Are we really going to have to suffer through a 3rd year with Pope?

[kyhankypanky]

Short answer, yes.

Because 1. People are dumber than us and/or 2. They don’t care as much about UK basketball as us.

Let’s go Bat Cats! Trust me, they won’t disappoint

 

[TotheMoon88]

So you don't have an answer about how Pope was able to beat two Hall of Fame coaches? I didn't either and my son keeps making that point to me and I don't have an answer either.

He wins some big games yes, but he also loses games he shouldn’t and by double digits more than I’ve ever seen, that’s going back to last year. His teams get down big and that’s because they’re not well coached. Ask your son if he thinks Kevin Ollie is a good coach

 

[UKFootball78]

I keep seeing snide comments about a group of people on here being "Pope pumpers". Why is this so hard for so many of you to understand? Is this a learning disability, or some other mental issue?

Nobody here, not me, not Monday, not Cowtown, not Cowboy and not Village, are Pope pumpers. Do we want Pope to succeed? Yes, but not because we are Pope groupies, it's because he's the current coach in place and him losing, means our program takes another step back.

Yes, we WANT Pope to win, but every one of us has said, he gets a 3rd year to prove himself. All I can hope for, is next years team doesn't suffer catastrophic injuries like the first 2 did. I want no excuses. Next year is put up, or shut up and leave.

Firing Pope now, would be an awful look for UK. The injuries and last years sweet 16 would be used against us and it would be very loud. Not to mention, Pope is one of ours, firing him in this circumstance, is a terrible way to treat one of your own.

This is on Mitch, he is the one that put us in this position. He is the one that should be answering for this.

The issue I foresee is, what will the new AD do if Pope loses 10 games, comes in 4th in the SEC and makes the sweet 16. Does the new AD let him go? Maybe it depends on how many of those 10 losses are blowouts and how badly we got beat in the SS.

I think it's important to get an AD hired now and for that AD to make it clear to Pope what the expectations are for 26/27 and if those aren't met, he will be removed.

I'm hoping this season's failures happened because the locker room issues and the injuries more than Pope's inabilities. I really do think he lost this team early and never could get it back on track.

I keep saying the same thing yet they keep ignoring what they don't want to hear. Cherry picking lines and comments that they think support their obnoxious entitled views. It's almost comical

 

[TotheMoon88]

I keep seeing snide comments about a group of people on here being "Pope pumpers". Why is this so hard for so many of you to understand? Is this a learning disability, or some other mental issue?

Nobody here, not me, not Monday, not Cowtown, not Cowboy and not Village, are Pope pumpers. Do we want Pope to succeed? Yes, but not because we are Pope groupies, it's because he's the current coach in place and him losing, means our program takes another step back.

Yes, we WANT Pope to win, but every one of us has said, he gets a 3rd year to prove himself. All I can hope for, is next years team doesn't suffer catastrophic injuries like the first 2 did. I want no excuses. Next year is put up, or shut up and leave.

Firing Pope now, would be an awful look for UK. The injuries and last years sweet 16 would be used against us and it would be very loud. Not to mention, Pope is one of ours, firing him in this circumstance, is a terrible way to treat one of your own.

This is on Mitch, he is the one that put us in this position. He is the one that should be answering for this.

The issue I foresee is, what will the new AD do if Pope loses 10 games, comes in 4th in the SEC and makes the sweet 16. Does the new AD let him go? Maybe it depends on how many of those 10 losses are blowouts and how badly we got beat in the SS.

I think it's important to get an AD hired now and for that AD to make it clear to Pope what the expectations are for 26/27 and if those aren't met, he will be removed.

I'm hoping this season's failures happened because the locker room issues and the injuries more than Pope's inabilities. I really do think he lost this team early and never could get it back on track.

It doesn’t matter if there are injuries next year, if it’s a bad season there should be no excuse for him getting a 4th. But a lot of fans are going to make excuses for him I can already see it. A lot of you just see pope as the opposite of cal and want to keep him because you hate calipari, well except for Monday who supported cal till the end. But it doesn’t matter if pope played here, he should’ve never been hired, and if he can put up next year injuries or not he needs to go.

 

[cornbreadnmilk]

So you don't have an answer about how Pope was able to beat two Hall of Fame coaches? I didn't either and my son keeps making that point to me and I don't have an answer either.

You could do it in reverse. Pope lost to Pearl jr so does that mean Pearl is the better coach?

 

[Resignmarkpope]

Is "Anon" a new ethnic group that is sweeping America. These suckers are everywhere

Yes

 

[yoshukai]

Anyone who has been watching basketball for a time should be able to tell "he just doesn't have it". It's going to be another long year.

I miss Kentucky basketball..

Any sensible person knows that was never a question. Next year is the litmus.

 

[Mossip]

Apparently Pope really sucks as a basketball coach. I just have one question. If Pope really sucks as a basketball coach how did he manage to beat two Hall of Fame coaches this past year and one was on their home court and Tennessee twice who is in the Elite 8? Im not a Pope fan either but my son who is a Pope fan keeps bringing this up and I don't have a good explanation for him.

Because coaches are judged on seasons. Ask your son why Dennis Gates and Hubert beat us in Rupp and then get him into some critical thinking courses lol.

 

[yoshukai]

My hand is getting tired of putting all of them on ignore, but I'm not going to feed the trolls.

I’ve thought about doing exactly that . If they are too lazy or unintelligent to give themselves a legit name , probably ought to just put them on ignore.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

He’ll be here for 5 years, minimum

Oh god if that’s the case, I may as well go into a Cryo sleep.

 

[kyjeff1]

It doesn’t matter if there are injuries next year, if it’s a bad season there should be no excuse for him getting a 4th. But a lot of fans are going to make excuses for him I can already see it. A lot of you just see pope as the opposite of cal and want to keep him because you hate calipari, well except for Monday who supported cal till the end. But it doesn’t matter if pope played here, he should’ve never been hired, and if he can put up next year injuries or not he needs to go.

Did you come up with this all by yourself? Can you show me one post from anybody that can back this up?
This just tells me your reading comprehension and understanding of the situation, is at a grade school level.
This has nothing to do with Cal. Cal is gone from here, so how the heck does hating Cal, do us any good with the Pope situation? It makes no sense.
Let me make this clear. Nobody is pining for Mark Pope. Why is this so hard for you to understand? It wouldn't matter if our current coach was Phil Jackson, we are saying he's simply getting a 3rd year and he should get a 3rd year. He did navigate injuries and he more than earned a 3rd year after what he accomished last season.
The issue here is, people like you don't understand the situation. You don't fire a coach in this circumstance. The aftershock of doing so, would cause a worse situation than the one we are already in and what makes it even more complicated, is Pope is one of our own. You don't fire your own after 2 years and one of those years was an incredible rebuild job that set a record for most quad 1 wins, a 3 seed and a sweet 16, when injuries were a factor. We would get roasted by everybody and no coach would want to take this job after we just fired one of our own for 1 bad season.
Use your freaking brain.

 

[cornbreadnmilk]

Did you come up with this all by yourself? Can you show me one post from anybody that can back this up?
This just tells me your reading comprehension and understanding of the situation, is at a grade school level.
This has nothing to do with Cal. Cal is gone from here, so how the heck does hating Cal, do us any good with the Pope situation? It makes no sense.
Let me make this clear. Nobody is pining for Mark Pope. Why is this so hard for you to understand? It wouldn't matter if our current coach was Phil Jackson, we are saying he's simply getting a 3rd year and he should get a 3rd year. He did navigate injuries and he more than earned a 3rd year after what he accomished last season.
The issue here is, people like you don't understand the situation. You don't fire a coach in this circumstance. The aftershock of doing so, would cause a worse situation than the one we are already in and what makes it even more complicated, is Pope is one of our own. You don't fire your own after 2 years and one of those years was an incredible rebuild job that set a record for most quad 1 wins, a 3 seed and a sweet 16, when injuries were a factor. We would get roasted by everybody and no coach would want to take this job after we just fired one of our own for 1 bad season.
Use your freaking brain.

I get tired of the one of our own BS. I don't care where a coach is from he needs to do the job and not make excuses. And Pope did drag Cal back into it when he made that terrible move of bring up Cal's 4 last seasons.

 

[catfanlou]

Yes. So suck it up and support our team .

 

[oakhillcatman]

Pope is here because or a lazy AD

 

[kyjeff1]

I get tired of the one of our own BS. I don't care where a coach is from he needs to do the job and not make excuses. And Pope did drag Cal back into it when he made that terrible move of bring up Cal's 4 last seasons.

Yeah, I really don't care if you're tired of it or not, it's true. You're going to have to deal with it. We're at war with Iran, you might not like it, but that doesn't kean it's untrue.
Would you demand Mashburn, Wayne Turner, Jeff Shepherd, or Goose Givens get sh*t canned after 2 years because they had 1 bad season?
This isn't fairytale land and again, this is all on Mitch Barnhart. He is the one that put us in this position.
Pope never should have been considered for this job and once he was hired, he was getting 3 years. The only people that don't understand this, is you guys that are going bonkers, because you don't understand how this works. So you come at guys like me, who are simply telling you the facts of the situation Mitch put us in.

 

[UK BasketballFan]

Apparently Pope really sucks as a basketball coach. I just have one question. If Pope really sucks as a basketball coach how did he manage to beat two Hall of Fame coaches this past year and one was on their home court and Tennessee twice who is in the Elite 8? Im not a Pope fan either but my son who is a Pope fan keeps bringing this up and I don't have a good explanation for him.

Pope teams are inconsistent, in 11 years as a coach his teams have finished 5th or worse in their league 7 times.

 

[2ndFloorButtcheeks]

Once you realize that life is just a serious of quiet tragedies, one after another, until the day you die... then it all just kind of makes sense.

Check out my *** though, right?

 

[SenseMaker_Cats]

Are all these new idiotic accounts On3’s way of pushing people to the pay board? Has there been one new account recently that doesn’t act like a moron?

 

[Hunting9]

I keep seeing snide comments about a group of people on here being "Pope pumpers". Why is this so hard for so many of you to understand? Is this a learning disability, or some other mental issue?

Nobody here, not me, not Monday, not Cowtown, not Cowboy and not Village, are Pope pumpers. Do we want Pope to succeed? Yes, but not because we are Pope groupies, it's because he's the current coach in place and him losing, means our program takes another step back.

Yes, we WANT Pope to win, but every one of us has said, he gets a 3rd year to prove himself. All I can hope for, is next years team doesn't suffer catastrophic injuries like the first 2 did. I want no excuses. Next year is put up, or shut up and leave.

Firing Pope now, would be an awful look for UK. The injuries and last years sweet 16 would be used against us and it would be very loud. Not to mention, Pope is one of ours, firing him in this circumstance, is a terrible way to treat one of your own.

This is on Mitch, he is the one that put us in this position. He is the one that should be answering for this.

The issue I foresee is, what will the new AD do if Pope loses 10 games, comes in 4th in the SEC and makes the sweet 16. Does the new AD let him go? Maybe it depends on how many of those 10 losses are blowouts and how badly we got beat in the SS.

I think it's important to get an AD hired now and for that AD to make it clear to Pope what the expectations are for 26/27 and if those aren't met, he will be removed.

I'm hoping this season's failures happened because the locker room issues and the injuries more than Pope's inabilities. I really do think he lost this team early and never could get it back on track.

You had a good, fair post going until you put Cowgirl on the list. He’s not a Pope Pumper … he’s a POPE PUMPER if you know what I mean. He’s dumber than a box of rocks.

 

[kywildcat1021979]

Here we go again. Indiana beat our Davis team so here come the popcorn boxes.

I guess we hang banners around here now for beating UT twice in a season , Cal , and Pitino ! Man what our program has come to.

 

[TotheMoon88]

Did you come up with this all by yourself? Can you show me one post from anybody that can back this up?
This just tells me your reading comprehension and understanding of the situation, is at a grade school level.
This has nothing to do with Cal. Cal is gone from here, so how the heck does hating Cal, do us any good with the Pope situation? It makes no sense.
Let me make this clear. Nobody is pining for Mark Pope. Why is this so hard for you to understand? It wouldn't matter if our current coach was Phil Jackson, we are saying he's simply getting a 3rd year and he should get a 3rd year. He did navigate injuries and he more than earned a 3rd year after what he accomished last season.
The issue here is, people like you don't understand the situation. You don't fire a coach in this circumstance. The aftershock of doing so, would cause a worse situation than the one we are already in and what makes it even more complicated, is Pope is one of our own. You don't fire your own after 2 years and one of those years was an incredible rebuild job that set a record for most quad 1 wins, a 3 seed and a sweet 16, when injuries were a factor. We would get roasted by everybody and no coach would want to take this job after we just fired one of our own for 1 bad season.
Use your freaking brain.

There are plenty on here that constantly want to bring up cal and how at least pope loves the program, and how the last 2 years were better than the last 4 when that’s really not great. Who cares if he’s “our own” he’s not a good coach and people and media said the same thing after firing Gillespie after 2 years, look how that turned out. Also no one argues that he’s not getting a third year I don’t know why when anyone brings up that pope SHOULDNT get a third year people like you say, “well he’s getting a third year so you’re wrong “, getting a third year has nothing to do with it, he doesn’t deserve one and sucks. Year 1 had the same problems I don’t know how you don’t see that, lost games we shouldn’t and showed no effort and terrible defense. He’s a mediocre coach and always will be. I’m sure you’ll have more excuses for him next year when things go south too

 

[bleedsblue5]

Yep. Just suck it up and hope for a Todd Golden like turnaround. Pretty low chance it happens

 

[ArcticChar]

Unfortunately.

 

[kyjeff1]

There are plenty on here that constantly want to bring up cal and how at least pope loves the program, and how the last 2 years were better than the last 4 when that’s really not great. Who cares if he’s “our own” he’s not a good coach and people and media said the same thing after firing Gillespie after 2 years, look how that turned out. Also no one argues that he’s not getting a third year I don’t know why when anyone brings up that pope SHOULDNT get a third year people like you say, “well he’s getting a third year so you’re wrong “, getting a third year has nothing to do with it, he doesn’t deserve one and sucks. Year 1 had the same problems I don’t know how you don’t see that, lost games we shouldn’t and showed no effort and terrible defense. He’s a mediocre coach and always will be. I’m sure you’ll have more excuses for him next year when things go south too

So what you're saying is, you can't stand it when someone has a different opinion than you.

The truth is, Pope does love UK more than Cal ever did. What's wrong with saying that? It's true and it doesn't mean anyone is saying Pope is good enough. I'm not sure why you think it does.

I don't understand what the issue is, comparisons are going to happen, this is a UK message board, Cal was our coach for 15 years and he left to go coach an in-conference soft rival. Is what it is.

Here's the other thing you guys are struggling with. Just because someone says they support Pope, doesn't mean they're a freaking "Pope pumper". That's so stupid. I support Pope, but that's because I want him to succeed, but I also say he shouldn't have been hired, he is soft, he can't recruit, he substitutes like an idiot and he probably isn't the right guy for the job.

Just because a guy supports Pope, doesn't mean he has lowered his standards, it doesn't mean he's okay with losing and it doesn't mean he doesn't want Pope to fix all his red flags, it just means he wants Pope to fix this. The alternative means we have to endure another bad season.

You guys have to stop being so weak minded, just because someone supports Pope, doesn't mean they are happy with what happened this season.

 

[Bugs092056]

So what you're saying is, you can't stand it when someone has a different opinion than you.

The truth is, Pope does love UK more than Cal ever did. What's wrong with saying that? It's true and it doesn't mean anyone is saying Pipe is good enough. I'm not sure why you think it does.

I don't understand what the isdue is, comparisons are going to hapoen, this is a UK message board, Cal was our coach for 15 years and he left to go coach an in-conference soft rival. Us what it is.

Here's the other thing you guys are struggling with. Just because someone says they support Pope, doesn't mean they're a freaking "Pope pumper". That's so stupid. I support Pope, but that's because I want him to succeed, but I also say he shouldn't have been hired, he is soft, he can't recruit, he substitutes like an idiot and he probably isn't the right guy for the job.

Just because a guy supports Pope, doesn't mean he has lowered his standards, it doesn't mean he's okay with losing and it doesn't mean he doesn't want Pope to fix all his red flags, it just means he wants Pope to fix this. The alternative means we hafe to endure another nad season.

You guys have to stop being so weak minded, just because someone supports Pope, doesn't jean they are happy with what happened this season.

The problem is that Pope was hired. Go from there

 

[kyjeff1]

There are plenty on here that constantly want to bring up cal and how at least pope loves the program, and how the last 2 years were better than the last 4 when that’s really not great. Who cares if he’s “our own” he’s not a good coach and people and media said the same thing after firing Gillespie after 2 years, look how that turned out. Also no one argues that he’s not getting a third year I don’t know why when anyone brings up that pope SHOULDNT get a third year people like you say, “well he’s getting a third year so you’re wrong “, getting a third year has nothing to do with it, he doesn’t deserve one and sucks. Year 1 had the same problems I don’t know how you don’t see that, lost games we shouldn’t and showed no effort and terrible defense. He’s a mediocre coach and always will be. I’m sure you’ll have more excuses for him next year when things go south too

And who are you to decide if Pope "deserves a 3rd year" or not?

Name me a coach that didn't have a bad year?

Also, stop acting like our standards here are 1996-1998, that's just not the case.

Last season was a success, was it perfect?, hell no, but after what we went through from 2020-2024, it certainly was a success. He set a record for most quad 1 wins, got a 3 seed and got us to a sweet 16. Sorry, but that is a success given the injuries to Butler, Carr, Robinson and KK. That was a FF team if fully healthy.

What Pope did last year, more than earned him a 3rd year, you're just going to have to deal with that.

Firing Pope now, would make our program look awful and no coach would want this job. Use your head.

 

[wldctky]

Anyone who has been watching basketball for a time should be able to tell "he just doesn't have it". It's going to be another long year.

I miss Kentucky basketball..

go back to your Louisville board

 

[kyjeff1]

The problem is that Pope was hired. Go from there

Exactly, that's the problem. Once Pope was hired, he was getting 3 years, unless it was a massive failure, like, if we missed the NCAAT both years.

Yeah, the last 2 years weren't 1996 good, but they weren't 2021 bad either. You don't fire a coach in this situation. Duke wouldn't do that, uNC wouldn't do that, UConn wouldn't do that and we shouldn't either.

Mitch Barnhart should be the one feeling the heat, not Pope.

 

[FatCatMan]

Yep. Just suck it up and hope for a Todd Golden like turnaround. Pretty low chance it happens

With so many assistant coaches leaving, I doubt it. Things clearly aren’t okay.

 

[Bugs092056]

Exactly, that's the problem. Once Pope was hired, he was getting 3 years, unless it was a massive failure, like, if we missed the NCAAT both years.

Yeah, the last 2 years weren't 1996 good, but they weren't 2021 bad either. You don't fire a coach in this situation. Duke wouldn't do that, uNC wouldn't do that, UConn wouldn't do that and we shouldn't either.

Mitch Barnhart should be the one feeling the heat, not Pope.

No argument on the mitch side, thats a given. But pope has just validated mitch's garbage decision making. So forgive me if I dont sit and marvel in the wake of the resulting project mitch laid forth

 

[FatCatMan]

No argument on the mitch side, thats a given. But pope has just validated mitch's garbage decision making. So forgive me if I dont sit and marvel in the wake of the resulting project mitch laid forth

I think most of us knew Mitch wasn’t going to fire Pope after a disastrous 2nd year. But a lot of us did hope that Pope might see the writing on the wall and realize that things aren’t going to get better next season. After the last coaching show spectacle, it’s clear the man isn’t thinking straight.

If Pope loses 4 coaches and Chandler, he really should see the writing on the wall. He won’t, but he should. He’s wasting all our time and I don’t think he’s the man that we think he is. I definitely won’t think fondly of him if next season is worse than this year.

 

[TotheMoon88]

So what you're saying is, you can't stand it when someone has a different opinion than you.

The truth is, Pope does love UK more than Cal ever did. What's wrong with saying that? It's true and it doesn't mean anyone is saying Pope is good enough. I'm not sure why you think it does.

I don't understand what the issue is, comparisons are going to happen, this is a UK message board, Cal was our coach for 15 years and he left to go coach an in-conference soft rival. Is what it is.

Here's the other thing you guys are struggling with. Just because someone says they support Pope, doesn't mean they're a freaking "Pope pumper". That's so stupid. I support Pope, but that's because I want him to succeed, but I also say he shouldn't have been hired, he is soft, he can't recruit, he substitutes like an idiot and he probably isn't the right guy for the job.

Just because a guy supports Pope, doesn't mean he has lowered his standards, it doesn't mean he's okay with losing and it doesn't mean he doesn't want Pope to fix all his red flags, it just means he wants Pope to fix this. The alternative means we have to endure another bad season.

You guys have to stop being so weak minded, just because someone supports Pope, doesn't mean they are happy with what happened this season.

I don’t care if someone has a different opinion what do you mean? You guys act like you’re super fans because you’re gonna back the coach no matter what. People aren’t going to change their minds on pope, we want him gone because we don’t want another bad season, which seems likely under pope, if he turns it around so be it. But I’m not putting my hope in him

 

[TotheMoon88]

And who are you to decide if Pope "deserves a 3rd year" or not?

Name me a coach that didn't have a bad year?

Also, stop acting like our standards here are 1996-1998, that's just not the case.

Last season was a success, was it perfect?, hell no, but after what we went through from 2020-2024, it certainly was a success. He set a record for most quad 1 wins, got a 3 seed and got us to a sweet 16. Sorry, but that is a success given the injuries to Butler, Carr, Robinson and KK. That was a FF team if fully healthy.

What Pope did last year, more than earned him a 3rd year, you're just going to have to deal with that.

Firing Pope now, would make our program look awful and no coach would want this job. Use your head.

Who are you to decide that he does? It’s my opinion, don’t like others opinions get over it. The standard sure shouldn’t be what popes put on the floor, unless you like getting blown out and the crap effort

 

[kyjeff1]

No argument on the mitch side, thats a given. But pope has just validated mitch's garbage decision making. So forgive me if I dont sit and marvel in the wake of the resulting project mitch laid forth

Who's asking you to marvel at it?

 

[Bugs092056]

Who's asking you to marvel at it?

Are you?

 

[kyjeff1]

I don’t care if someone has a different opinion what do you mean? You guys act like you’re super fans because you’re gonna back the coach no matter what. People aren’t going to change their minds on pope, we want him gone because we don’t want another bad season, which seems likely under pope, if he turns it around so be it. But I’m not putting my hope in him

So you again show you aren’t comprehending what's being said.

Do you mean to tell me you cant see the difference between:

1) "I agree with Pope getting a 3rd season to fix this mess"

And

2) "I don't care what you say, Pope is my guy"

What’s being said, is #1, what you see, is #2. It’s a YOU problem.

 

[kyjeff1]

Are you?

No, nobody is, why do you think we are?

 

[kyjeff1]

Who are you to decide that he does? It’s my opinion, don’t like others opinions get over it. The standard sure shouldn’t be what popes put on the floor, unless you like getting blown out and the crap effort

I don't get to decide, that's why I'm not sitting here kickng and screaming like a 4 year old.

Pope is getting a 3rd year and there's nothing you, or I can do about it.

 

[Bugs092056]

No, nobody is, why do you think we are?

You either love what this program is doing or you dont. Its a chicken **** operation and we're just here along for the ride

 

[kyjeff1]

You either love what this program is doing or you dont. Its a chicken **** operation and we're just here along for the ride

Please don't ever have kids.