Does Pope start to deserve the fanbase’s hate if he returns?

[Argonaut]

Right now, my hate is firmly on Mitch Barnhart for putting us in this position. Pope understandingly took his dream job, even if he was doomed to fail, I get it. Pope, however, has an opportunity to ease our pain and resign at the end of the season. Accepting that things just aren’t working out. We’d all understand.

Pope’s a smart guy, he has to know another year won’t change anything, especially considering how badly recruiting is going and likely next year’s NIL funds will be squeezed to nearly nothing. He’d have to be delusional or just plain greedy.

But what if he doesn’t step down? From the last few days several fans claim he won’t leave for monetary reasons. Effectively suggesting that Pope would throw the program under the bus for the sake of the almighty dollar. Some of these fans don’t appear to have a very high opinion of Pope if they think he won’t leave after this disaster of a year. Personally, I’m not entirely convinced one way or another. What if they’re right? Do you think Pope begins to deserve the fans’ ire if he foolishly returns for another year?

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Not on him. If I were in his shoes I’d collect the check too. Will I be pissed? Yes, but not at a coach in that situation. Barnhart needs to fire Pope himself and then promptly pack his own bags. Pope isn’t leaving on his own — that wouldn’t be in his own best interest. No matter how bad this is —- he’s going to think he can fix it. He can’t.

 

[kyjeff1]

Resigning would be one of the most difficult things Pope would ever do. It would send a terrible message to all the UK guys he played with, Pitino and more importantly, his wife and daughters. That's just such an ugly look, I couldn't do it, it's not in my DNA.

From what I've seen out of him, he'll want to fix it, but if he gets a chance to run it back next year, my advice to him, would be to grow a beard, get mean and for Gods sake, shut your mouth about money spent on the roster, Ferrari's, being great and feelings.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

If you would have asked me literally yesterday morning here’s what I would have said:

This year has been abysmal so far, but there’s no way you don’t bring a coach back who, one year “did well” and one year did bad. However, I still didn’t think missing the tournament was really even a possibility — I thought we were a flawed, but average team. We now look destined to miss the tournament and there are many off-court things you could rope in to have a case on just firing the guy. This shouldn’t be left up to Pope — he’s not the guy; fire him.

 

[CladinBigOrange]

Pope’s a smart guy

If so, there is a 0% chance he is walking away from $14M.

 

[ala_kat2]

No way I could hate Pope. He’s doing the best he can but must do better nect year. Can he get better or not us the question. But no hate, the players are not performing up to his expectations or ours but he can’t make shots and passes for them. He’s got to get tougher and meaner and demand more.

 

[UKWildcats1987]

I dont hate any coach. He would deserve boos and an angry fanbase. He's a puppet but he's still gonna get grief for his failures.

 

[CELTICAT]

Resigning would be one of the most difficult things Pope would ever do. It would send a terrible message to all the UK guys he played with, Pitino and more importantly, his wife and daughters. That's just such an ugly look, I couldn't do it, it's not in my DNA.

From what I've seen out of him, he'll want to fix it, but if he gets a chance to run it back next year, my advice to him, would be to grow a beard, get mean and for Gods sake, shut your mouth about money spent on the roster, Ferrari's, being great and feelings.

When the best advice Pope can get is to not be Mark Pope, you know this a totally effed situation.

 

[kyjeff1]

When the best advice Pope can get is to not be Mark Pope, you know this a totally effed situation.

That's exactly what needs to happen.

 

[Kyhoward1]

How can you hate anyone that is trying his best? He has not been successful but there has not been any hurt or killed. Why don’t you pray for CMP and his family instead?

 

[preston-lemasterpiece]

Yes. Of course

 

[MegaBlue05]

No.

I won’t hate him at all.

Just deal with the fact he’s getting a year 3.

Continue with your plan to yell at him in public and such. Makes you seem like a completely normal person and not a lunatic at all. Get a grip, OP.

 

[Cats4321]

Can't hate him at all. I'm sure he is working very hard and wants to succeed. Just hope him or Barnhart does the right thing and puts an end to this failed experiment. The only thing that makes me even consider that Pope might try to find an exit is his family. They have looked very distraught at times this year. He's already rich...is it really worth it for him?

 

[cornbreadnmilk]

How can you hate anyone that is trying his best? He has not been successful but there has not been any hurt or killed. Why don’t you pray for CMP and his family instead?

Does it count if I pray for him to get fired? But seriously why would anyone pray over a millionaire,perfectly healthy couple? I just find that so odd.

 

[MarvinHagler89]

I think he’s a bum in terms of coaching. I think he’s a good guy and great family man but he’s a horrible coach. He’s an assistant coach

 

[Kyhoward1]

Does it count if I pray for him to get fired? But seriously why would anyone pray over a millionaire,perfectly healthy couple? I just find that so odd.

So odd to pray for someone?
Wow!

 

[cornbreadnmilk]

So odd o pray for someone?
Wow!

LOL did you pray for Cal when he sucked at his job?

 

[Ash Williams]

Pope owes it to BBN to stick this out so that Mitch takes the fall. Resigning only lets Mitch off the hook.

 

[Anon1759768907]

Pope owes it to BBN to stick this out so that Mitch takes the fall. Resigning only lets Mitch off the hook.

you realize any change that happens with mitch will have minimal impact on the basketball side of things

popes 90% of it

 

[UKWildcats1987]

So odd to pray for someone?
Wow!

I pray to Allah and fat Buddha every night for the rich millionaire Pope family.

 

[Tim0808]

Not hate. However, he needs to be held accountable for the sorry product he is putting on the court. This is Pope's fault and no one else's. He needs to be blasted for the crap he says in the press conferences and on the coach's show. It is all him!!! If Pope was winning games, no one would be giving Mitch credit for winning. So, I am not blaming Mitch for Kentucky not winning. That is Pope!
Now, Mitch needs to be held accountable too. Not for this teams performance, because he had nothing to do with that. Mitch should be held accountable for the sorry coaching hire he made. Two different issues and both need to go!

 

[paulcalhoun_rivals397471]

I certainly hope this is just the lunatic fringe of the fanbase posting and voting the way you guys do. My faith in and respect for the UK fanbase is being driven to new lows daily.

 

[SkyPrince]

Right now, my hate is firmly on Mitch Barnhart for putting us in this position. Pope understandingly took his dream job, even if he was doomed to fail, I get it. Pope, however, has an opportunity to ease our pain and resign at the end of the season. Accepting that things just aren’t working out. We’d all understand.

Pope’s a smart guy, he has to know another year won’t change anything, especially considering how badly recruiting is going and likely next year’s NIL funds will be squeezed to nearly nothing. He’d have to be delusional or just plain greedy.

But what if he doesn’t step down? From the last few days several fans claim he won’t leave for monetary reasons. Effectively suggesting that Pope would throw the program under the bus for the sake of the almighty dollar. Some of these fans don’t appear to have a very high opinion of Pope if they think he won’t leave after this disaster of a year. Personally, I’m not entirely convinced one way or another. What if they’re right? Do you think Pope begins to deserve the fans’ ire if he foolishly returns for another year?

The NIL will still be there.
UK will still have one of the highest paid rosters in CBB next year.
Whether that translates to wins it yet to be determined .

 

[TFCat11]

No.

I won’t hate him at all.

Just deal with the fact he’s getting a year 3.

Continue with your plan to yell at him in public and such. Makes you seem like a completely normal person and not a lunatic at all. Get a grip, OP.

I’ll bet you and any one else that wants, Pope is not getting a 3rd year!

Let’s revisit this 8-10 games from now, and see who’s closer to being correct!

I’ll say this, if Pope is allowed another season, because he didn’t resign or didn’t get terminated, then no one in UK’s administration gives a damn about MCBB going forward, and the program and BBN will be a foot note in the history books.

Sounds like that’s what some of you “fans” want… Well, it’s never happening!

Bookmark this post, and I’ll show you.

 

[preston-lemasterpiece]

I certainly hope this is just the lunatic fringe of the fanbase posting and voting the way you guys do. My faith in and respect for the UK fanbase is being driven to new lows daily.

He got booed out of Rupp 2 days ago
It’s not just the lunatic fringe

 

[Ukwazoo3]

Depends on how the rest of the year goes

 

[Anon1679859502]

Resigning would be one of the most difficult things Pope would ever do. It would send a terrible message to all the UK guys he played with, Pitino and more importantly, his wife and daughters. That's just such an ugly look, I couldn't do it, it's not in my DNA.

From what I've seen out of him, he'll want to fix it, but if he gets a chance to run it back next year, my advice to him, would be to grow a beard, get mean and for Gods sake, shut your mouth about money spent on the roster, Ferrari's, being great and feelings.

The Herald Leader was digging around and found out about the money spent on the roster, Pope never mentioned it until it was brought up in an interview. Like it almost caught him off guard so he had to say something about it.
I wonder if journalists covering other universities dig into their finances like the Herald Leader does Kentucky.

 

[AJG-15]

Where does Pope go for advice? To Coach Fox , Pitino ?

he is so concerned about his lack of offense and team cohesion that him and staff is not preparing well enough for games based on opponents. In addition him and staff recruiting and players social media and media interactions are subpar.

he needs to start delegating and they need to start winning so he can buy time.

first two games in SEC game preparation and opposing team scouting was horrible. I’ve seen this pattern last year too.

iam not sure what their weekly cycle between games is but something is not working. Not sure if it is him not delegating or the feedback not being good enough or the time allocation between developing team and preparing team for opponents should be changed…..

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Right now, my hate is firmly on Mitch Barnhart for putting us in this position. Pope understandingly took his dream job, even if he was doomed to fail, I get it. Pope, however, has an opportunity to ease our pain and resign at the end of the season. Accepting that things just aren’t working out. We’d all understand.

Pope’s a smart guy, he has to know another year won’t change anything, especially considering how badly recruiting is going and likely next year’s NIL funds will be squeezed to nearly nothing. He’d have to be delusional or just plain greedy.

But what if he doesn’t step down? From the last few days several fans claim he won’t leave for monetary reasons. Effectively suggesting that Pope would throw the program under the bus for the sake of the almighty dollar. Some of these fans don’t appear to have a very high opinion of Pope if they think he won’t leave after this disaster of a year. Personally, I’m not entirely convinced one way or another. What if they’re right? Do you think Pope begins to deserve the fans’ ire if he foolishly returns for another year?

Pope isn’t getting hate, he’s getting criticism the way he deserves it. He has failed in every single category as a coach this year. Mitch is the number one clown in the entire department, but Pope accepted and acted like he knew exactly what to do. Sadly last year appears to be an outlier and even that was mediocre at best. Mitch needs to go and we need a real AD and GM to get us on track.

 

[*Fox2Monk*]

Resigning would be one of the most difficult things Pope would ever do. It would send a terrible message to all the UK guys he played with, Pitino and more importantly, his wife and daughters. That's just such an ugly look, I couldn't do it, it's not in my DNA.

From what I've seen out of him, he'll want to fix it, but if he gets a chance to run it back next year, my advice to him, would be to grow a beard, get mean and for Gods sake, shut your mouth about money spent on the roster, Ferrari's, being great and feelings.

The thing is that he is coaching to his historical standard. Pope is what he is and it won’t change no matter how much time he’s given.

Maybe if he landed the perfect mix of NBA talent who returns for a third or fourth year, shooters who can run his system perfectly, high IQ players, and he nabs 3 of the best freshmen in the class. We all know that won’t happen and even then I don’t trust this staff to make them into a top team.

I have no doubt they could find a team like last year who will have a fundamental flaw that keeps them from not losing 10 games and we will eventually flame out with a typical Pope non effort game or ridiculous hockey sub lineup or “injuries.”

 

[[email protected]]

Resigning would be one of the most difficult things Pope would ever do. It would send a terrible message to all the UK guys he played with, Pitino and more importantly, his wife and daughters. That's just such an ugly look, I couldn't do it, it's not in my DNA.

From what I've seen out of him, he'll want to fix it, but if he gets a chance to run it back next year, my advice to him, would be to grow a beard, get mean and for Gods sake, shut your mouth about money spent on the roster, Ferrari's, being great and feelings.

I think the other coaches in the SEC took offense to Pope bragging about how much money they spent on this roster. I remember media asking players on other teams about it as well and it put a huge target on UK’s back. Pope is a smart guy, but he was dumb doing that.

 

[preston-lemasterpiece]

There's a difference in real hate and sports hate.
There's a select few people that if I was in a room with, I'd have to take a swing at.
It's a short list of maybe 3 or 4 people. People that have actively harmed my livelihood in some way. That's real life hate.

Hating a coach is completely different. You people are being dramatic. It's just natural frustration. We all dedicate a lot of time to UK basketball and we were fed a bunch of bs about this team being like 96 and being a hot Ferrari and now we are getting NOTHING in return except being the laughingstock of the college hoops world.
So yeah as a coach I f*cking hate him and with d*mn good reason. Doesn't mean I want him to die or his life be ruined or bad things to happen to his family.
I just want him to politely f*ck off and go gaslight another fanbase into thinking he's a real coach.

 

[Vek96]

We have a lot of problems. We’re so far away from being a Title contender, that it’s hard to imagine how we’re going to get back there.

Barnhart needs to go. I have no idea how he’s kept his job. Pope is clueless. We’re in perhaps the worst era of Kentucky basketball ever.

 

[PastorofMuppets82]

I'm not going to hate Pope either way. Just criticize his coaching choices and staff picks. Anybody in Mark Pope's position would have jumped at the offer to coach UK, qualified or not, when offered the job. By offering him this job, Mitch put him in an impossible situation. Pope was wholly unqualified, the roster was empty, the staff was gutted, and he was following a HOF Coach who had soured the fan base. Pope is correct in saying he knows the assignment, and you can see it on his face when we play bad. Any which way this goes, it ends bad for Mark Pope and BBN. Pearl was the easy layup hire, Pearl is still the GM hire they could make today that would turn around recruiting. But UK isn't good at hitting layups lately either. I actually just feel bad for Mark Pope. The team hates each other and despite all that athleticism, can't even run simply out of bounds plays or a weave without being out of position.

 

[Ash Williams]

Pope will be back. No way Mitch admits his own failure right before he retires. And Pope himself has nowhere else to go. He's owed $25M and frankly he should make Mitch pay him every dime. This is on Mitch's legacy, not Pope.

 

[kyjeff1]

Where does Pope go for advice? To Coach Fox , Pitino ?

he is so concerned about his lack of offense and team cohesion that him and staff is not preparing well enough for games based on opponents. In addition him and staff recruiting and players social media and media interactions are subpar.

he needs to start delegating and they need to start winning so he can buy time.

first two games in SEC game preparation and opposing team scouting was horrible. I’ve seen this pattern last year too.

iam not sure what their weekly cycle between games is but something is not working. Not sure if it is him not delegating or the feedback not being good enough or the time allocation between developing team and preparing team for opponents should be changed…..

Someone is telling him something, maybe it's LeAnne, or one of his daughters, because he's stopped using most of his church phrases (Beautiful and Space and Terrific etc… ) and after the Missouri loss, he didn't pout. He's also not telling everyone how great this team is going to eventually be. Someone is coaching him and I would like to thank whoever that is.

 

[kyjeff1]

The thing is that he is coaching to his historical standard. Pope is what he is and it won’t change no matter how much time he’s given.

Maybe if he landed the perfect mix of NBA talent who returns for a third or fourth year, shooters who can run his system perfectly, high IQ players, and he nabs 3 of the best freshmen in the class. We all know that won’t happen and even then I don’t trust this staff to make them into a top team.

I have no doubt they could find a team like last year who will have a fundamental flaw that keeps them from not losing 10 games and we will eventually flame out with a typical Pope non effort game or ridiculous hockey sub lineup or “injuries.”

Pope is training on the job really. He's learning a lot of lessons and the most important lesson this year, is how critically important it is to get the right guys in here. You have to get stars that can shoot and defend. His system isn't so good that he can just take anyone and be awesome. He got careless and just took dudes that did one or two things decently.

This is why experience matters, he doesn't have it, right now, he is nothing more than a good assistant coach.

 

[HappyBlue]

If Pope comes back for a 3rd year and makes a Final Four or wins the title, do the microwave fans that have been acting like spoiled brats deserve to celebrate that?

 

[megablue]

Nobody deserves hate for trying to do a job, especially if it is simply to coach a team. Criticism is fair, but not hate.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

If Pope comes back for a 3rd year and makes a Final Four or wins the title, do the microwave fans that have been acting like spoiled brats deserve to celebrate that?

I don’t know man. As someone who gets a lot of hate for not conforming to either of the imaginary forces, I do think people fail to see there are just different types of fans. You may feel you are the “right” kind of fan, but the opposing view would see their view as the “right” kind of fan. If you really start thinking about it, mob mentality denies logic:

FAN TYPE 1: PROGRAM DEMANDS FIRST

This group believes that the chief priority of a fan is to hold the program to a high standard of excellence. Because of this, they will see the fanbase as a major asset. They would see loyalty to coaches as having a negative effect on the overall health of the program. From their standpoint, over-emphasis on empathy to coaches would relax the standard and become excuse-making. This group usually has an emotional collective conscious — they may aggressively confront those with an opposing view as they see those people as “shills” or “fake fans.”

FAN TYPE 2: TEAM DEMANDS FIRST

This group believes that the chief priority of a fan is to help support the current team by providing support. They would see fans who fail to do this as being a detriment to the program. They would see loyalty to coaches as having a positive effect on the overall health of the program. From their standpoint, a lack of emphasis on empathy to the coach and team result in creating team distractions and can negatively affect on-court performance. This group will often look for underlying causes of various team issues and will refer to these as “reasons” rather than “excuses.” This group usually has an emotional collective conscious — they may aggressively confront those with an opposing view as they see those people as “trolls” or “fake fans.”


^ Almost everyone on the board will fall in those groups and these two groups always talk past one another and always fail to understand the viewpoint of the other. While I think there are truths to both, I think there are serious errors with each.