Yeah he is. I think a buyout that works for both is definitely on the table. But it still can’t be Mitch left here afterward . He has to go first.
Someone explain to me
- Thread starter RunninRichie
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Let’s go get Clappy as HC next year
Maybe he can get Wade as an assistant
Just joking
100% agree brother. Next hire has to be nailed.
I agree that Mitch should be retired and the new AD should not be from Mitch's purview. Now, I have to disagree.
Why must you be a one dimensional thinker about Pearl? Yes, he's old so? He would be a good 5 year coach. In 5 years, someone else could be ready that is younger to replace him. He's a bridge coach. Do you understand?
Pearl did a cook out with a player out of season = shady.
Cal apparently had Rose, I think, to have someone test for him. He was also considered shady. Everyone here took Cal in with open arms.
cal having rose and camby was ironically more hireable that whatever popes resume was
My issue with Pearl is this. He’s not a “bridge” coach. He’s too arrogant and self serving for anything like that. Look at the situation he left Auburn in. They’re in worse shape than we are. The only difference is Auburn fans don’t care. And if you think the cook out is the only shady thing Pearls done, look into the situation he was in with Illinois when he was an assistant at Iowa. I have animosity towards Cal too. Look at where he left us when he walked out. The same way he always leaves programs. The same way Bruce Pearl would leave us as a “bridge coach”.
I personally don’t think it’s unlike any other profession or any other sports. When the Yankees poach the Marlins, Marlins lose their coach.
My personal view is Kentucky just offers more than most coaches can pass up. Regardless of what it is humans want fame. It’s a human condition. We had 30K show up to a press conference. No team in any sport has come close to something like that. You had high level football coaches tweeting about it. It’s unbelievable. You also get immortality here, more so than anywhere in this sport. You get history, fame (more popular than the governor in ways), there’s just nowhere like that in basketball. It’s a special place and even people who hate Kentucky have to acknowledge that. You just can’t get passed it. That will always be an incredibly strong pull in a semi niche sport like this. Even places like Alabama, Oats can walk into any place and there’s a chance nobody even notices him in Tuscaloosa. Think about the difference in that. Calipari was statewide having to be cautious about where he and his family went like he’s Tom Cruise. It’s a neat element that only happens at UK to this degree. And only even happens in this sport to a very few, although not to this degree.
Then add the money, the brand, the national recognition, the tradition that all coaches dream of being labeled with.
That stuff isn’t going away. Now not every coach has a family that’s wants to deal with it (Drew), some coaches are too ingrained where they are (Olson), but most would crawl over glass to have that (Calipari). And ones like Drew and Olson flirted heavily and wanted it still.
Most basketball coaches are guys that want challenges, and got into coaching to get to those places. It’s why they leave FAU for Michigan, it’s why Barnes wanted to leave TN for UCLA. They climb. So is it like it was in the 70’s no, there’s a lot of factors now. But will anything I said above change for the majority? No, that’s always going to be there.
I was saying he won’t be making the next hire, not that pope wouldn’t be here next year. There’s nothing in the post about who will be here next year
I assume Pope will be here next year barring something crazy. Barnhart isn’t going to want to spend another 25+ million to get rid of him. Sht he looks bad enough and knows it. He’d rather tell us to pull out our old 96’r and root for the letterman! We’re battling for post season play! Lower those standards!
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I agree that there is absolutely no reason to run this back again. Just a waste of another year.
I don’t think he deserves another year but our Great AD will make sure he gets year 3.
From an outsider's perspective, UK should not be going after Bruce Pearl... a guy who has coached for a very long time but not able to win the championship. UK should either be trying to poach a proven national championship winner or trying to find their own version of the next Dan Hurley or Todd Golden. Younger fiery coaches that hate losing.
Mitch has some kind of way he can survive anything. It’s connected to the revenue he’s bringing and the projects. He’s working on another right now, his job really isn’t success in major sports. That’s the problem. I think he’s a useful idiot to the academic / financial side of the university where he doesn't advocate the ways most AD’s do, for elite level success and ways to obtain it. Mitch is a financial administrator and the university and BOT love what he does. That’s how he’s stayed in place this long when no other AD would have survived. AD’s don’t stay this long especially with his record.
Having said that he will absolutely in no way be able to make the next basketball hire. Seems it took a lot to get to make the call this time, won’t happen again. And I don’t believe Mitch wants it again after this. Too old to deal with it. What he wants is Mark to be in place for the next AD and he wants his understudy to continue in place what they’re doing. And Mark is the perfect control hire for them. He’s not going to keep this job with his record. He’s a shill for Mitch and the department. They just want control and access to everything without a coach demanding too much. It’s why Mitch wanted Calipari out.
Bruce was never given a program where a championship could be achieved in the time he was there. He almost did it at Auburn. He probably would have done it at UT had he not been ran out. That’s alarming to say. I don’t think people realize how incredibly insane it is that he got Auburn basketball to multiple final fours inside of a decade. In what world does not that translate to titles at blue bloods? Pearl going to even a place like Indiana 20 years ago I hate to tell you this they’d have banners today. Titles. Multiple. Programs wouldn’t touch him and he had to win at doormats and poverty programs lol. And he did, and he did it in ways we’ve never fully seen before.
Man some of y’all just seem void of context. You don’t throw all of this in a vacuum. Not saying he’s the first call but damn some of this stuff is nuts to miss.
It's mind boggling isnt it? "He never won the title at Memphis, don't hire him".
knight had year after year to win it at Army and couldn’t get it done! Indiana needs to go hungrier!!
Is UCONN a blueblood on a UK fan's list? Villanova? UF? Well, they all won multiple titles in the 2000's without the vaunted blueblood status. What has UCLA or IU done with the blueblood status? Auburn and Tennessee are high major programs with plenty of money and support. I'd say roughly equivalent to UCONN, Villanova, and UF. You don't just get extra wins in the postseason because you have blueblood next to your name.
What are the clown emojis for? Are you calling me a clown?Let’s go get Clappy as HC next year
Maybe he can get Wade as an assistant
Just joking
Auburn is a doormat and did not allocate much for basketball at all. They are one of the worst historal basketball program in all of the power 5 in history.
Lon Kruger took Florida to a final four four in 1994 lol. UConn didn’t even come a bigeast team until the 1980’s and since then have been dominant. What the hell does this have to do with anything we’re talking about? Nothing.
This is utter nonsense to compare any of this to what Pearl was able to to at 2 programs with very little success and he was there less than a decade. Give Bruce Pearl Tennessee from 1985 - 2020 and they have banners. Pearls rise and issues didn’t allow him to be able to win to those levels and he still almost did. Nothing you’re saying makes any sense. Florida is a coastal SEC program with insane resources and as we’re seeing now it’s not hard to win there. Auburn? Have you ever been to Auburn throughout the years and witnessed their basketball structure? I don’t think you have.
Indiana has yet to try to get back, they don’t seem interested. Have you seen their hires? They got gun shy as an academic institution after Sampson (who had he stayed would have won titles) and didn’t even run at Pearl who was the obvious choice. Those are just bad decisions. UCLA is the same, and ucla isn’t very attractive. They only had a decade of success really and it was due to cheating. I don’t even call them a blue blood at all. UCLA basketball isn’t even 5th in line in their own state. Great coaches aren’t attracted.
You’re throwing all of this in a vacuum and applying no context again. Try again.
Bruce Pearl turns UK into a greasy school. (Not personal towards him or you or anyone, just a fact.) No thanks. Not trying to be a smartarse to you but, anyone take the term any way you like it.
I do think UK Leadership needs to be purged.... At nearly any cost.
Don’t think any would be bad, definitely not Golden. But Kentucky really needs a headliner. Similar to Calipari last time. We need a major splash to ensure this thing doesn’t get worse. If we hired Pearl it would be fine. Not that I don’t think others can’t win, but I just don’t think it’s wise to hire a guy that half the country says “who is that?” Maybe if they’re great coaches and we strike out on a few headliners first. That’s what I’d do.
True, I mean that PR could hurt our recruiting.....oh wait.
I feel like people said this same thing about Calipari before we hired him ... then we had one of our greatest 5 to 10 year runs.
I’m with you on Will Wade, folks. Love his nonstop enthusiasm and he’s the kind of guy that will do anything to win. Pearl is not coming — he’s retired and his son coaches in the same conference. I don’t think he wants to go compete against his son. Oats I would have taken before the year but ironically the Oats pumpers have caused me to reconsider coz I noticed almost everything they complain about with Pope is true for Oats other than the fact that Oats made a Final Four. Well, Shaka Smart made a Final Four as well and he’s also ***. I don’t think Oats can get it done here and he doesn’t want to be here anyway. I can’t imagine Golden leaving Florida but maybe if you want to pay him that Hurley contract we offered last summer, maybe he takes it. I love the way he coaches, but that’s probably not happening either. Otzelberger is coaching his dream job. May isn’t leaving. I think realistic names are Will Wade and Jai Lucas. Both are young and ambitious. Both are gambles but I think we will end up having to gamble anyway.
I’m with you.
Year 3 feels the same as going into Stoops final year. Everyone felt like Stoops last season would be a disaster, and it was.
Pope flaming out down the stretch isn’t going to help recruiting. And we don’t have any recruiting as it is.
I’m fine with Pearl. I think he’d be an immediate contender.
But I also think we could get Oats or Otzelberger and be set for a lot longer.
Kenny Payne didn’t make it over two years, why? Because it was obvious he wasn’t the one. I will agree it’s not probable for a coach to get fired after two years but it’s happened before. The recruiting piece has hurt him more than the in game and record. If you cant get players at a high level here, you can’t coach here.
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I try to respect people’s preferences for coaches. But isn’t the big knock on Pope getting the job in the first place that he hadn’t done anything to deserve the chance? What’s Will Wade done that deserves the chance? Except have multiple run-ins with the NCAA. He may do fine I guess. But again, why does UK have to take that risk? Duke doesn’t. Alabama football doesn’t. I think people look at this from the lens of Mitch doing the hiring. That can not happen.
I’m with you on Will Wade. Big fan.
The first rule to getting out of a hole is to quit digging it.
Then there is Barnhart. 'Keep digging, it will turn around next year!'
Then there is Barnhart. 'Keep digging, it will turn around next year!'
I agree Wade is a serious thing we need to be talking about. Yes he’s Weird and doesn’t fit what I see as a UK guy, but that doesn’t matter with this hire. And who knows Calipari grew into it, Wade might be the same and grow into it fine. Most don’t realize this or remember, but there was a time in the mid 2000’s when Scott Drew was thought to be one of the shadiest coaches in recruiting. He was tagged with that young so Wade’s reputation can change. Calipari was said to despise Scott Drew over recruiting. Brook Hansen who was well connected in my area spoke to it.
Disagree on Pearl. Lots of talk in numerous places that Pearl wanted the job and the boosters wanted him. Lots of smoke he stepped down to be available since he was stepping down anyway he just went ahead and did it to be the fist father son Duo in SEC history. Pearl always wanted a job like this and giving his son Auburn while he steps to Kentucky and they have that duo in history and headlines is something I think Pearl was hoping for. Even Matt said, and I was shocked when he said it because I heard similar, that he went to bed thinking the call was going to Pearl. Like I said the boosters wanted him and pushed hard for it, that’s coming from one of them. So I believe it.
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Issues with the department run deeper than the coach. Deficiencies are a manifestation that the athletic department is overall inferior to others in the NIL era in particular.
It probably doesn’t matter who the coach is at this point. The entire program needs to get with the times. If we can’t properly value players we will never be good. Underbidding for talents like Wilson and Yaxel and overpaying for players like Aberdeen and JQ will cause us to cross our fingers and hope for the best that a good player becomes elite overnight.
We could’ve not signed Lowe or Williams and offered Wilson a few more million and be at least as good as UNC this year at full strength. In all likelihood, better since our guards are superior.
It probably doesn’t matter who the coach is at this point. The entire program needs to get with the times. If we can’t properly value players we will never be good. Underbidding for talents like Wilson and Yaxel and overpaying for players like Aberdeen and JQ will cause us to cross our fingers and hope for the best that a good player becomes elite overnight.
We could’ve not signed Lowe or Williams and offered Wilson a few more million and be at least as good as UNC this year at full strength. In all likelihood, better since our guards are superior.
I don’t think John Wooden’s ghost could ever get Tennessee to a Final Four lol.
Personally I wouldn’t unless a lot of guys turns us away. I’m a no on Lucas as of right now, I don’t think we have enough to say what he’s going to be and we need a sure hire right now. At least as sure as sure can get anyway. This is an important hire, and Kentucky is a big job. Lucas isn’t ready for it imo.
Cal was called greasy??????????? Wow............. They called UK a greasy school??????????? Double Wow.... I never heard it, man I am losing it.... Thanks for bringing me back...
I’m a Bruce Pearl guy. Have been for a long time. Wouldn’t have to tell me twice. I absolutely love the guy.
Need to see a year 2. Definitely a fan of a young and modern coach. Would be a ace recruiter here. Former MCDAA, would be cool. Could relate to players.
Does May have a connection with Michigan other than being an assistant at E. Michigan 20 years ago? Honest question. Not sure why he’s being written off as impossible to get.
and Bruce Pearl knows his son is not a good coach. He twisted the situation at Auburn so his kid could get a job. It’s an absolute embarrassment to lose to Pearl, jr last night.