Ask yourself how our hall of fame head coach can over stay his welcome in 15 years. But the AD and a quarter century is still going strong? I give up if BBN doesn’t want to show Barney the door our bb team will continue to slide. There needs to be a united front of uk media probing the hell outta Barney.
Do we miss Cal yet?
- Thread starter WilmoreCat
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Ask yourself how our hall of fame head coach can over stay his welcome in 15 years. But the AD and a quarter century is still going strong? I give up if BBN doesn’t want to show Barney the door our bb team will continue to slide. There needs to be a united front of uk media probing the hell outta Barney.
You forgot to mention that 8 of our 12 losses last year were 10+ point losses.
Those are excuses to prop Cal up, but you're not making excuses for Pope.
Cal did that to himself. He made promises to the dragon, he made promises to Wheeler, he made promises to BJB, he made promises to Edwards and he made promises to Edwards and all of them ended up costing us. Why would we want to have that back here again?
He made those choices and he lost those games. If you ask me, he should have retired, or played to win. He chose to put himself and a few select players first.
It can be. Cal's 9-win season had NBA "potential", but thats about it. Those guys just weren't good, and they were raw (We will never know what TC would have been, in his defense)
Cal gets a LITTLE bit of a pass the last few years because what he did the 10 years prior. But MY reason Cal had to be fired wasn't because he lost to St. Peters with two injured guards.. it's because he was sand-bagging by the end. I believe he was doing this on purpose. I also think he lost his fire in the final years. And sadly, you have to go when that happens.
We all felt like a change was needed. But if you had told me Cal’s replacement would be pope I would have said hell no. I’d prefer cal.
Well we cant have him back even if we wanted him. Thats sort of my point here. He doesn't want to be here, the way he was coaching was almost him saying "Please, fire me". You can't have that. The divorce was too bad.
I will never respect a guy that drives our program into the ground so he can win NBA draft trophies, then mock the fans. He did that.
I hate what's happening right now. I want Pope to be great, because he's one of us, but it ain't working. He’s not the right guy for this job and now, we have to eat one of our own. That sucks.
Pope isn’t the right guy, but neither is Cal.
I was cal's biggest fan his first 10 years, but he ruined that when he turned us into NBAU and lost the way he did.
I remember when everyone on here was climaxing over Pope taking down the banners of top picks. As soon that happened I knew we were cooked. I hate to break it to you guys, but a school’s history means NOTHING to players anymore. Why would anyone in his right mind choose a school like Tyson’s Chicken U over us? Money and the coach’s ability to get you drafted.
Our only shot is if boosters give these kids or portal guys an insane offer, but with the JMI stuff, it is doubtful. Cal’s recruiting has dropped off despite Acuff and Thomas and he has admitted he will never be able to fully adapt to the NIL landscape. If he can’t, do you really think we can?
Our only shot is if boosters give these kids or portal guys an insane offer, but with the JMI stuff, it is doubtful. Cal’s recruiting has dropped off despite Acuff and Thomas and he has admitted he will never be able to fully adapt to the NIL landscape. If he can’t, do you really think we can?
There's a reason Clarke isn't still in the NBA. BJB stunk, but Cal evaluated him. He was a lottery pick until he played for Cal and Cal obviously promised him all the playing time he wanted. That's bad player evaluation.
Cal recruited that class and that is what happens when you turn the roster over every year. It was bound to happen eventually.
If winning titles is your goal, you don't manage the program the way he did. If you do, you better get the best players every year, he stopped getting the best players in 2016, but he kept doing the same thing and didn't care because he was still getting players drafted. He owns what happened in 2021, he caused that.
How many time do we have to say this: it was time for both parties to move on? In the short term, does it look like we “lost” that deal? Yes.
Who recruited that roster? Cal did. What was Cal's main MO? Getting players drafted. Before the season started, 2 players were lottery picks, the 3rd was a first rounder.
Clarke would have gone lottery if he didn't die in that car crash.
He let BJB snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory over and over. He just kept on playing him and doubled down by making him the featured player. No excuses, he owns that season.
Kenny Payne coached that team better than he did, because he benched the problem.
but followed it up with a good roster with a star or two
at least he gave you a chance
Injuries don't matter? Thst was the strongest conference in the history of the game and Pope started with nothing.
Cal lost to South Carolina by 30, South Carolina was awful.
I'd rather lose a few games by 10+ than lose to Oakland and Saint Peters with loaded rosters when the stakes are much higher.
Cal was an 11 seed last year and he had his pick of the litter.
If he was losing on purpose, why wpuld we want him back?
Why would we ever want a guy that purposely lost games when he had the job?
Every team has injuries, including Cal at Arkansas last year. It just sounds like excuses for the fact that even last year Pope had problems with his team giving effort.
No.
Not remotely.
As bad as I admit it is under Pope right now, it does not even slightly make me miss Cal.
There was something deeply wrong with Cal at UK by the end. The re-energized Cal at Arkansas was not on the table for us. I don't know if it was the boosters he pissed off or the athletic department as is reported or he was just burned out and set in his ways and felt like he had nothing left to prove here. But whatever it was, if we still had Cal here we would look at least as bad on the court as we do now PLUS:
--We would have to hear him talk down to us constantly.
--We would be locked into it for another X number of years thanks to Mitch's tomfoolery.
--We would have to hear about his dogs watching Little House on the Prairie.
No thank you.
Not remotely.
As bad as I admit it is under Pope right now, it does not even slightly make me miss Cal.
There was something deeply wrong with Cal at UK by the end. The re-energized Cal at Arkansas was not on the table for us. I don't know if it was the boosters he pissed off or the athletic department as is reported or he was just burned out and set in his ways and felt like he had nothing left to prove here. But whatever it was, if we still had Cal here we would look at least as bad on the court as we do now PLUS:
--We would have to hear him talk down to us constantly.
--We would be locked into it for another X number of years thanks to Mitch's tomfoolery.
--We would have to hear about his dogs watching Little House on the Prairie.
No thank you.
Think Mitch panicked and settled. He could have gotten Pope the day before the season started. What a mess it is now. Pope won’t resigned. He would be seen as a quitter. He won’t be fired. Mitch will give him at least another year. Don’t believe we have reached rock bottom yet. This team is so flawed and Pope was the architect. Don’t trust him on correcting it. He has pretty much proven that he can’t coach defense and his team seem to always be so soft.
BYU is way better off now.
Bet their fan don’t miss Pope and there will be no take backs.
This is Cal we're talking about. He could have retired, or took a role as an ESPN analyst. Heck, he could have just gone to another program. When you choose to lose, you have to own that and tbh, that makes him look even worse in my eyes. That makes me miss him even less.
Doesn't matter, neither guy is the right fit. I don't miss Cal and I hope Pope somehow fixes this. At least Pope cares, that's the only thing I can say about this season
Last point. Every coach has a bad season, even coach K and John Wooden had bad seasons. Dan Hurley stunk for most of his coaching career, why can't Pope get at least a little credit?
He took the banners down because he didn't want the focus to be on the NBA draft, he wanted the focus to be on UK basketball. How can you hate that?
Cal turned UK into an NBA farm system and it sucked. UK comes first.
You can **** on Pope for a lot of things right now, but that ain't one I will agree on and how the heck does that give anyone the feeling that we were cooked? That makes no sense.
Did Rick Pitino and Adolph Rupp hang NBA banners in the locker room? No.
Terrence Clarke? We have no idea how he'd be doing in the NBA. Could be on Shais level, could be on BJ's level. But it's not like his stats as a freshman would lead anyone to believe he was going to make a long NBA career. 9 points on 29 mpg. 20% 3pt shooter, 45% free throw shooter. I think if I had to guess, he was going to be a late 1st rounder and probably flame out by now. BJB was a total bust. So were the other recruits not named IJ.
I think it was just a bad class, that is obviously on Cal, it's no one else's fault. It's just crazy to me that he can't have a few bad classes in a span of 15 years. Most of the time, he picked the right guys I'd say.
Clarke would not have gone lottery. BJ Boston was the 51st pick. TC was not making it to the lottery, not with the stats he had and how bad the team was performing. Maybe late 1st? Sure? Also maybe early 2nd.
I said that. The question was "Do you miss Cal". I absolutely miss him in his entirety. But I believe he was almost losing on purpose, and when that happens the marriage is over. He can't come back. I personally don't trust him to try at Kentucky and give it his all. Now, Would I take Cal next year if I was a... Notre Dam Fan? Maryland fan? Arizona Fan? Absolutely. But he can't come back to UK
So that's where we're at now? Cal gave us a chance? What did he do with those chances? That's what matters.
Turning the roster over every year is actually the worst thing you can do, especially if you replenish the roster with lower rated freshmen.
Pope has the opportunity to bring Lowe, MM and several other players back next year. You don't win titles by turning the roster over every year. Look at the teams winning titles, they ALL had returning players
All Cal did was give more kids a CHANCE at getting to the draft at UK's expense.
For the last point, for me personally, I need to see some success first. Pope is doing something Cal never did (or almost never).. he doesn't have the respect of the team. Pope is showing me some real level-5 defcon warning signs when it comes to coaching at a high level. It's VERY concerning. And Pope's recruiting at BYU, as it turns out, was terrible there as well. And worst yet, I have a feeling BYU doesn't miss him in the slightest.
If we see some real improvement over the season, I'm fine to give him another year. But again, we are seeing things that go well beyond just missing some shots to lose the game.
Cal refused to Coach his last five years here.
According to Raftard logic:
BEST COACH: the next coach
WORST COACH: the current coach
All other preceding coaches were actually top coaches; we just didn’t realize it then.
But Pope needs to put up or shut up
It was Cal's choice to run this program the way he did. He chose to churn the roster over every year and it doesn’t take a genius to see that if you aren't getting top 5 kids, you shouldn’t flip the roster. Cal stopped getting the top ranked kids after the 2016 class. How many years did he need to see it wasn't working before he stopped doing it?
Pope is getting blasted for the guys he brought in this year, but you're giving Cal a pass for something we all knew was going to happen eventually.
You ain't winning titles with lower rated high school kids. If you're going to roll with one-and-done, you better get John Wall type guys every year, but that’s if winning titles is your goal. It’s clear winning titles wasn’t Cal's priority his last 5 years.
100% agree. Pope isn’t ready for this job. I just hope he is so determined to be great that he finds a way to fix it.
I don't have faith he will fix it, but there's nothing I can do about it. Mitch screwed this up again.
But I know this, the 2009-2017 Cal is long gone and he ain't coming back, so he isn't the answer either.
well the players he recruited gives u a chance, his coaching was poor, pope with cal coaching might be a match made in heaven but that wont happen
@LineSkiCat14
I get that Cal didn’t like how things were going at UK and maybe you're right, maybe he felt like he didn't have the support he wanted, but damn, UK made him a star, Mitch gave him a lifetime deal and also made him the richest coach in college basketball.
Heck, Alabama had to give Nick Saban a raise, Cal was making more than he was and NS had like 5 titles at that point.
Where would Cal be without the stage he had at UK?
Isn't Cal to blame for the lack of support, or at least partly responsible?
So after everything UK did for him, I think it's messed up that he decided to mail it in his last 4 years.
Honestly, I don't think he lost on purpose, I think he lost his fire. It takes a lot of energy to run this ship the way he was running it. Just the recruiting alone would be exhausting. He probably got some energy back when he went to Arkansas, but still, I'm not impressed with the job he has done there.
I get that Cal didn’t like how things were going at UK and maybe you're right, maybe he felt like he didn't have the support he wanted, but damn, UK made him a star, Mitch gave him a lifetime deal and also made him the richest coach in college basketball.
Heck, Alabama had to give Nick Saban a raise, Cal was making more than he was and NS had like 5 titles at that point.
Where would Cal be without the stage he had at UK?
Isn't Cal to blame for the lack of support, or at least partly responsible?
So after everything UK did for him, I think it's messed up that he decided to mail it in his last 4 years.
Honestly, I don't think he lost on purpose, I think he lost his fire. It takes a lot of energy to run this ship the way he was running it. Just the recruiting alone would be exhausting. He probably got some energy back when he went to Arkansas, but still, I'm not impressed with the job he has done there.
I mean, it's not like Cal retired, he went to Arkansas and he took all of UK's returning platers with him and all but one recruit, have you seen anything from him since he left that makes you miss him?
He was an 11 seed last year with a lot more talent. Pope had a better season last year and had to start out with no players in April.
Not only that, but Cal isn’t burning it up this year either and the season isn't over yet, we all.onow how things will end for Arkansas.
cal got to a sweet 16 last year
and his recruiting class was better this season, and they are 11-2 and have several stars, maleek, acuff, and brazile, either of the three would be the best on our team
Cal had to go, no question, but what would he do with $22,000,000 in NIL here ??