John Pelphrey returning HOME TO UK

jeffky

All-American
Sep 22, 2017
3,885
7,568
113
Don’t get comfortable John!
debbie downer GIF
 

JustBlue

Senior
Mar 29, 2009
289
587
93
Look, I hope he kills it here in whatever roll he does but does this inspire anyone? Loved John as a player but his coaching has been pretty blah overall. Especially his last stop at Tennessee State - he was there seven years and never had a winning record. This is another hire meant to get the fan base excited (look at the timing of the announcement) but does anything about Pelphrey scream "come to UK" for our recruits? Can he inspire our current players in a way Mark Pope can't? Or is this just another nostalgia play meant to distract from where the program currently is?
 

Wunky

Heisman
Jan 16, 2021
4,463
18,664
78
This is the most Pope thing ever. Loved John as a player and appreciate his love for the program, but it’s a corny, sentimental hire just like Mark was. Neither one of them is qualified to do diddly squat in this new era. Pope’s just doubling down on a tired, stale pitch that doesn’t resonate with today’s recruits.
 
Jul 23, 2026
88
212
33
Pope’s just doubling down on a tired, stale pitch that doesn’t resonate with today’s recruits.
This! Tradition is behind player development, how much money can you pay me, can you get me to the league, and how good can the team be. Most recruits probably won’t even know he played basketball, let alone at Kentucky. No one cares about bringing back former players unless it’s someone from the 2010’s or later. Slowly and slowly becoming a laughing stock like Indiana and North Carolina.
 

theKybluedude

All-Conference
Jul 2, 2025
889
1,987
93
Rupp Rafters continues to show its ignorance. Not hired to fill the open assistants spot.

Great hire. Nobody embodies the true UK passion better. Still remember that fist swing after burying a back breaker 3 vs ul.

Will push the players and nobody more apt on fundamentals. The players and families will love him. Trustworthy. Loyal. Great teacher.
——

An Unforgettable is joining Mark Pope‘s staff at Kentucky.

John Pelphrey, who suited up for the Wildcats from 1987-92, has been hired as the program’s director of player development.

The 58-year-old and Paintsville, KY native will officially start his new job on Friday as basketball season unofficially tips off with Big Blue Madness at Rupp Arena.

This is separate from Kentucky’s assistant coach opening posted this week.
 

Catastic5

Junior
Sep 12, 2026
88
259
53
I presume most of the posters on here are much younger than I, so coming on here to read the reactions is just an exercise to see how whiny, ignorant and self-entitled younger people are. Mission accomplished folks!
Kentucky fans may want the Kentucky of old, but it sure as heck doesn’t want the geriatric program that refuses to change and is being pushed further behind other programs, even in our own conference. How hard is that to understand? The irony of all this is our coach was merely a nostalgia hire and now he’s trying the same BS when all it does is drag us deeper and deeper into irrelevancy. We’re being held back by nostalgia by a nostalgia crazed coach unwilling to understand that it’s not the 90s anymore.
 

JustBlue

Senior
Mar 29, 2009
289
587
93
I presume most of the posters on here are much younger than I, so coming on here to read the reactions is just an exercise to see how whiny, ignorant and self-entitled younger people are. Mission accomplished folks!

Yeah, that's it. Everyone who sees this as anything more that a nostalgia hail-mary is just whiny, ignorant, self-entitled and young. But you're probably right: John Pelphrey is the missing ingredient Pope has been lacking to take UK back to prominence. Final Fours here we come!
 

TFCat11

Heisman
Mar 25, 2019
6,322
11,709
108
There’s not a single member of BBN who doesn’t highly respect, and owe a major debt of gratitude to J. Pelphrey, for what he did for the program as a player, but this has to be one of the most virtue signaling, desperation to keep my job, gaslighting hires, in the history of CBB, and will not move the needle a micro-millimeter with today’s high profile recruits, or their agents/ families!

Whatever, welcome back Mr. Pelphrey… Enjoy the next 6-7 months👋🏻
 

Wunky

Heisman
Jan 16, 2021
4,463
18,664
78
I presume most of the posters on here are much younger than I, so coming on here to read the reactions is just an exercise to see how whiny, ignorant and self-entitled younger people are. Mission accomplished folks!

Dude, just stop. I’m 43. The unforgettables were my heroes. But thinking that your tradition trumps everything else is how Indiana became Indiana, and now Kentucky is becoming Indiana because of mindsets like this.
 

Starrcade

Senior
Jun 4, 2026
564
948
93
There’s not a single member of BBN who doesn’t highly respect, and owe a major debt of gratitude to J. Pelphrey, for what he did for the program as a player, but this has to be one of the most virtue signaling, desperation to keep my job, gaslighting hires, in the history of CBB, and will not move the needle a micro-millimeter with today’s high profile recruits, or their agents/ families!

Whatever, welcome back Mr. Pelphrey… Enjoy the next 6-7 months👋🏻
Do you ever go inside to cry or is it always out in the open ? I mean it's non-stop, lol.
 
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