Who should we hire next?

JustBlue

Senior
Mar 29, 2009
354
818
93
Oats or Pearl.

I seriously don't think Billy Donovan would be up for the challenge of modern day recruiting.

Jai Lucas maybe in a few years but he has been a coach for ONE season. He can get a bunch of players but so could Josh Pastner. Let's get some sustained success.
 

dynastydreamuk

All-Conference
Nov 18, 2010
1,915
1,557
113
Donovan is possible for once, Nate Oats, Josh Schertz

I mean there are probably 20 coaches we could ask with better qualifications than pope had.

Oats or Donovan would be a great hires in my book, but plenty out there that would be good hires. Maybe Dusty May doesnt work out in nba? Todd Golden probably not leaving Florida , but maybe. We probably offer more money and NIL and obviously our fans care more.

Tj otzelberger, fred Hoiberg, Sean Miller, Grant mccasland, Ben mccollum

Pope was a known Bad hire right away we all knew he wasn't qualified.
 

BGCATFAN83

Freshman
Jul 2, 2025
58
75
18
Guys Billy isn't a kid anymore. Dude is almost 80. It has to be younger and will probably be a NBA coach of some kind. The NIL ******** is a nightmare for coaches and most all college basketball is garbage product. Nobody is beating the door down to coach at Kentucky or any other college. Its just not as good of a job as we think. Florida freaking got lucky and seemed to found a decent young coach.
 

BlueSince92

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
11,115
4,068
230
Rick Pitino
Bruce Pearl
Kelvin Sampson

***** all you want about them being old. Today any one of them is twice as good as anybody else mentioned so far. (*Well except for Dusty May. You slipped that in there while I was typing.)

Start there.

When you can actually do better than any of them we can talk.
 

HolySmokes

All-Conference
Oct 23, 2026
799
1,236
93
Odom would be interesting. Dunno if he’d leave Virginia though.

I think we need to go after a successful coach who is not satisfied with his NIL situation at his current school. If not, someone like Shertz would probably take the job.
Dont know anything about these guys but hire them!
 
  • Like
Reactions: enimapod
Dec 3, 2025
9
36
13
Rick Pitino
Bruce Pearl
Kelvin Sampson

***** all you want about them being old. Today any one of them is twice as good as anybody else mentioned so far. (*Well except for Dusty May. You slipped that in there while I was typing.)

Start there.

When you can actually do better than any of them we can talk.
Agree 100%. We should’ve hired Pitino instead of Pope in the first place if he’d have come back. Couldn’t care less about his caree coming to a close soon enough. Would’ve been a million times better than it is now.
 

BMR1987

Senior
Mar 5, 2025
279
664
87
I hope Batt was working the back channels even before tonight. It's possible that Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas, and Michigan State will be right there with us in the market for a head coach this off-season, just to name a few. Two conference rivals and two national powers. Supposedly Kansas has a head coach in waiting, not sure about the Vols and Sparty. Moser is as cooked as Pope. I think Izzo and Self both return, but they may be tempted to retire with really good tournament runs. I know there are some Schertz rumors when it comes to UT. That would suck unless we somehow get someone better, which is difficult to fathom at this point.

2024 was a huge coaching hire cycle, and we walked away the biggest loser. We can't afford to lose again in 2027. Batt has to hit a grand slam here. He just has to.
 

RunninRichie

Heisman
Sep 5, 2019
30,283
73,230
113
I hope Batt was working the back channels even before tonight. It's possible that Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas, and Michigan State will be right there with us in the market for a head coach this off-season, just to name a few. Two conference rivals and two national powers. Supposedly Kansas has a head coach in waiting, not sure about the Vols and Sparty. Moser is as cooked as Pope. I think Izzo and Self both return, but they may be tempted to retire with really good tournament runs. I know there are some Schertz rumors when it comes to UT. That would suck unless we somehow get someone better, which is difficult to fathom at this point.

2024 was a huge coaching hire cycle, and we walked away the biggest loser. We can't afford to lose again in 2027. Batt has to hit a grand slam here. He just has to.
Schertz at UT would be a disaster. But not if we managed to get Nate Oats.
 

dynastydreamuk

All-Conference
Nov 18, 2010
1,915
1,557
113
Lmao people wanting a coach that hasn’t coached a college team in over ten years and has never been around for NIL. I’m sure recruits will just jump at the chance to play for someone that had elite coaching when they were 7 years old.

You think billy donovan at Kentucky with NIL couldnt get players?

Dude wom 2 national titles, had multiple players drafted to telhe league, coached in the league... what more could players want? For real man !!

UNC just hired an only former nba coach and they already signed a top 5 player.
 

RunninRichie

Heisman
Sep 5, 2019
30,283
73,230
113
You think billy donovan at Kentucky with NIL couldnt get players?

Dude wom 2 national titles, had multiple players drafted to telhe league, coached in the league... what more could players want? For real man !!

UNC just hired an only former nba coach and they already signed a top 5 player.
Yeah no offense to dude, but the NBA is a few steps ahead of the college game. Donovan would be fine coaching. Recruiting would be fine also.
 

Catastic5

All-Conference
Sep 12, 2026
833
2,044
93
I hope Batt was working the back channels even before tonight. It's possible that Oklahoma, Tennessee, Kansas, and Michigan State will be right there with us in the market for a head coach this off-season, just to name a few. Two conference rivals and two national powers. Supposedly Kansas has a head coach in waiting, not sure about the Vols and Sparty. Moser is as cooked as Pope. I think Izzo and Self both return, but they may be tempted to retire with really good tournament runs. I know there are some Schertz rumors when it comes to UT. That would suck unless we somehow get someone better, which is difficult to fathom at this point.

2024 was a huge coaching hire cycle, and we walked away the biggest loser. We can't afford to lose again in 2027. Batt has to hit a grand slam here. He just has to.
We’ll at the very least be likely looking for a coach before Tennessee, MSU and Kansas since all those teams will probably still be in the tournament when Pope inevitably falls flat on his face.
 
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