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Jai Lucas?

HunterMcClintock

HunterMcClintock

Redshirt
Dec 13, 2009
38
47
13
We’re obviously getting another year of Pope (unfortunately), so I’m not trying to add to the “fire Pope immediately” crowd. But I think Pope is probably out after next season unless he makes a Final Four run.





I also don’t think we can land a Todd Golden–type hire anymore, since the landscape of college basketball has changed so much. With that in mind, I think Jai Lucas would be worth taking a shot on. What do you all think?
 
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UKGrad24

UKGrad24

All-American
Apr 2, 2024
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Can we stop please. Great coaches want great programs. Nobody even knows who golden is on his own campus hardly. It’s a football school. That landscape never changed. Coaches want to be known for their work they want the best. Again why does this go so unnoticed by some? Great people want great jobs. Unless it’s family related nobody is turning down blue bloods to stay at football programs or doormats most of the time.

You’d think people would have learned this after Calipari but we’re going to have to do it all over again.
 
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HunterMcClintock

HunterMcClintock

Redshirt
Dec 13, 2009
38
47
13
UKGrad24 said:
Can we stop please. Great coaches want great programs. Nobody even knows who golden is on his own campus hardly. It’s a football school. That landscape never changed. Coaches want to be known for their work they want the best. Again why does this go so unnoticed by some? Great people want great jobs. Unless it’s family related nobody is turning down blue bloods to stay at football programs or doormats most of the time.

You’d think people would have learned this after Calipari but we’re going to have to do it all over again.
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I’d love to be proven wrong on this. Just think a school like Florida is willing to match whatever we offer and don’t know his motivations.
 
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CrimsonCats_rivals

CrimsonCats_rivals

All-Conference
Mar 22, 2022
1,636
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It would be a gamble, which makes people nervous, but I might be good with it. He was considered a rising star for several years as an assistant and is quietly having a very good debut season as a head coach. Only question is how easy it would be to get him from Miami at this point. They don’t have much tradition, but they’re swimming in NIL money, which honestly matters more than banners from the 50s to current success. It may not be a no brainer for him to leave there.

Either way, I think your head is in the right place. I think finding a young coach on his way up is going to be the more likely path to getting us back on top than poaching someone who’s already racking up Final Fours and championships. I know Morg will vehemently disagree, but I just don’t know that blue blood name value entitles you to any coach you want anymore when you look at the last couple of hires from other programs with a claim to that kind of status.
 
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MegaBlue05

MegaBlue05

Heisman
Mar 8, 2014
10,746
21,063
66
UK fans: We’re turning into IU!!

Also UK fans: Let’s hire 75 year old Rick Pitino or Billy Donovan who last recruited a college player 11 years ago but won 2 titles 19-20 years ago!

Isn’t constantly living in the past what IU did?
 
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F

Farsight Clone

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Aug 30, 2025
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MegaBlue05 said:
UK fans: We’re turning into IU!!

Also UK fans: Let’s hire 75 year old Rick Pitino or Billy Donovan who last recruited a college player 11 years ago but won 2 titles 19-20 years ago!

Isn’t constantly living in the past what IU did?
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I think if we get an older coach, even through Bruce Pearl in there, they should be treated as bridge coaches with 3-5 year contract. Until someone else comes around and we can get a younger better coach with experience and has at least 1 final four.
 
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RunninRichie

RunninRichie

Heisman
Sep 5, 2019
28,532
68,037
113
HunterMcClintock said:
We’re obviously getting another year of Pope (unfortunately), so I’m not trying to add to the “fire Pope immediately” crowd. But I think Pope is probably out after next season unless he makes a Final Four run.





I also don’t think we can land a Todd Golden–type hire anymore, since the landscape of college basketball has changed so much. With that in mind, I think Jai Lucas would be worth taking a shot on. What do you all think?
Click to expand...
Holy hell what a account to pull from the archives
 
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SamePooter

SamePooter

All-Conference
Feb 21, 2026
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UKGrad24 said:
Can we stop please. Great coaches want great programs. Nobody even knows who golden is on his own campus hardly. It’s a football school. That landscape never changed. Coaches want to be known for their work they want the best. Again why does this go so unnoticed by some? Great people want great jobs. Unless it’s family related nobody is turning down blue bloods to stay at football programs or doormats most of the time.

You’d think people would have learned this after Calipari but we’re going to have to do it all over again.
Click to expand...
Why do you think he goes unnoticed? He just won a national championship. They have maybe the best home court whistle in the sec for a reason. They care a lot about basketball. Seriously why do you think Golden is begging to come to UK when he has all he needs to win a title already.

im not saying he doesn’t want to be at UK. We care more than Florida about basketball … but that’s because we have no choice. Being at a school that wins national championships in both sports isn’t a second fiddle things these days. That’s just a real program. Football and basketball.
 
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U

UKCowboys

All-American
Oct 14, 2019
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HunterMcClintock said:
We’re obviously getting another year of Pope (unfortunately), so I’m not trying to add to the “fire Pope immediately” crowd. But I think Pope is probably out after next season unless he makes a Final Four run.





I also don’t think we can land a Todd Golden–type hire anymore, since the landscape of college basketball has changed so much. With that in mind, I think Jai Lucas would be worth taking a shot on. What do you all think?
Click to expand...
Totally against it
 
P

peterpiper09

All-Conference
Mar 19, 2006
1,040
2,072
112
How many more threads can people start about who the coach should be? We have a good coach. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet a little bit. Things will get worked out. People gotta get healed up.
 
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peterpiper09

All-Conference
Mar 19, 2006
1,040
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Tri-Countycat said:
Mark Pope coaching tree=Mark Fox

Jai Lucus coaching tree=Calipari and Coach K.

Who is gonna get the better players?
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Tired Excuse Me GIF by Spotify
 
U

UKBB4Ever

All-Conference
Jul 3, 2025
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If UK truly opens the job. Not some fake “listening tour” they can have their pick.

There was no search 2 years ago. No interviews. No offers to anyone but Drew then Pope.

And they really weren’t offers. Mitch thought he had Drew hired and waiting. He just told him to come on up. When Drew balked Mitch had no idea what to do. He knew all he had to do was make one call to Pope and that’s what he did.

Hurley used fan talk to get a big raise at UConn.

A true vetting process and UK will have to turn qualified coaches down.
 
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W

wccat

All-American
Apr 8, 2009
5,258
7,992
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Why not hire Jai Lucas? Why not hire anyone because Pope's resume dictates that he should not have been given the job to begin with.
 
AllBall

AllBall

All-American
May 5, 2015
4,364
5,552
93
HunterMcClintock said:
We’re obviously getting another year of Pope (unfortunately), so I’m not trying to add to the “fire Pope immediately” crowd. But I think Pope is probably out after next season unless he makes a Final Four run.





I also don’t think we can land a Todd Golden–type hire anymore, since the landscape of college basketball has changed so much. With that in mind, I think Jai Lucas would be worth taking a shot on. What do you all think?
Click to expand...
He's an up and coming coach that knows basketball and more importantly CAN recruit. He'd kill it here.
Hire Peevy and Lucas and start fresh. In 2-3 yrs you'll be in final four.
 
MichaelGray

MichaelGray

All-Conference
Jan 13, 2026
709
1,005
93
MegaBlue05 said:
UK fans: We’re turning into IU!!

Also UK fans: Let’s hire 75 year old Rick Pitino or Billy Donovan who last recruited a college player 11 years ago but won 2 titles 19-20 years ago!

Isn’t constantly living in the past what IU did?
Click to expand...
One could argue that the transfer portal coupled with NIL money now that it's way easier for a Billy Donovan to pick up right where he left off. He could recruit when at Florida & he really could at kentucky. I think he'd love to get a chance to win a title at 2 different schools like his mentor Pitino. I'd take Billy Donovan right now, that's who I wanted all along.
 
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H

Hush4872

Sophomore
Oct 9, 2025
80
173
33
The best coaches still generally want to go to the best programs. DeBoer went from Washington to Alabama for exactly that reason. I'm not saying we can get anyone we want, but I don't think the landscape has changed to such a degree that we would have to take a gamble like Lucas at this stage. I think he will likely be a really good coach down the line, but it's too early. I'm pretty confident we could land a top candidate if we replace MB with an AD that will do their due diligence.
 
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MichaelGray

MichaelGray

All-Conference
Jan 13, 2026
709
1,005
93
NociHTTP said:
I really don't want to turn into the Reds of college basketball, signing retreads and washed-up types.
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I highly doubt Donovan is washed up, I bet he's forgotten more about basketball than Mark Pope will ever know & he damn sure has won more plus has 2 titles.
 
BigRedMachineBigBlueNation

BigRedMachineBigBlueNation

Heisman
May 4, 2015
10,475
13,532
86
HunterMcClintock said:
We’re obviously getting another year of Pope (unfortunately), so I’m not trying to add to the “fire Pope immediately” crowd. But I think Pope is probably out after next season unless he makes a Final Four run.





I also don’t think we can land a Todd Golden–type hire anymore, since the landscape of college basketball has changed so much. With that in mind, I think Jai Lucas would be worth taking a shot on. What do you all think?
Click to expand...

Yeah well then guess I won’t be watching next year
 
D

Doc4UK!

All-Conference
Aug 14, 2003
2,790
1,756
113
At the end of the day are we really as relevant anymore where a Todd Golden would jump at the opportunity to coach here. Perhaps we as fans are delusional and have not recognized the steep fall we have witnessed since 2015. When was the last time we finished a season in the top 10? When was our last final four appearance? The Rupp crowd is still good on given nights but is the NIL money beyond Joe Craft still there?

Pope will be here until the fans quit showing up and the NIL money dries up but the fans and the money are still there in spite of our ten year span of mediocrity.
 
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Artlaibesghost

Artlaibesghost

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2022
924
1,795
93
Why would Golden come here? He is winning at the highest level, he pretty much has a job for life. Hes getting paid and whatever we offer him they will match. UK has won 1 title in 25 years Florida has 3 . It's a better job for a bunch of reasons.
 
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TigerMoving

TigerMoving

Heisman
Jul 13, 2014
7,898
21,856
113
I was thinking bout Jai too. I have been pretty surprised by how quickly he has gotten Miami back into the mix. I would gladly take him if Golden, May and Pearl say no.
 
U

UKCowboys

All-American
Oct 14, 2019
3,331
5,634
113
If the new AD makes a change, I don't believe we could pull Hurley from UConn, and I am only 50/50 that we could get Oats or Lloyd. I think the guy we can get and hire is Pearl, if he turned us down, I would go Otzelberger or Byington
 
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