He ain't winning at a nearly 80% clip with duds. Dude knows talent and is a winner. He's not at a place and conference that UK (and all the other big places) pluck players from. He'd be just fine on the recruiting trail, plus he can actually evaluate talent. Not overvalue some stiff, like...well, you know.
Who should we hire next?
- Thread starter anonymousunranked
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Really? Because NBA execs believed he had interest in 2024. And he was never offered, so what did he turn down?
Agree, need a young guy full of vinegar that not only wants to win but is obsessed to win.
Everyone keeps saying Oats, I would rather keep Pope if Oats is the hire.
You’d keep Pope over a guy with 2 elite 8s and a final four. On top of 4 SEC titles?
There's a ton of negatives with Pitino, but the SOB can coach.
Overall 1 seed one year, upset multiple P4 team in the tournament while at Buffalo. He's easily the best option if he wants it and UK wants to pay the buyout.
I'm going to be really curious as to the options.
Not sure if serious. He’s doing as well or better at freaking St. John’s as Pope and Cal are doing at Kentucky and Arkansas.
We need a guy that’s as crazy and passionate about coaching as we are about our athletics. Pope may claim to understand the juice that this fanbase has, but he just can’t match it. He’s over his head and realistically his first team will go down as his best.
lotta good mid major coaching options, just have to be open to them and their pedigree
lotta good mid major coaching options, just have to be open to them and their pedigree
But he just keeps winning
He beat Hurley 3 times last year.
How many coaches can say they have beaten him that many times in a career
The thing is, and some of y’all gonna hate hearing this, the fanbase is so toxic no coach with a history of proven sustained success wants this job. It’s not worth the hassle.
We got incredibly lucky Cal wanted the gig badly in 2009. Our searches in 2007 and 2024 will be the norm moving forward. We’ll offer big names and they’ll all say no and we’ll move to hot up and comers (or mediocre alumni).
Surprised I'm not seeing Tommy Lloyd's name mentioned more. He's young, wins a lot, and recruits well. And if for some reason Adan Diggs chooses Arizona over us, Lloyd can just bring him along with.
I am not sure he would. People will tell you he is very difficult to deal with. Playing great and coaching great are 2 completely different things as Pope has proven.
Because hes a good friend of Batt and wants to coach here. I wouldn't mind hope hes not first call
Oats has a career win record of 69%, he has coached 12 years and lost 10 games or more 6 of those 12 years and lost 9 games in 2 of the years. No thanks.
I think we would shield him from the unfair criticism and harassment he gets from CBB (for being MAGA) too.
Forget Donovan unless he reaches out to Kentucky. This is a two way street as it doesnt always have to be Kentucky putting out feelers for interest. Donovan is a smart man and if he has interest he can read the writing on the wall with Pope and have his agent reach out to Kentucky. Very easy thing to do if interest is there.
There were rumors that UK was back channeling a deal with pearl at Auburn before he left. Matt Jones commented on this and stated Mitches assistant blew this up by suggesting Pope . Mitches assistant is also Mormon and had a connection to Pope.
Don’t forget that said Mormon assistant not only talked Mitch into hiring an underperforming coach from BYU that no one there was satisfied with (known at BYU for being strange by even Mormon standards and being a professional excuse maker), we PAID them $6m and then said Mormon assistant ran back to BYU this summer.
How the f*ck is that not considered a conflict of interest?
Bingo on Pitino we could’ve gotten at least a few more good years out of him and not had a 64% winning percentage over these last 3 years…
No decent coach is gonna come here with our unrealistic fan base. Why would anyone step into a situation where if you lose a game, you are burned at the stake. Same reason Oats, Pearl, Hurley, Drew didn’t come. Bash away.
Im not gonna bash you for an opinion. I come from the generation that can co exist without hate. I respect your opinion.
I do think Kentucky can get a good coach tho. Maybe not any of the 5 or 6 names that are thrown around but if they made the program modern and not run it like the 1900s you could get a Rondo and get to kicking asss.
Sure sure sure he doesn't have experience...Will Stein is working out. Hes successful because hes up to date. He gets it. He recruits well because he relates with modern society. Kids trust him and respect him.
Uk could get a good coach. But names like Hurley pearl mays and golden aren't the only good options.
Billy Donovan is not going to coach in college again. He already turned down UNC and us three times.
We couldn’t get the “top coaches” in 1989, 1997, or 2007 either, to be honest. Everyone who remembers when Pitino was hired knew that it was Olson from Arizona that we wanted. I don’t remember much about Tubby being hired beyond being Pitino’s recommendation, but he had one Sweet 16 to his name before he came to Kentucky. Donovan was obviously the top when we ended up hiring Gillispie.
The goal is finding a good/potentially elite coach looking to take their coaching to the next level.
Someone like Pope wasn’t even good enough for Mississippi State, much less Kentucky.
Pearl understands the assignment
Just for fun. Say we hire Rondo. And im going to assume you are completely against something like that.
What do you think he would do? Do you think he woukd recruit well? Do you think in game coaching would be good or bad? Do you think his leadership woukd be good or bad? Do you think he would win or lose more?
I personally think he would do good in all phases. Including pr and media. Hes been trained for years.
At this juncture, I don’t think we can take any risks with coaches. Go after every established coach in college basketball and make one of them say yes. The time to be experimenting has ended with the Pope era. We need as close to a sure thing as possible. That’s what we did after Gillispie, that’s what we’ll have to do after Pope.
But I thought we couldn't get any of those guys is why I was asking. I personally think any coach you hire is a risk.
Say we hired Hurley who has won two championships. Thats a risk. What if he comes here and completely rubs the fanbase wrong and doesn't win at the same rate he wins at over in that baby conference?
What if he actually had a full schedule of SEC games and his team wasnt fresh every march? Its all a risk.
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