 

[ShakesTheClown564]

Good to see that rafters is in midseason form already

 

[CRZ4UK]

There's homework?
cant coach a lick.
If the pieces fit it'll work out ok if not....
But killing it is a bit much.
Sluuuuurrrrp!
Perhaps there is a red jersey in your future.

You changed from he’s not recruiting well to he can’t coach to his teams don’t mesh to I’m an Arkansas fan????
I Hated Barnhart. He was our problem with recruiting difference makers. Calipari is most definitely recruiting better at Arkansas. That’s not really debatable.
Cals coaching ability is what we all know it is, but given the resources. He is the best recruiter in the game.

 

[Cleatortoises]

You changed from he’s not recruiting well to he can’t coach to his teams don’t mesh to I’m an Arkansas fan????
I Hated Barnhart. He was our problem with recruiting difference makers. Calipari is most definitely recruiting better at Arkansas. That’s not really debatable.
Cals coaching ability is what we all know it is, but given the resources. He is the best recruiter in the game.

See, killing it means winning big to me. He's doing about what's expected. I didnt change.
He's not killing sheite.
NBA picks dont mean anything to me.
He doesnt love you back.

 

[Snarks]

Golden and Hurley established themselves by year 3. There was vast improvement within those programs. Pope is out of excuses!

The Pope Pumpers will always give him an excuse.

 

[JustBlue]

Trust me - if the boosters love the next coach they will have PLENTY of NIL money to work with. And the relationship with Pope is definitely starting to sour.

 

[Get_over_it]

I agree Kentucky should have fired Pope after year 2, going forward UK needs to make it known to any potential coach that if you don't make a final four by year 2 you will be fired, to hell with giving someone more than 2 years. While we are at it we need to also let potential coaches know that a final four is nice in year 2 but we expect a title atleast by year 5, if not you will be fired. Also just 1 title is not good enough, we need 1 title at a minimum every 5 years or you are fired.

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

TyTy, Justin Edward’s, and all his complete flops here his last 6 years say hello. Cal couldn’t recruit difference makers here under Barnharts NIL stance. It’s why they hated each other by the end.

Honest question. Did Barnhart's NIL stance change when he hired Mark Pope? Or was Pope partially a victim of Barnhart's NIL stance as well? The reason I ask. Let's assume Pope had never had access to the NIL resources UK has previously. So even a narrowed and slim restricted Barnhart version of NIL would have seemed massive to Pope. And he couldn't outbid other schools with a limited NIL cap for the types of players we as fans expect at UK?

Not throwing Pope a lifeline here, his recruiting methods have been mind boggling. The high school recruit misses are definitely alarming. He's done well in the portal on paper for sure, and that first team was a solid group. But we continue to hear both sides of the coin about UK Basketball NIL, "Kentucky is flush with money and will never be outbid", but then people inside the program continue to say "We have a hard cap and sometimes when we sit down to talk money we just have to walk away." We are rumored to spend $6 mil or more on Milan, and supposedly offered Stokes over $7 mil, but in the same breath we asked Moreno to take less than his value so we could clear up money for other players, wouldn't pay Chandler his asking price, couldn't pay Wright or Freeman. But then we had money left over for Mitchell? Then what about JMI (this was an issue but I know several things changed with the contract wording that seems to have helped some). Are they still an issue? Did Batt take the guard rails off of Barnhart's old NIL stance and give Pope more freedom, or did he keep it in place knowing Pope is on his way out?

Pope's a bad recruiter, no doubt. He's a smart guy though. There's probably multiple people on this board who could out perform him recruiting if all things were on the level. Which makes me question, again, not trying to defend Pope, how can you be this bad at recruiting at a Blue Blood supposedly flush with money unless something is seriously off besides Pope's personality. Makes you wonder what's actually at play behind the scenes. It's got to be more than, Pope is a bad coach. Or Pope is weird. A lot of people dislike their bosses, but they pay well. You mean to tell me we couldn't offer enough money to land at least 1 five star in the top 10 from high school? (using 247 rankings, I know Hampton, Moreno, and Jasper were 5 stars at times on multiple sites). Something is a miss here.

 

[Artlaibesghost]

It's hopeless

 

[MegaBlue05]

I went over this ad nauseam last season.

Show me a college basketball coach fired after 2 years solely for W-L record without a hint of off court scandal or doing something really dumb like refusing to sign a contract.

Show me the precedent. What’s that? You can’t find one. Because it’s unprecedented.

Pope was always getting 3 years minimum unless year 1 went Kenny Payne bad. It did not.

The results of year 1 bought him years 2 and 3. The results of year 2 made year 3 a make or break year for Coach Pope.

So, instead of throwing temper tantrums like babies with poop filled diapers, try living in reality. if Pope doesn’t deliver this year he’s gone. It’s not gonna happen after the first loss. It’s not going to happen in December or February, but that’s not gonna stop the screaming and crying now is it?

 

[FLBBNFAN]

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.

You are spot on. In this era you can build a winner quick. IU won a natty in 2 years after being a doormat for a century. No better proof that its doable these days.

 

[defactorial]

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

You clearly haven't been paying attention to recruiting then. Golden is about to land Cayden Daughtry, who genuinely might be a better version of Walter Clayton. They also landed Kamsi Awaka who is Chinyelu 2.0. They have a top 5 budget in CBK. I understand you don't like Florida, but they are going to contend for a championship every year as long as Golden is there.

 

[Grevey1975]

We're in year 3 and they're (Media Posts) already putting Pope at the top of the "Hot Seat"..And believe it or not the hiring of Will Stein and the success he has had will put even more pressure on Pope...My guess is he needs to be in the Top 3 in SEC Standings and at least a final 8 appearance or buh bye.....IMO

 

[JustBlue]

I went over this ad nauseam last season.

Show me a college basketball coach fired after 2 years solely for W-L record without a hint of off court scandal or doing something really dumb like refusing to sign a contract.

Show me the precedent. What’s that? You can’t find one. Because it’s unprecedented.

Pope was always getting 3 years minimum unless year 1 went Kenny Payne bad. It did not.

The results of year 1 bought him years 2 and 3. The results of year 2 made year 3 a make or break year for Coach Pope.

So, instead of throwing temper tantrums like babies with poop filled diapers, try living in reality. if Pope doesn’t deliver this year he’s gone. It’s not gonna happen after the first loss. It’s not going to happen in December or February, but that’s not gonna stop the screaming and crying now is it?

All this and the fact that a lame duck AD wasn't going to fire him and throw this in the lap of someone who had not even been hired yet. I'm 100% for making a change but anyone thinking it was going to be this year was just being unrealistic.

 

[defactorial]

Common sense here. I don't get the fire him now crowd after 2 years. Especially after having to have to start from scratch the first year and then with all of the injuries from last year. The optics throughout the BB community across the nation would have made UK look bad for the next potential coach.

How do you not understand the "fire Pope" crowd? He is at KENTUCKY, the biggest brand in all of CBK and yet he somehow can't land a single 5 star. LSU literally is about to have 3 five stars just this cycle alone. He has the most resources, NBA alumni, fanbase, etc. that a coach could ask for, yet he's performing like he's at South Carolina. Alabama has like the 10th highest NIL in the SEC, yet Oats always has them in the top 3 of the SEC. Todd Golden just won a natty with the 9th highest NIL in the SEC. It's okay to admit that Pope just isn't the right guy. If Kentucky is serious about basketball, they fire him last year and hire Jai Lucas before he got his big extension.

 

[warrior-cat]

How do you not understand the "fire Pope" crowd? He is at KENTUCKY, the biggest brand in all of CBK and yet he somehow can't land a single 5 star. LSU literally is about to have 3 five stars just this cycle alone. He has the most resources, NBA alumni, fanbase, etc. that a coach could ask for, yet he's performing like he's at South Carolina. Alabama has like the 10th highest NIL in the SEC, yet Oats always has them in the top 3 of the SEC. Todd Golden just won a natty with the 9th highest NIL in the SEC. It's okay to admit that Pope just isn't the right guy. If Kentucky is serious about basketball, they fire him last year and hire Jai Lucas before he got his big extensio

You must be about 10 and do not understand the history behind firings at UK. It's ok if you don't see the big picture if you are that young. Obviously, you are a troll.

 

[CRZ4UK]

Honest question. Did Barnhart's NIL stance change when he hired Mark Pope? Or was Pope partially a victim of Barnhart's NIL stance as well? The reason I ask. Let's assume Pope had never had access to the NIL resources UK has previously. So even a narrowed and slim restricted Barnhart version of NIL would have seemed massive to Pope. And he couldn't outbid other schools with a limited NIL cap for the types of players we as fans expect at UK?

Not throwing Pope a lifeline here, his recruiting methods have been mind boggling. The high school recruit misses are definitely alarming. He's done well in the portal on paper for sure, and that first team was a solid group. But we continue to hear both sides of the coin about UK Basketball NIL, "Kentucky is flush with money and will never be outbid", but then people inside the program continue to say "We have a hard cap and sometimes when we sit down to talk money we just have to walk away." We are rumored to spend $6 mil or more on Milan, and supposedly offered Stokes over $7 mil, but in the same breath we asked Moreno to take less than his value so we could clear up money for other players, wouldn't pay Chandler his asking price, couldn't pay Wright or Freeman. But then we had money left over for Mitchell? Then what about JMI (this was an issue but I know several things changed with the contract wording that seems to have helped some). Are they still an issue? Did Batt take the guard rails off of Barnhart's old NIL stance and give Pope more freedom, or did he keep it in place knowing Pope is on his way out?

Pope's a bad recruiter, no doubt. He's a smart guy though. There's probably multiple people on this board who could out perform him recruiting if all things were on the level. Which makes me question, again, not trying to defend Pope, how can you be this bad at recruiting at a Blue Blood supposedly flush with money unless something is seriously off besides Pope's personality. Makes you wonder what's actually at play behind the scenes. It's got to be more than, Pope is a bad coach. Or Pope is weird. A lot of people dislike their bosses, but they pay well. You mean to tell me we couldn't offer enough money to land at least 1 five star in the top 10 from high school? (using 247 rankings, I know Hampton, Moreno, and Jasper were 5 stars at times on multiple sites). Something is a miss here.

My opinion is still out on Pope. I would like to see him get one recruiting cycle out from under Barnhart. If he can’t pull the studs then, he’s gotta go. Pope has opened up a little since Barnhart left. An article in KSR this week quotes Pope saying we have had a lot of guys walk because of Money. Maybe he let them. I just think Pope deserves one cycle with the new AD. JMO.
Im just pointing out the best recruiter in the game was having problems here. Cal was bringing in trash when he left. His last class here had no one drafted. First time since at UMASS. He had 2 first rounders at Arkansas his first cycle there. Hummmm?

 

[CRZ4UK]

See, killing it means winning big to me. He's doing about what's expected. I didnt change.
He's not killing sheite.
NBA picks dont mean anything to me.
He doesnt love you back.

I was speaking of recruiting. Not wins and losses. But. He has advanced farther in the tournament his first 2 years at Arkansas than he did his last 2 years here.
I wanted Cal gone. I wanted Barnhart gone more.