$22 Million Payroll

[NDColdcat]

I don't understand why so many are afraid of the widley-reported $22 million payroll we had last year.

Jeff Goodman was hardly the only journalist reporting that figure. Ben Roberts at the Lexington Herold was the first to report on it. Matt Norlander, Seth Davis, Andy Katz, and MANY others did as well. It was a topic among the coaches at the SEC media day, with one coach anonymously saying that Pope would have to be a "complete bozo" to "not win one (national title) soon, "since UK can do things no other school can financially…" Pope was given multiple chances to deny the figure but instead insisted that, “we have the best donors in college basketball...so we should be the best at everything. And put NIL and put the transfer portal on the list."

Somehow there are still so many with their heads in the sand on this. Why? Should we instead insist on having a small payroll and hope for the best? Forget that, we're BBN! At this point demanding proof is rediculous. Show some proof that we didn't. I'll wait...

 

[Im The Village Idiot]

Agendas have a lot to do with it on both sides. I don’t care and have never cared. This is Kentucky — the standard is the standard whether the roster costs $22 or $22 million.

Last year stunk. Hopefully this year don’t stink.

 

[Catphright23]

agents like to tell you the max to make them look like good agents too.

 

[CRZ4UK]

Our Athletic Director is Mitch Barnhart. The guy who was always 10 years behind everyone. He fought NIL with a passion. Would not allow a collective till we were so far behind.
Calipari went into a nosedive as soon as NIL came into play.
Stoops took a complete nosedive when NIL came into play.
Now, you expect me to believe everything got solved last year and we had the most expensive roster. The two don’t add up. Especially since Pope got his 3-4 choice at every position. Coming off a sweet 16 with tons of momentum and every recruit we wanted said no.
Sorry, I don’t buy that. Those guys went elsewhere because of money. Not that Pope is Goofy.
Barnhart didn’t magically fix 20 years of failure last year and miss on every recruit. Our NIL system stinks and it’s why we can’t recruit. Mitch isn’t retiring on his own. He’s being forced out because of failure.

 

[mdluk1]

Whatever UK spent, it was in line with all the other big dogs.

 

[UKCowboys]

I don't understand why so many are afraid of the widley-reported $22 million payroll we had last year.

Jeff Goodman was hardly the only journalist reporting that figure. Ben Roberts at the Lexington Herold was the first to report on it. Matt Norlander, Seth Davis, Andy Katz, and MANY others did as well. It was a topic among the coaches at the SEC media day, with one coach anonymously saying that Pope would have to be a "complete bozo" to "not win one (national title) soon, "since UK can do things no other school can financially…" Pope was given multiple chances to deny the figure but instead insisted that, “we have the best donors in college basketball...so we should be the best at everything. And put NIL and put the transfer portal on the list."

Somehow there are still so many with their heads in the sand on this. Why? Should we instead insist on having a small payroll and hope for the best? Forget that, we're BBN! At this point demanding proof is rediculous. Show some proof that we didn't. I'll wait...

Who....freaking....cares....
This subject has been beaten to death by both sides of the argument. No one can produce proof that it wasn't $22M, and no one can produce the itemized list of actual salaries. Either way, the team had injuries, and the team did not perform well enough, and Pope caught a massive amount of heat. But last year is history, Pope wasn't fired, and he isn't getting fired unless he lays an egg this season. He is off to a great start. He put together a solid roster. If he has some luck health wise, this team could do great things. We may or may not have spent the most money last year, but we sure as Hell didn't spend the most this year. Popes fate will be decided by how this team performs, not by last years budget

 

[Jamal Mercerr]

I’d rather be the Yankees/Dodgers and spend than sit back and wait for a miracle like the Pirates.

 

[Beatle Bum]

I don’t know if it was $22 million or not. I surely know that people in the media often just repeat what others say and I know Pope never confirmed and never refuted. If you know, you don’t ask Pope in a presser. So, it was clear the media did not have evidence. I don’t care. But I did think it was silly to think no other school was in that same ballpark.

 

[ORCAT]

I don’t know if it was $22 million or not. I surely know that people in the media often just repeat what others say and I know Pope never confirmed and never refuted. If you know, you don’t ask Pope in a presser. So, it was clear the media did not have evidence. I don’t care. But I did think it was silly to think no other school was in that same ballpark.

Best post on this issue so far.

 

[PeePeePooPoo]

I'll never understand why people are mad that a public university that makes millions of dollars are spending money for the betterment of the program. HOWEVER, what I don't enjoy is when the 22 million is spent horribly in roster construction and 3rd rate players. Last years roster and management is why I constantly troll Pope. However. This year is much better. (Although I still think he's a horrible recruiter and God saved him by sending him Mom.)

 

[Bill_the_cat]

I don’t care how much was spent. The university does not pay it.

 

[Cats4321]

I fully expected that Kentucky basketball would have one of the biggest NIL budgets. We are one of the top brands in the sport. Why wouldn't we consistently have one of the biggest NIL budgets? Top television ratings, most passionate fanbase, and enough wealthy donors. Sure, some billionaire might outbid us for a particular player that they really want, but I'm talking about consistently having a top level NIL budget. Not a fan of the current system, but we might as well be one of the best at it.

 

[Runt#1969]

To even think *some* other division one school had NOT paid as much or more for their roster last season was .... well...

silly

Beatle leads the way right there. I concur. Simply silly.

I, for one can only say : #1 - It's not my money, and #2 - was it yours ? My interest begins and ends there.

 

[STL_Cat]

This doesn’t seem very relevant right now, why are you heating a dead horse about last season right now?

 

[Tim0808]

Our Athletic Director is Mitch Barnhart. The guy who was always 10 years behind everyone. He fought NIL with a passion. Would not allow a collective till we were so far behind.
Calipari went into a nosedive as soon as NIL came into play.
Stoops took a complete nosedive when NIL came into play.
Now, you expect me to believe everything got solved last year and we had the most expensive roster. The two don’t add up. Especially since Pope got his 3-4 choice at every position. Coming off a sweet 16 with tons of momentum and every recruit we wanted said no.
Sorry, I don’t buy that. Those guys went elsewhere because of money. Not that Pope is Goofy.
Barnhart didn’t magically fix 20 years of failure last year and miss on every recruit. Our NIL system stinks and it’s why we can’t recruit. Mitch isn’t retiring on his own. He’s being forced out because of failure.

Pope blew it. He is not in touch with reality. Just like posting the picture on the beech for over paying for Milan. Milan is not a franchise player, but Pope gave franchise money.

 

[Goingfor9]

The problem for Pope is this. The guy could spend $40 million and it would be 50-50 on whether he has a top 20 team. Players don’t want to play for Pope. I would say he’s on plan double Z at this point. Pope paid whoever he could to come this year to play for him. And the thing is this we know that Kentucky in the name the brand is dominant. This is how you know pope isn’t the guy. If he was the guy, we would be one of the most dominant programs in basketball I mean even Tubbys average programs were so much better than what Mark Pope is putting out there. And that’s why the 22 million is hard to look past because Kentucky was paying for players by far more than the next team and we had a bad NCAA tournament team. That’s why they try to suppress the 22 million. They don’t want anyone to know how bad last season was but here’s the thing.

The big thing is pope has a chance to turn it all around. I mean the final four and the whole attitude of the program changes, especially if it’s a final four with the team that’s growing for next year. I mean Pope has a massive opportunity so we’ll have to see how the season plays out because right now the 22 million number from last year is meaningless. We can’t control the past but the question is were the changes that have been made enough. Will Pope seize the opportunity. Does he have the ability this is it? It should be a final four type season or he needs to step out.. and final four type season gives some leeway. Like say were top 10 all year and fight and lose in the elite 8 to a stud team in a barn burner.

I think this what pope has to do. He has to have a team that looks final four capable all year. Jimmy Dykes is always saying Florida can get to the finals Kentucky can get to the finals we need to be in the discussion. We need to be in the thick of it winning lots of games and then have a deep ncaat run.

 

[BlueSince92]

I’m glad someone finally decided to talk about this.

 

[GoAndRunIsGoneAndDone]

“we have the best donors in college basketball...so we should be the best at everything. And put NIL and put the transfer portal on the list."

Pope also JOKED that the number was actually closer to $200 million!

I don't see why the other side of this is so hard for people to grasp. I don't think we're broke but I promise you there are many schools that can wayy outspend us if they want to. Vandy and Texas both have sec money and way bigger donors. There are way too many to list that can outspend us. This NIL thing has to stop somewhere or we will NOT be at the top for long. I honestly don't see how people fail to understand this.

 

[GoAndRunIsGoneAndDone]

I fully expected that Kentucky basketball would have one of the biggest NIL budgets. We are one of the top brands in the sport. Why wouldn't we consistently have one of the biggest NIL budgets? Top television ratings, most passionate fanbase, and enough wealthy donors. Sure, some billionaire might outbid us for a particular player that they really want, but I'm talking about consistently having a top level NIL budget. Not a fan of the current system, but we might as well be one of the best at it.

Are you saying that you actually believe that Kentucky has anywhere near the same donor money as say, Texas, USC, Notre Dame, Vandy, Duke, HARVARD, Michigan, BYU, St. John's.....I mean, man! If some of those schools wanted to, they could buy us with their available pocket change. This should not be complicated at all.

 

[mjj_2K]

It means nothing to me.

Is there a salary cap in college basketball? Not that I'm aware of. So why should I care?

The only important thing is that enough people with enough money are committed to keeping UK basketball relevant. If they end up wasting a lot of money I hope they get fed up with it and force changes that lead to less waste.

That said, this is an unsustainable system. The idea that a player comes back to college basketball because he can make more money there than in the NBA is insane.

 

[Seth_C]

I can both not care and also not believe the number. You do understand those things are not mutually exclusive yes?

 

[Dward13]

The problem for Pope is this. The guy could spend $40 million and it would be 50-50 on whether he has a top 20 team. Players don’t want to play for Pope. I would say he’s on plan double Z at this point. Pope paid whoever he could to come this year to play for him. And the thing is this we know that Kentucky in the name the brand is dominant. This is how you know pope isn’t the guy. If he was the guy, we would be one of the most dominant programs in basketball I mean even Tubbys average programs were so much better than what Mark Pope is putting out there. And that’s why the 22 million is hard to look past because Kentucky was paying for players by far more than the next team and we had a bad NCAA tournament team. That’s why they try to suppress the 22 million. They don’t want anyone to know how bad last season was but here’s the thing.

The big thing is pope has a chance to turn it all around. I mean the final four and the whole attitude of the program changes, especially if it’s a final four with the team that’s growing for next year. I mean Pope has a massive opportunity so we’ll have to see how the season plays out because right now the 22 million number from last year is meaningless. We can’t control the past but the question is were the changes that have been made enough. Will Pope seize the opportunity. Does he have the ability this is it? It should be a final four type season or he needs to step out.. and final four type season gives some leeway. Like say were top 10 all year and fight and lose in the elite 8 to a stud team in a barn burner.

I think this what pope has to do. He has to have a team that looks final four capable all year. Jimmy Dykes is always saying Florida can get to the finals Kentucky can get to the finals we need to be in the discussion. We need to be in the thick of it winning lots of games and then have a deep ncaat run.

Well likely know very early in the season. Look back. Title winners always start strong. Theres good reason for that too.

For years we had a ton of fans that after a couple ugly early losses would make the excuse “well we’re young so we have so much room to get better”. Guess what? Every college team in america has a ton of room to get better. Could be 13 5th year seniors and they still have tons of room to get better. The teams that start the season 10,11,12-0 are also improving. And their starting point was MUCH higher. So you’re playing catch up to teams that are dialed in from the start, are about 10-15-20 points per possession better than you already, and also highly motivated to keep getting better.

Your odds of being able to compete with that team at any point the rest of the season are very low. See Arkansas vs Florida and Arizona last season. Just complete annihilating.

Teams that don’t look the part early season are rarely a threat at the end. The lone exceptions usually involve injuries to key players that come back sooner rather than later and…97 Arizona.

 

[MidseasonTweak]

We've definitely spent 20 million + again this year, but the construction makes sense finally

 

[Ash Williams]

We should have a $50 Million payroll. The hell with budgeting. We eat first, we should get the best players and dominate college basketball. Unfortunately UK's admin is too busy looting the coffers to bother trying to win.

 

[Cats4321]

Are you saying that you actually believe that Kentucky has anywhere near the same donor money as say, Texas, USC, Notre Dame, Vandy, Duke, HARVARD, Michigan, BYU, St. John's.....I mean, man! If some of those schools wanted to, they could buy us with their available pocket change. This should not be complicated at all.

"If they wanted to" is the key phrase. We reportedly had one of the biggest NIL budgets last year, and it seems we spent a ton of money this year too. I see no evidence that other schools are greatly outspending us on a regular basis in basketball. Football is a different story obviously. Kentucky's NIL power is in its brand, and it's not like we don't have very wealthy donors sitting on the front row.

Even before NIL, Kentucky basketball was always known for outspending almost every other basketball program.

 

[JASUN74]

I don't understand why so many are afraid of the widley-reported $22 million payroll we had last year.

Jeff Goodman was hardly the only journalist reporting that figure. Ben Roberts at the Lexington Herold was the first to report on it. Matt Norlander, Seth Davis, Andy Katz, and MANY others did as well. It was a topic among the coaches at the SEC media day, with one coach anonymously saying that Pope would have to be a "complete bozo" to "not win one (national title) soon, "since UK can do things no other school can financially…" Pope was given multiple chances to deny the figure but instead insisted that, “we have the best donors in college basketball...so we should be the best at everything. And put NIL and put the transfer portal on the list."

Somehow there are still so many with their heads in the sand on this. Why? Should we instead insist on having a small payroll and hope for the best? Forget that, we're BBN! At this point demanding proof is rediculous. Show some proof that we didn't. I'll wait...

I have saw very few people say they don’t believe it was that much. Very few. Almost everyone knows we spent that much, and even though it was on the wrong team, Mark did the best he could I suppose. Other than that, , yeah we are UK and should be one of the top at all things Basketball.

 

[CRZ4UK]

Pope blew it. He is not in touch with reality. Just like posting the picture on the beech for over paying for Milan. Milan is not a franchise player, but Pope gave franchise money.

No one knows what Milan got. Why do you guys just make things up out of thin air??? There are probably 8 people on earth that are privy to that number. I’m almost certain your not one of them.

 

[Beatle Bum]

We've definitely spent 20 million + again this year, but the construction makes sense finally

We probably spent $15 million on Diallo, Wilkins, Moreno, and MilMom.

 

[Cowtown Cat]

All I know is that I really like this roster this season! There’s a ton of potential with this group. Don’t really have any redundant talent and/or skill sets. They all bring a little something different. Also, I think all of them except one, maybe two could return for another year, with the 5 in 5 rule.

 

[MegaBlue05]

As a former media person, there’s a lot of parroting going on in journalism.

For example, If Goodman reported $22M, other journalists will be like “oh, Goodman is credible/known” and will blindly repeat what Goodman said as absolute fact without verifying it on their own.

My guess is the truth is somewhere in the middle and we’ll never truly know until if/when NIL deals become a matter of public record.

 

[bigblueinsanity (the real)]

The only reason i cared was because it was a signal of incompetence. Apparently we were the top *direct spender* in the nation and that roster was all we had to show for it. That was alarming as an indication of poor leadership.

* I say direct spending because no one can guide more money to players than Duke. Their nike and espn connections make money literally endless.

 

[LineSkiCat14]

If it can be sustainable, I'm all for it. I just worry about the reports we are hearing that other schools are already outspending the revenue or reserves they have. Its one thing to spend $22mil a year, its another thing to keep doing it year over year. And thats also my worry with these player price tags that get up to $6 $7 or $8mil.

 

[FitchandMurray29]

The 22 million story always fascinates me:

-I do roughly believe it
-the fact Roberts called out 22 million specifically instead of just say an even 20 million added credibility and ease of remembering for folks to latch onto
-probably 5 million or so barely wore a UK uniform
-multiple millions were spent on end of bench/redshirt guys that add little to no value
-the core of our team was paid similarly to all the other big programs imo

 

[UKCowboys]

This doesn’t seem very relevant right now, why are you heating a dead horse about last season right now?

Exactly

 

[UKCowboys]

Pope blew it. He is not in touch with reality. Just like posting the picture on the beech for over paying for Milan. Milan is not a franchise player, but Pope gave franchise money.

This post is looking stupider by the minute this morning lol

 

[UKCowboys]

The problem for Pope is this. The guy could spend $40 million and it would be 50-50 on whether he has a top 20 team. Players don’t want to play for Pope. I would say he’s on plan double Z at this point. Pope paid whoever he could to come this year to play for him. And the thing is this we know that Kentucky in the name the brand is dominant. This is how you know pope isn’t the guy. If he was the guy, we would be one of the most dominant programs in basketball I mean even Tubbys average programs were so much better than what Mark Pope is putting out there. And that’s why the 22 million is hard to look past because Kentucky was paying for players by far more than the next team and we had a bad NCAA tournament team. That’s why they try to suppress the 22 million. They don’t want anyone to know how bad last season was but here’s the thing.

The big thing is pope has a chance to turn it all around. I mean the final four and the whole attitude of the program changes, especially if it’s a final four with the team that’s growing for next year. I mean Pope has a massive opportunity so we’ll have to see how the season plays out because right now the 22 million number from last year is meaningless. We can’t control the past but the question is were the changes that have been made enough. Will Pope seize the opportunity. Does he have the ability this is it? It should be a final four type season or he needs to step out.. and final four type season gives some leeway. Like say were top 10 all year and fight and lose in the elite 8 to a stud team in a barn burner.

I think this what pope has to do. He has to have a team that looks final four capable all year. Jimmy Dykes is always saying Florida can get to the finals Kentucky can get to the finals we need to be in the discussion. We need to be in the thick of it winning lots of games and then have a deep ncaat run.

Another post aging really well this morning LMAO

 

[Beatle Bum]

All the fussy reasons for caring are ridiculous. Had Lowe actually played and JQ stayed on the floor from St Johns to the tourney, the roster cost may very well have made sense. But who knows, maybe UK paid $30 million last year and Goodman was way off. Maybe a few other schools paid $22 million and no one mentioned it because UK makes the news. Maybe all players were paid with Malone gift cards. Some would find a reason to make this about the same ole same ole.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

As a former media person, there’s a lot of parroting going on in journalism.

For example, If Goodman reported $22M, other journalists will be like “oh, Goodman is credible/known” and will blindly repeat what Goodman said as absolute fact without verifying it on their own.

My guess is the truth is somewhere in the middle and we’ll never truly know until if/when NIL deals become a matter of public record.

Which is should be based on tax records. I’m sure with some digging it could actually be found out assuming they did pay taxes on it all.

 

[Beatle Bum]

Which is should be based on tax records. I’m sure with some digging it could actually be found out assuming they did pay taxes on it all.

Income tax records are not public.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Income tax records are not public.

No, but they could probably be found out by the right reporter even just getting a voluntary return on a top player to establish a real payout.