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Honestly, a worse hire than BCG…

FLBBNFAN

FLBBNFAN

All-Conference
Mar 25, 2025
1,157
2,288
113
K_TIME said:
1. Pitino had been a FF.....at Providence. At Boston...he made a NCAA and won the conference twice
Pitino at the Knicks won 52 games and division...they won 24 games the year before he got there.
2. Pope at BYU or Utah Valley...never won their conference. Made 2 NCAA at BYU yet never won a game in NCAA

Pitino had a way better resume than Pope....to try contrast to justfiy this epicly bad decision is silly.
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That coping is off the charts. Pitino had a FF and coached the Knicks. He turned around awful teams. Its not even in the same conversation. The mental gymnastics is astonishing. I love Pope the player but I love UK BB more.
 
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Runnin'Ramel

Heisman
Jan 19, 2005
35,688
13,598
113
$Z71$ said:
People forget when UK hired Pitino he was only 7 seasons into coaching. 5 at Boston U and 2 at Providence. He was 133-74 for a 64% winning percentage.

Pope has 9 years experience 4 at Utah Valley and 5 at BYU. He is 187-108 for 64% winning percentage.

Mark pope is a very similar hire as Pitino was in 89. Actually more proven as he is winning at the same clip and has more overall experience. Not a slam dunk hire but to say it’s terrible is dumb. Look what Pitino did here, Pope can do the same or similar.
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The program was also left for dead and on probation and nobody credible was willing to take the job.
 
MdWIldcat55

MdWIldcat55

Heisman
Dec 9, 2007
21,712
87,806
113
CELTICAT said:
Say what you want about MD, he called this one.
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“Say what you will?” That seems less than complimentary.

I get labeled a Pope defender. As I noted here the day he was hired I knew it was a mistake. I also knew he’d be here a minimum of THREE YEARS so I sought to defend Kentucky basketball from trolls and the most toxic.

But I never changed my mind that Mitch the Menace made a horrible, lazy, arrogant hire, giving the fan base the middle finger. Mitch was a lot dumber and meaner than most people realized.
 
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CELTICAT

CELTICAT

Heisman
May 21, 2002
19,478
19,641
113
MdWIldcat55 said:
“Say what you will?” That seems less than complimentary.

I get labeled a Pope defender. As I noted here the day he was hired I knew it was a mistake. I also knew he’d be here a minimum of THREE YEARS so I sought to defend Kentucky basketball from trolls and the most toxic.

But I never changed my mind that Mitch the Menace made a horrible, lazy, arrogant hire, giving the fan base the middle finger. Mitch was a lot dumber and meaner than most people realized.
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just a rib on my part. Glad you’re here with us.
 
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PooPooPeePeePoo

Senior
Jun 19, 2026
272
742
92
Sad that 90% of our fan base could see this as an awful hire but an established Athletic director for a premier sports school was blind to it. UK needs to sue Barnhart for their money back. What a joke.
 
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*Fox2Monk*

*Fox2Monk*

Heisman
Jun 10, 2009
48,983
90,417
113
SECualHealing said:
Just tracking this down for you since people accused you of wanting the hire lol
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Anyone who reads this board knows he was never a fan of this hire. Almost everyone on here hated it the moment it was announced. 60-70% of us got on board because we wanted something new and the press conference was good. The first 10 games were fun, the team was fun. After that it went downhill and the initial reactions were shown to be correct. He’s awful.
 
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Catastic5

All-Conference
Sep 12, 2026
844
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Give credit where credit is due. At least we didn’t have to suffer through a third year of Gillispie like we do Pope.
 
RunninRichie

RunninRichie

Heisman
Sep 5, 2019
30,299
73,277
113
bigblueinsanity (the real) said:
There was. Twitter and this board was ablaze with deserved anger.

Then Mitch enlisted ksr to persuade everyone and they did their job. Then the pc pushed it over.

All the while a handful of us kept warning about his poor track record.
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Hell, I was told to leave the board. Because the anti-cal was here. Half these Pope pumper accounts from back then aren't even posting anymore.
 
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OliverSimmonsTwinBrother

OliverSimmonsTwinBrother

All-American
Feb 3, 2025
2,041
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Say what you want about Billy G but at least he was exciting. We may lose to Gardner Webb but you'd get a story of him falling at a bar, doing a players girlfriend, or locking a player in the stall. With Pope we get blown out a ton and hes boring as crap.
 
bpsteve1972

bpsteve1972

Sophomore
Apr 22, 2015
86
112
33
$Z71$ said:
People forget when UK hired Pitino he was only 7 seasons into coaching. 5 at Boston U and 2 at Providence. He was 133-74 for a 64% winning percentage.

Pope has 9 years experience 4 at Utah Valley and 5 at BYU. He is 187-108 for 64% winning percentage.

Mark pope is a very similar hire as Pitino was in 89. Actually more proven as he is winning at the same clip and has more overall experience. Not a slam dunk hire but to say it’s terrible is dumb. Look what Pitino did here, Pope can do the same or similar.
Click to expand...
Pitino coached the Knicks before coming to Kentucky
 
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