Kentucky will not get a home run hire

W1LDCAT22

All-Conference
Jan 10, 2013
1,072
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Not like they did with Pitino and Calipari. Kentucky doesn’t have the same flare that it use to. Top coaches have to weight the risk to reward. We might offer more money. But is it worth the pressure of being fired in a few years? Is it worth having the negative fan base want to run you out if you miss the tournament or lose in the first round one year? Probably not. Which is why a home run hire won’t happen. Kentucky will get a good coach I believe. Just not a great one.
I think they better hope we get Drew. Because after him, your options are really going to decline
Just because Kentucky isn't for everyone, doesn't mean that Kentucky has lost it's "flare." That is such a lazy take on the issue.
 

OldEvilleCat

Heisman
Mar 1, 2009
4,851
22,003
0

Kentucky doesn’t have the same flare that it use to
 

Eccain01

All-Conference
Dec 20, 2020
1,511
1,976
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Not like they did with Pitino and Calipari. Kentucky doesn’t have the same flare that it use to. Top coaches have to weight the risk to reward. We might offer more money. But is it worth the pressure of being fired in a few years? Is it worth having the negative fan base want to run you out if you miss the tournament or lose in the first round one year? Probably not. Which is why a home run hire won’t happen. Kentucky will get a good coach I believe. Just not a great one.
I think they better hope we get Drew. Because after him, your options are really going to decline
Cal was here for 15 years lol some of act like he was fired after 1 bad year
 

Morgousky859

Junior
Apr 19, 2025
170
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Not like they did with Pitino and Calipari. Kentucky doesn’t have the same flare that it use to. Top coaches have to weight the risk to reward. We might offer more money. But is it worth the pressure of being fired in a few years? Is it worth having the negative fan base want to run you out if you miss the tournament or lose in the first round one year? Probably not. Which is why a home run hire won’t happen. Kentucky will get a good coach I believe. Just not a great one.
I think they better hope we get Drew. Because after him, your options are really going to decline

lol. The game has changed. Home run hires at programs like UK no longer need to be what they were. Calipari was an ace recruiter that’s not what we need now.

Programs like UK need a modern style coach who can fundraise well / greet schemers / pro players type coaches who understands the job is to win. Money is the recruiter now.

I can’t stand Barnhart and I’m ready for a change but he saw this early. Money and style recruit, we don’t need the coach to do that. Pope being alumni, bringing back the 90’s with Pitino close to retiring has made people forget about Calipari (which eats him alive don’t let him fool you). It was all too perfect. He saw you don’t need a recruiter now. We need a Kentucky guy who can sell it and coach it.

We got that.
 
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SemperFiCat

Heisman
Mar 2, 2009
14,566
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What about the OP was wrong though? We're literally the only fanbase that would consider Pope a good hire, and in the moment probably only 1/3 of BBN thought it was a good hire. Nobody, BBN or other fan, thought Pope was a "homerun" hire when the news broke. Most of BBN had to be won over. I don't mind ridiculous old threads being dug up, but IMO this OP doesn't fit.
 
May 27, 2007
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What about the OP was wrong though? We're literally the only fanbase that would consider Pope a good hire, and in the moment probably only 1/3 of BBN thought it was a good hire. Nobody, BBN or other fan, thought Pope was a "homerun" hire when the news broke. Most of BBN had to be won over. I don't mind ridiculous old threads being dug up, but IMO this OP doesn't fit.

I mean I guess it's two separate things.

Clearly Pope was NOT one of the big names compared to most of the other names that were being thrown out.

But........it could definitely turn into a HR hire.
 

*Fox2Monk*

Heisman
Jun 10, 2009
39,852
69,549
113
What about the OP was wrong though? We're literally the only fanbase that would consider Pope a good hire, and in the moment probably only 1/3 of BBN thought it was a good hire. Nobody, BBN or other fan, thought Pope was a "homerun" hire when the news broke. Most of BBN had to be won over. I don't mind ridiculous old threads being dug up, but IMO this OP doesn't fit.
I think Saul’s main point is that in every thread brought up including today’s new one is that everything always has a negative slant. Oweh is gone, we won’t get a coach, the title is Duke’s. Etc.. It doesn’t look like typical fans starting posts.
 

ukcatz12

Heisman
Mar 27, 2009
5,199
12,325
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Folks might as well know that @OmahaCats is a pretend fan.
C’mon man. Weren’t you on here the night of the hire outraged and trying to organize an email campaign or something ridiculous to get Mitch to change his mind? And wasn’t that thread also resurrected and you asked the mods to delete it?

OP wasn’t exactly wrong, we didn’t get what was viewed as a home run hire at the time.
 

Morgousky859

Junior
Apr 19, 2025
170
324
43
This.

I just jumped into this thread, but Mark Pope was most definitely NOT a homerun hire. Now, I have confidence that he's going to turn into just that. But pretending he was a homerun hire in the beginning is just silly and blatantly false.

I think the correct take is we didn’t know if it was a home run hire or not because of several factors.

In 2010, this isn’t a home run hire. In 2024, it very well might be.

We are entering a change in definitions with regard to CBB. Coaches no longer need to be ace recruiters to recruit players. For a program like Kentucky, Mark Pope might be a grand slam. He’s a former player who knows the ropes. He’s an excellent floor coach probably one of the most analytical you can get. The money and program recruit for him, as does his modern system. At a program like UK, Mark might be as good as it gets really.

What many of us didn’t take into account was the new standard and structure of college basketball. If recruiting prowess really doesn’t matter anymore because of NIL, why wouldn’t Pope be a home run hire? In 2025, I’m not sure he’s not. He’s got everything covered to a high degree minus a recruiting pedigree but NIL covers that. We’re already seeing him recruit just fine.

Once the reality set in, I think it might be safe to say Mitch actually saw this for what it was. A home run hire in the NEW era. Most of us were judging it by the old era. It was an in-between moment. And I’m no fan of Mitch.
 
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KYFOSSIL

All-American
Jan 13, 2005
7,034
8,843
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Don't make horribly stupid and negative threads and you don't have to worry about it. Can't just spout off nonsense and expect everyone to just forget and move on. Trolls will be trolled.
Yep
 

jerrysmith

Sophomore
Dec 3, 2020
62
143
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I just hope no one pulls up the ancient thread where I said that Jared Carter was going to be an all-SEC center by the time he is a senior.
I said the same thing, told all my buddies Jared Carter was going to be an all american,
 

Son_Of_Saul

Heisman
Dec 7, 2007
43,782
92,016
3
C’mon man. Weren’t you on here the night of the hire outraged and trying to organize an email campaign or something ridiculous to get Mitch to change his mind? And wasn’t that thread also resurrected and you asked the mods to delete it?

OP wasn’t exactly wrong, we didn’t get what was viewed as a home run hire at the time.
@ukcatz12 ,

*Look at the other threads I revived regarding Omahacats. The whole body of work is why I resurrected them. I'm surprised your didn't catch on. You're usually pretty observant.

#1. I owned my mistake. I admitted I was wrong publicly on three occasions. Why did I ask the mod to delete it? Because I was shortsighted in my assessment of Pope. Did you miss that part? Typically you're a guy who seems to grasp the greater argument someone is making. That doesn't seem to be the case this time.

#2. The point of my dragging out Omahacat's post is because he's done this before - over and over and over, in fact. He started a thread where he said he was tired of Carr; started one where he mocked UK fans for their passion; started one where he declared that Duke would win the title; started one where he stated we should be worried about Oweh leaving for the draft early; and started one declaring that we wouldn't hire a great coach.

All fans get things wrong, but the thesis of these posts I'm making about Omaha is that he isn't a fan at all.

If a fan make a bad projection, fine. That's part of what we do. But again, I'm not calling out Omaha for getting his Pope projection wrong, because about 95% of BBN got that wrong. I'm calling him out for not being a fan at all, when one considers his full body of work.
 
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Son_Of_Saul

Heisman
Dec 7, 2007
43,782
92,016
3
The kids these days call this "receipts." I think there is some value in it.
Know1 is the same guy who doesn't think we should post anything about our NBA alumni. He seriously believes that's bad form to do so.
 

Morgousky859

Junior
Apr 19, 2025
170
324
43
@ukcatz12 ,

#1. I owned my mistake. I admitted I was wrong publicly on three occasions. Why did I ask the mod to delete it? Because I was shortsighted in my assessment of Pope. Did you miss that part? Typically your a guy who seems to grasp the greater argument someone is making. That doesn't seem to be the case this time.

#2. The point of my dragging out Omahacat's post is because he's done this before - over and over and over, in fact. He started a thread where he said he was tired of Carr; started one where he mocked UK fans for their passion; started one where he declared that Duke would win the title; started one where he stated we should be worried about Oweh leaving for the draft early; and started one declaring that we wouldn't hire a great coach.

All fans get things wrong, but the thesis of these posts I'm making about Omaha is that he isn't a fan at all.

If a fan make a bad projection, fine. That's part of what we do. But again, I'm not calling out Omaha for getting his Pope projection wrong, because about 95% of BBN got that wrong. I'm calling him out for not being a fan at all, when one considers his full body of work.

It was exactly 24 hours before I realized how different of a situation this was. I was livid at the hire. My wife loved it and they didn’t let me live it down all year. My 10 year old said all year, “but you don’t like mark” over and over at every positive comment I made. Had to explain 500 times I do like Mark but didn’t realize a few things until the next day, like style of play and the new era of NIL.

Mark would not have been a home run in the old era, at first, because of recruiting issues. Once I realized NIL pays for that and the program handles it, then you’re just left with his familiarity with the program, coaching style, and 90’s reboot. 24 hours later I was personally calling off the dogs and saying just wait.

I’m not fan of Mitch as most know but he realized this before we did. NIL era and the bad taste after Cal made him a great hire. How well liked he is also made this perfect, we needed it.
 
Nov 7, 2008
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We can be honest and it not mean you’re trolling or hating or another team fan(not saying the op is a uk fan)

At the time of hire it was not a home run.

In fact, the byu people wanted him gone - still can’t figure out what was the issue there.

But, hindsight says he was the RIGHT choice. And he’s done absolutely nothing that makes me understand why the byu people wanted him gone
 

Bmber225

Senior
Nov 1, 2017
259
411
0
@ukcatz12 ,

*Look at the other threads I revived regarding Omahacats. The whole body of work is why I resurrected them. I'm surprised your didn't catch on. You're usually pretty observant.

#1. I owned my mistake. I admitted I was wrong publicly on three occasions. Why did I ask the mod to delete it? Because I was shortsighted in my assessment of Pope. Did you miss that part? Typically you're a guy who seems to grasp the greater argument someone is making. That doesn't seem to be the case this time.

#2. The point of my dragging out Omahacat's post is because he's done this before - over and over and over, in fact. He started a thread where he said he was tired of Carr; started one where he mocked UK fans for their passion; started one where he declared that Duke would win the title; started one where he stated we should be worried about Oweh leaving for the draft early; and started one declaring that we wouldn't hire a great coach.

All fans get things wrong, but the thesis of these posts I'm making about Omaha is that he isn't a fan at all.

If a fan make a bad projection, fine. That's part of what we do. But again, I'm not calling out Omaha for getting his Pope projection wrong, because about 95% of BBN got that wrong. I'm calling him out for not being a fan at all, when one considers his full body of work.
I appreciate u for doing this! Weed out all the fake fans!!
 
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UKWildcats1987

Heisman
Sep 9, 2021
17,929
30,092
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@ukcatz12 ,

*Look at the other threads I revived regarding Omahacats. The whole body of work is why I resurrected them. I'm surprised your didn't catch on. You're usually pretty observant.

#1. I owned my mistake. I admitted I was wrong publicly on three occasions. Why did I ask the mod to delete it? Because I was shortsighted in my assessment of Pope. Did you miss that part? Typically you're a guy who seems to grasp the greater argument someone is making. That doesn't seem to be the case this time.

#2. The point of my dragging out Omahacat's post is because he's done this before - over and over and over, in fact. He started a thread where he said he was tired of Carr; started one where he mocked UK fans for their passion; started one where he declared that Duke would win the title; started one where he stated we should be worried about Oweh leaving for the draft early; and started one declaring that we wouldn't hire a great coach.

All fans get things wrong, but the thesis of these posts I'm making about Omaha is that he isn't a fan at all.

If a fan make a bad projection, fine. That's part of what we do. But again, I'm not calling out Omaha for getting his Pope projection wrong, because about 95% of BBN got that wrong. I'm calling him out for not being a fan at all, when one considers his full body of work.

He also starts a ton of negative trolling type threads. I think game threads are kinda like what happens n Vegas threads for off the wall crap. Same with emotional moments after the ncaa tourney loss and so on. This guy calmly and cool calculates to start these repeated dog crap threads.

We all had negative things to say about mitch (mostly) and the hire (initially). From a HR perspective, the resume wasn't there based purely on coaching accomplishments. Fortunately Pope is the man and works super hard so he is working out magnificently so far. I don't really give much credit to mitch though and he got lucky IMO.

Again, OP is constantly starting look at me threads though.