Hereās exactly my mindset since the coaching search.
Was dead set on Hurley or Oates. Nothing else would have been a home run hire. Wasnāt thrilled with Drew but could have been talked into it. I was furious with Mitch going straight to hiring Pope after whiffing on Hurley and Drew. Guess Mitch and Pope have that in common, canāt land an elite recruit.
The entire fanbase during the first 24-48 hours of the Pope news to UK were mad as hell. Media even initially questioned it before doing a 180 a day later and started praising it. For some reason most of BBN bought into the hype and started to love the hire. I was not part of that group. I still hated it and hated it until the Duke game.
Early last year, despite all the evidence to the contrary, I started to believe Pope might actually be the right hire. By later in the year I had already started to doubt that due to the team doing exactly what his BYU teams did (losing random games they shouldnāt.)
I came into this year actually thinking he would have a top team but I knew for a fact that he was missing an elite scorer/shooter. The Purdue game was fools gold. This year is already shot just a couple weeks in. A team full of injuries, underperforming and evidently bad attitudes.
Iāve seen absolutely zero to make me think next year will be any better. Pope has yet to land an elite high school recruit despite leading for several late in their recruitments.
Bottom line, always trust your gut first reaction. Itās right more often than not in life. He should have never been hired. BBN knew this but let themselves get talked into it by the media and that stupid pep rally at Rupp. He wonāt get a second contract or atleast he better damn well not get one. Truthfully he most likely shouldnāt even be given the full 5 years with what heās shown.
