Alabama AD is going all in on the basketball program and Nate Oats. Alabama should never be ahead of the UK basketball program in facilites. I know Cal wanted a new practice facility before he left UK. I wonder if it something that Mitch will consider before he retires.
Alabama Basketball building new practice facility
- Thread starter sosoblue
- Start date
it’s inevitable that Kentucky will build a new practice facility. It’ll probably be the nicest in the nation when that time comes
I'm still stunned Oats didnt take the job. They're going to be very good for a long time.
Football fans won't allow it.... Football fans in Alabama are in their own world.
I bet my pond in Summerville SC has five or six chairs in it by now. A neighbor two houses away via the pond chunked a chair two different times into our pond.... A nice guy except when Alabama loses a football game...
Can't imagine what a rivalry inside the school will cause...
I bet my pond in Summerville SC has five or six chairs in it by now. A neighbor two houses away via the pond chunked a chair two different times into our pond.... A nice guy except when Alabama loses a football game...
Can't imagine what a rivalry inside the school will cause...
Alabama’s athletic department is self-sustaining, just like UK’s. So, the university does not provide funding for projects like this. Projects still need to be approved by the BOT’s. If the project needs funding through the state (not all funded by gifts), then the project needs to fit within the bond debt capacity of the university…and that is where it can get stuck at times.
Oats was never offered the job. He said so himself.
Thats right, he came out the gate first thing and said he wasn't going anywhere. I think its cause the whole country knew he'd get the first call.
Barnhart didn't come at him with any real serious intention. It was Hurley, Drew, then third-choice Pope.
He didnt have a choice, he was running the other way on day 1. But theres no way you can convince me he wasn't going to get the first offer.
That’s ridiculous. What do football fans have anything to do with new basketball facilities?
UK is known for having a great basketball program, but our football facilities are top-notch nationally.
Bama must be sitting on a gold mine. They just built a new 50 million dollar golf facility for their golf teams.
Link here
Link here
That's all private money through their athletic department foundation. I have a feeling Justin Thomas probably donated a nice little chunk for that facility. Also helps that one of their most successful alums owns a golf course design, turf and irrigation company.
But that is an impressive facility!
If given an offer? He wouldn't even entertain the thought of going to UK. There was no reason to talk.
Will they line the walls with their banners or their appearances?
There's zero reason to believe this. Every coach UK fans have said that about for the last two decades have declined to do so except for Cal.
2 things
Barney should have let cal build the facility. He had former players lined up to pay for it.
Pope needs to go to these former players to help contribute to an upgrade. Especially guys like Kat and booker. Players who have shown their allegiance is to the program not the coach. Get John wall to spearhead the effort. These guys are getting younger. Strike while the iron is hot
Here’s a thought: Do practice facilities really matter that much in the NIL era?
That used to be considered sort of a backdoor way of paying players when it was illegal by other means: “Hey, look at the super-expensive fancy new facilities we’ll be giving you to use!” But I doubt it impresses players so much now that they can be paid straight through the front door. They’ll take a fatter NIL check over newer facilities in a heartbeat.
That used to be considered sort of a backdoor way of paying players when it was illegal by other means: “Hey, look at the super-expensive fancy new facilities we’ll be giving you to use!” But I doubt it impresses players so much now that they can be paid straight through the front door. They’ll take a fatter NIL check over newer facilities in a heartbeat.
Absolutely. These players spent 90% of their time in them.
Or Mitch can stop with the non revenue boondoggles and actually spend money that generates a return on investment.
Isn't Barnhart about to retire? If pope is doing well and he asks for a new practice facility I imagine any AD will say 'absolutely'. I think if pope reaches out to AD, Booker, big Kat, etc and tries to draw them back as family they'll likely donate in the future. He's already won over Wall, Bledsoe, cauley-stein and others. Pope is a natural at marketing the UK brand.
Oats coaching at Kentucky wouldn’t automatically mean crazy success. His reigns on what he could do would be tighter here than anywhere else. The pressure to recruit great players and win at Kentucky is unlike any other coaching job anywhere. Right now he has a relatively safe job at a school where basketball plays second fiddle to football. As long as he maintains a top 25 program, he’s got the job, Kentucky is a challenge not everyone wants.
I think you're viewing the UK job as a lot bigger than it is. Rick Barnes turned it down while he was at Texas, Billy Donovan turned it down multiple times, and Mitch's buddy (Scott Drew) turned it down.
Every coach that has come here that has stayed sober has won a national title. Not sure why Oats would be any different. Same reason I'm confident Pope will win a title and make 2 to 3 final fours at least. UK elevates coaches.
The ad there is a fundraising ad. He was on Barnart’s first UK staff as a fundraiser but that isn’t Barnharts forte so he ran up against a lot of brick walls here when it came to ad participation in those type things. His father was the Nebraska ad in their football hay day and then ta&m til he retired.
you dont need to just build a new facility unless there's some higher business motive to whoever is involved in constructing it. Just renovate and put in the newest tech and equipment etc. what the hell does the building itself matter?, ours is only like 14 years old right
you notice how in the past 3 years UK installed the shot tracker in the practice facility, state of the art pretty amazing technology. didnt take tearing down the building and building a whole new one to do so. why isnt just continuing to keep the inside up to date work, why does the entire building need to be rebuilt?
But if you built it and say gave contracts to say... rooferees for example then I understand that aspect
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Mitch panick hired. He expected Drew to be a pivot layup. Is what it is. Gotta roll with Pope.
I don’t think we could have made a better hire.
I like Pope. Excited and refreshed for a new era. But there was better hires based on resume, out there.
I was at the Craft Center for Pope’s father daughter camp, and I’ll say outside the shot tracker, there was much to be desired with the facility as a whole. The weight rooms are dated, the gyms themselves remind me a nice HS court with no bleachers of course. The locker room/film room looks a lot nicer in pictures. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still very nice, but the football facilities put it to shame. There’s no way it’s a top 20 facility in its current capacity. It needs a total facelift along with the player living quarters. There is really no excuse to not have a top 5 facility that is continually updated every 5 years to keep up with technology and trends.
I spent a lot of time in Marshall County and around the lakes area growing up. My favorite place in the world