I do not think he would with this team. This team is a team of mostly mid majors that doesnt have the athletic ability to compete with pure athletic teams. If you leave them open. Sure they can shoot the lights out. That is about all this team can do.
Fire Pope right now! Why wait?
- Thread starter Coach Ken Reeves
- Start date
He will finish the season.
Though I’ve changed my stance somewhat. If he goes 0-6(including Wichita here) in the real games in non conference, they should pull the plug before SEC play.
Honestly if(when?) they lose to IU next Friday it is going to be wild here.
Though I’ve changed my stance somewhat. If he goes 0-6(including Wichita here) in the real games in non conference, they should pull the plug before SEC play.
Honestly if(when?) they lose to IU next Friday it is going to be wild here.
Pope's team was poorly prepared and I do not see any way they win twenty games this season. Seventh in the SEC might have been too optimistic . Will never make it to a sweet 16. But he will not be fired until the season has ended. Nevertheless I think J Batt will make a good hire. Oates is at the top of the list but I would still take Pearl.
I totally disagree. A coach afraid of being fired midseason has a loser mentality that I wouldn't want here anyway.
If he loves UK like he says he does, he would. Give him his 5 million for the year. He’s set for life. He could find another mid major job and finish out his career.
That's where I'm at. This run of Indiana Virginia Wichita State Louisville North Carolina is going to be the decider. Whether a mid season move is made or not who knows, we all know J Batt has done it, but I think this key stretch is going to cement it.
I guess what I'm trying to say is if we have a repeat of Kansas in those games, whether we go on a run in the SEC is going to be irrelevant.
Maybe J Batt is going to let Pope completely fail so that there is no doubt at the end of the season.
In the back of my mind when I saw that pic of him almost crying with Stokes in line to Shake hands It made me wonder if he had been warned the outcome of getting smoked by 20+ again.
saw this posted on twitter and it hits home
its year 3 and fans don't know if Pope can do the job or not
year 3
the answer is in front of you.
anyone asking if Will Stein is the right man for the job in 11 months on the job?
also, not that is on topic but Stokes is Louisville trash. I'm glad UK didn't get him and I wish Pope had made the decision to avoid him altogether. An Anthony Davis level player comes along once every 5 years or so. Stokes isn't that, and you can build a championship team without any specific player
its year 3 and fans don't know if Pope can do the job or not
year 3
the answer is in front of you.
anyone asking if Will Stein is the right man for the job in 11 months on the job?
also, not that is on topic but Stokes is Louisville trash. I'm glad UK didn't get him and I wish Pope had made the decision to avoid him altogether. An Anthony Davis level player comes along once every 5 years or so. Stokes isn't that, and you can build a championship team without any specific player
How has he been snobby to fans? I've always thought of him as a really good person.
Pope is a good man, even if not a good coach. Dandy is a baiter who cannot answer that question. Others love his bait, until he gets off his meds and goes berserk again.
I don't really care if Pope is a good man or not. He's paid to coach and recruit and he's failing. Pitino is not a good man but he killed it here. Some act like they want a boy scout leader.
This is the truth.
The chess pieces are there. They just have to be rearranged on the board. We have size and length. We have as good of shooters as anybody if not better. Seems we have good attitudes and intentions on the team. I don’t feel there’s any bad feelings between players. DEFENSE. It’s all about effort. Always has been. These guys have to be forced to give 100% on the defensive end. Now, get to work and move these pieces around and demand a certain effort and outcome instead of just talking about it, especially after a loss. Nobody has any interest in N Ariz or freaking Grambling St. Lose one of these and a change should be made immediately. The improvement has to be made by playing good solid games against Indiana and Wichita State. After that, a damn good showing at Virginia is a MUST. They are really really good. It would be a really good time to pull off an upset, but a loss of only six or eight points after taking care of the previous four games to me would seem to get us at least back on track.
The chess pieces are there. They just have to be rearranged on the board. We have size and length. We have as good of shooters as anybody if not better. Seems we have good attitudes and intentions on the team. I don’t feel there’s any bad feelings between players. DEFENSE. It’s all about effort. Always has been. These guys have to be forced to give 100% on the defensive end. Now, get to work and move these pieces around and demand a certain effort and outcome instead of just talking about it, especially after a loss. Nobody has any interest in N Ariz or freaking Grambling St. Lose one of these and a change should be made immediately. The improvement has to be made by playing good solid games against Indiana and Wichita State. After that, a damn good showing at Virginia is a MUST. They are really really good. It would be a really good time to pull off an upset, but a loss of only six or eight points after taking care of the previous four games to me would seem to get us at least back on track.
You’re making sense but a lot on here aren’t emotionally stable enough to understand the logic. Also firing him doesn’t automatically correct the problem even if you had a new coach walk in tomorrow. Hell UConn had won multiple titles and the first 2 years under Hurley were bad. So let’s say they fire Pope today, you’re most likely getting a worse result this year than if you had kept him until the end of the season. Probably have a mass exodus, then have at least another transition year. Bottom line, probably at least 4 total years of bad basketball after Cal.
Now let’s say you fire him, Williams takes over and the team plays better, makes a sweet 16 run. You risk the possibility of Williams getting the head coach job and he could be much worse.
There's a few folks in here that seem to think firing a coach mid season is unheard of/ never happens... It happens often, especially in other sports like football. Fire Pope, let Mo coach out the season, start the new coach search process immediately.
Knowledgeable fans saw Pope was inept last season & thought he should've been canned last March. The other side of the fanbase was hell bent on putting us on a Hubert Davis scenario. Keeping a guy who clearly can't coach around "cuz he's an alumni, be nice to him", long enough for him to luck into another sweet 16 to justify Keeping him for 2-3 MORE years incase he lucks up again rinse/ repeat.
If we lose 2 more games before SEC play FIRE HIM!
Knowledgeable fans saw Pope was inept last season & thought he should've been canned last March. The other side of the fanbase was hell bent on putting us on a Hubert Davis scenario. Keeping a guy who clearly can't coach around "cuz he's an alumni, be nice to him", long enough for him to luck into another sweet 16 to justify Keeping him for 2-3 MORE years incase he lucks up again rinse/ repeat.
If we lose 2 more games before SEC play FIRE HIM!
No. That ship has sailed at this point. Having a decent showing in the SEC isn't going to win enough folks back if we get blasted by 20 or 30 by those aforementioned teams.
I don’t define a “run in the SEC” as a “decent showing.” I think you moved the ball to make a new argument. A run in the SEC is a run at the title. That is much more than a decent showing. Most fans would be thrilled. When we entered the NCAA as a 8 seed, fans LOVED the run to the title game, even though they b!tched and moaned all season long. No debating it.
Well, then our definitions are different. Cool.
I don't care about finishing 3rd or 4th in the SEC. That isn't cutting it. No debating that.
His tone and passive aggressive remarks over three years of interviews. Especially the way he treated our legendary radio guy after a tough loss. I dont think hes a bad person or evil. But I dont see him as a saint like I did initially.
Oh, they “made a run” at 3rd or 4th place? LOLWell, then our definitions are different. Cool.
I've seen enough of your posts to know you just get on here and argue ad nauseum. If you interpreted my saying "make a run in the SEC" as winning the SEC outright, that's on you, dumbass. That isn't what I meant, I've already said that, and now we're dropping this and moving on. Have a good one
I’ve seen several times over the years an interim coach take over and do well. Fischer at Michigan (was it 1981?) took over and coached them to the championship.
The question I would have is who would be appointed interim coach? If it’s Mark Fox, forget about it, I’d rather Pope finish out the season. If it’s Mo Williams, I’d be intrigued. Maybe he could do well. Who knows?
The question I would have is who would be appointed interim coach? If it’s Mark Fox, forget about it, I’d rather Pope finish out the season. If it’s Mo Williams, I’d be intrigued. Maybe he could do well. Who knows?
My gosh. I did not mean to hurt your feelings. You used the words, not me. I responded to the natural meaning of your words and you ducked from your own words in order to argue with my comment that fans would love a run in the SEC.I've seen enough of your posts to know you just get on here and argue ad nauseum. If you interpreted my saying "make a run in the SEC" as winning the SEC outright, that's on you, dumbass. That isn't what I meant, I've already said that, and now we're dropping this and moving on. Have a good one
if that is this big a deal for you, my apologies. I too wish you a good day. Seriously.
[edit: and this is meant as funny, but you appear butt hurt, so won’t appreciate it but I don’t control others’ emotions. UK finished tied for 4th in the SEC last year. Maybe Mark should be retained for having a good run in the SEC
- alright back to being mad!!!]
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You would think that since Pope loves the UK program so much, he would do everyone a favor and just resign.
I agree this experiment has failed. Pope will not be fired during the season. Unless, he says or does something that makes the university look very bad. No AD would dare do that because it makes his job of hiring a replacement even harder. And no coach would be interested in a program where he could be fired in the middle of the season.
Unless there is an assistant on this team capable of taking over, why, you will not find a coach this early in the season, let him finish the season, hell Cal laid eggs in the champion's classic as well.
He fired the Georgia tech coach at the acc tournament. Couple others during the season.
if the rest of this season goes the way of the Kansas game, I think he will
With Cal you could at least find some supporters, as misguided as they were that there was a valid reason for him to stay, but at the end of this season there will not be a single voice supporting Pope (again, if the season goes as bad as it is now). He already being boo'd 3 games into the season. No one will come back for a 4th season of just open hostility toward them.
I suppose common sense is a good enough reason. We are 3 games into the season, nobody gets fired this early into a season. Boosters paid for Pope to have this roster and they paid a lot. Let that investment breath for more than 2 weeks. Get control of your emotions. In a few months the picture will be more clear.
Like I posted in another thread, the only thing that gives us a chance not to have to start over for players from square one, is bringing someone in mid-year, who can build relationships with the players and recruits he wants to keep, a few months before end of season. Otherwise, if Batt waits to fire Pope until after the season ends, and then does a hiring SEARCH, everyone committed to returning or coming in as a player, will immediately test the portal (or decommit), because they won't know who is going to be their next coach.
And yeah, that means not hiring a "successful" head coach.
But I sure wouldn't mind gambling on a Will Stein type of assistant basketball coach, and making the play to get him before 2026 ends.
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