The hell he does, especially if he fails to get a winning season and lose out on every recruit he’s gone after.
Jack Pilgrim: Follow-up intel on UK Recruiting Struggles
- Thread starter r_SmoothRunner32
- Start date
This can’t be stated enough. I cringed a little bit over this messaging last year but kept it to myself.
It sounds great to me, a middle aged white guy who has been a UK fan since birth. If I am an NBA prospect from Chicago or Los Angeles, I don’t give a sh-t about what any school did 30-100 years ago. I want my money. I want my minutes. I want to reach the next level.
Can we not find the happy medium between Cal’s “this is your pit stop before the league” and Pope’s “this sacred cloth” approach?
Sounds like a bunch of excuses. People don’t just develop an ego. Pope just got his butt handed to him and pilgrim makes it sound like “just hang in there he’s learning” but in a non committal way. Our media is bad. It is an echo chamber with a truth bomb dropped from time to time. Just say it dude. Pope isn’t the right fit. There’s no fence to be on.
Gonna guess you were not alive for probation. This is nothing. Lol.
Yeahhhh I'm glad we can finally come out and be honest about that stuff. The staff clearly coached the players to rant and rave about the culture and "name on the chest" and BBN and "sacred cloth" and it's so phony and as you say cringey. Spare me with that and go win some d*mn ball games
Pope is a dope. You don’t make statements like that unless you know absolutely what you have. I mean come on. That’s like popes bad question moment
A whole bunch of words to say that right now we have an "All Systems Failure" situation going on.
Why in the world would anyone want the highest NIL? It would be one thing to say you want the most talented players, but to just say you want to spend the most money? You're begging for bidding wars at that point, and opposing teams are just going to bait you into overspending for the wrong players. Overall I admire what he wants to do, but Calipari wanted all those things, too, and he couldn't handle it.
Anyone willing to give pope another year could care less about our success. If you know it doesn’t work you do t waste anymore of the grey hair time. Not to mention what another year of this crap does to recruiting. Pope has ziktch to hang his hat on for next year. If pope is here a lot of fans won’t be and it won’t be pretty overstaying his welcome
This kind of stuff I have a problem with. Why is it: “this is the view most of us have settled on, so if you don’t agree you don’t care.”? Leave open the possibility that others have rationalized and considered every factor and came to a different conclusion AND still care. I bet you I care more than 99% of the people on this site, perhaps a little too much. Yet, I do not feel it is time to fire Pope. Ask me again if we lose to Indiana though.
We want the highest NIL, but we don't want to get into bidding wars. We want the highest NIL but we won't have any actual elite players.
I'm sure he wants a re-do on that quote, how he handled the portal this past cycle, or both.
You're a great poster here but could you tone down the self-righteousness? sometimes i'll read your post and it's like you're lecturing everyone else here. calm your tits
I think at this point, Pope and JMI need to have a sit down, and do WHATEVER it takes to sign Stokes and Collins ASAP.
Get both guys on the phone. Overpay. Promise them they'll see 30+ minutes per game and none of these mass sub garbage. Tell them you have to do it now because you don't have guys with their talent.
You need a recruiting win. You need a statement. And you need the rest of the world to know you're fixing your mistakes NOW.
Get both guys on the phone. Overpay. Promise them they'll see 30+ minutes per game and none of these mass sub garbage. Tell them you have to do it now because you don't have guys with their talent.
You need a recruiting win. You need a statement. And you need the rest of the world to know you're fixing your mistakes NOW.
You serious? You saw the message I’m replying to and my reply and came away with that conclusion? That’s funny.
No one should want the highest NIL. That just encourages inflation. Best roster, yes.
Yeah i saw him give his opinion and your response is basically "i'm the only true fan on this board". You care more than 99% of people here? Nah you're just another poster like the rest of us plebs
Not to mention that Ferrari is made in Italy. And the last two Italian coaches could handle a Ferrari. Pope needs to be in a Toyota Camry.
That’s not how I intended it. Nor is that how I saw their post. They said if you don’t agree with them you simply do not care. I responded by saying how much I do care AND disagree. You don’t get to judge my intentions,
I’ll do that myself.
Pope caught lightning in a bottle last season with some good wins, but a lot of things did not work out also.
This season is a team totally constructed by Pope, and unless something dramatically changes, we might be flirting with a 500 season.
It is very fair to say is it possible he is in over his head?
Pope really needs to go 2-0 in the next 2.
0-2 and I am not sure how many wins against Bellarmine, Georgia, or Mississippi St are going to inspire confidence.
This season is a team totally constructed by Pope, and unless something dramatically changes, we might be flirting with a 500 season.
It is very fair to say is it possible he is in over his head?
Pope really needs to go 2-0 in the next 2.
0-2 and I am not sure how many wins against Bellarmine, Georgia, or Mississippi St are going to inspire confidence.
Up here in NKY, there were multiple rumors surrounding the Tay Kinney recruitment. Several people have said that when he reached out to Tay by phone, he didn’t even know who he was talking to and was calling him by the wrong name. That seems pretty insane, but it would make total sense after seeing what’s been going on.
Hiring Pope was ALWAYS a risk. A year ago it looked like one that was going to pay off but it was still a risk. There were a lot of accomplished coaches out there UK could have hired. The search didn’t have to go from Dan Hurley straight to Mark Pope.
I didn't say a word about your intentions. I'm sure your intentions are as pure as virgin snow.
I'll say again...you are just another poster like the rest of us.
I read this and feel it implies last year's team maybe wasn't totally constructed by Pope.
But it was, right?
So all of last year's success was roster totally constructed by Pope.
I remember probation quite well.
We are in more danger right now than we ever were during probation.
Yeah and I never said anything contrary to that. If it makes you feel better I’ll say it with you: “I’m another poster just like the rest of you.”
What happened there is you assumed that I think I’m more than a poster, which isn’t the case. I actually responded to someone with a self-righteous attitude with a majority opinion, used a touch of hyperbole and poked a hole in it. Simple as that. Everyone who doesn’t agree with firing Pope right this second isn’t someone who doesn’t care. That was the point, and I’d say it’s pretty easy to see that was the point.
Well this explains a lot for me . I couldn't figure out why we were whiffing on so many portal and high school guys. With the NIL dollars that we have plus our name recognition we should be able land our fair share of targets. Granted it's a new dawn now in college hoops but we still have a lot to offer .
Obviously Pope is being a control freak and is unwilling to delegate some critical tasks to his staff or a qualified GM . This is where you really need to have a competent AD. A good strong AD would tell Pope to focus on coaching and identifying his targets. From there a GM would handle the process of closing the deal and managing our NIL funding.
This stuff could end up being more detrimental to Pope's tenure than results on the court. Pope will burn himself out trying to do everything solo and he will burn his bridges with the agents as well.
It appears all these issues on the court and behind the scenes are currently imploding simultaneously. The optics are bad and Pope needs to put his ego aside and get some qualified help or his name and our program will be toast.
I am rooting for the guy but the clock is ticking.
Obviously Pope is being a control freak and is unwilling to delegate some critical tasks to his staff or a qualified GM . This is where you really need to have a competent AD. A good strong AD would tell Pope to focus on coaching and identifying his targets. From there a GM would handle the process of closing the deal and managing our NIL funding.
This stuff could end up being more detrimental to Pope's tenure than results on the court. Pope will burn himself out trying to do everything solo and he will burn his bridges with the agents as well.
It appears all these issues on the court and behind the scenes are currently imploding simultaneously. The optics are bad and Pope needs to put his ego aside and get some qualified help or his name and our program will be toast.
I am rooting for the guy but the clock is ticking.
I do like hearing that from you. Thanks for that.
The post you responded to was fine, dude. He's passionate and p*ssed off. You mention using hyperbole...you think he may also have been being hyperbolic? Idk I wouldn't want to judge his intentions
Probably. You’d have to be the person whose commitment is constantly being questioned for having a different view to understand why I’d want to poke at the original post. And you’re right, it was probably a little hyperbole on their part as well. Fans are upset and rightfully so.
How so?
Games are on TV. Scholarships aren’t limited. We are eligible to play on conference and postseason tournaments. Essentially 3 seasons were lost even if two of them were fun.
I keep seeing on this board “you can turn things around in one year” in the new landscape but also “if Pope stays 5 more minutes we’re doomed for a decade.”
Sounds like talking out both sides to me.
Bottom line is most likely: Pope finishes this year, Mitch retires, new AD comes on and inherits Pope because Mitch will not exit until about 30 days before the players arrive on campus; next year is a prove it or else year for Pope and the new AD hires the next men’s basketball coach whenever that need arises.
This isn’t BCG, and definitely not Calipari! The stuff that’s come out by UK’s own loyal media guys is stuff you don’t recover from by trying it again another season!
This is full blown 9-11, hair on fire, 4 alarm type stuff! And, to compound it, Mitch needs to be a package deal, but that’s never happening because of UK’s “woke” culture!
Yeah I just don't think he was actually questioning your fandom or your commitment. You post a lot here and it's usually detailed and well thought-out; nobody seriously thinks you're a fake fan or anything like that. Everybody's just a little on edge right now
I just re-read my post. You’re right, bro. It sounds self-righteous. Thanks for calling it out, my passion gets better of me sometimes. I’m not a computer lol. God bless.
Cal's lasting legacy? An AD, coach, and fan base over correction that sends to program back to the dark ages?
We all mess up on here. It’s just part of it at least you admit it. Very few do that anymore
