Mark Pope

[One2Three]

Sounds like a reasonable response. The people calling for him to be fired are exhausting but so are those who blindly overlook getting smoked by multiple teams this year and saying Pope is killing it. Both are equally ridiculous.

Mark Pope is as it stands a “borderline” coach. He stands perfectly in the middle of good and bad. He’s average.

Too many fans have unrealistic expectations for Mark Pope whether he’s the greatest coach since Rupp or he’s worse than Billy Gillispie. Neither are true and fans endlessly fight over it labeling each other trolls because they can’t accept other people with differing opinions.

He’s perfectly average. It’s fine to accept that.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Career sub .637 winning percentage
8 out of 10 years with double digit losses
Two all time tournament wins
Zero top 10 recruits

I'm cheering for Mark to have success, but if he has any kind of success in recruiting or with winning at the highest level, it will be the first time in his life he pulled it off. Those are just the facts.

 

[Mike-D]

Lol wtf

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

Career sub .637 winning percentage
8 out of 10 years with double digit losses
Two all time tournament wins
Zero top 10 recruits

I'm cheering for Mark to have success, but if he has any kind of success in recruiting or with winning at the highest level, it will be the first time in his life he pulled it off. Those are just the facts.

Most of that are great arguments for why Pope shouldn’t be hired. However, he was. Once he’s at Kentucky, he should be judged on what he’s done here. So far it hasn’t been good enough but the sample is small. There are absolutely strong reasons for optimism and concern. The causes for concern can be accounted for and the causes for optimism are rare traits that can be built upon.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

Here is another coach that was given time:

1st year: 8-9
2nd year: 15-6
3rd year: 12-12
4th year: 15-9
5th year: 16-11

He ended up getting FF in his 6th year and won 2 titles before retiring.

The issue is that this is Kentucky. We gave Tubby time, and look where it got us. We have an impatient fan base, and rightfully so. Unless of course you think this is Indiana. Some of our fans seem to think so.

The issue is that if it doesn't work out, you've wasted years and let Kansas bury us in the all-time wins race. Pope doesn't have 6 years to get this going. If he doesn't get it going by the end of the third year he's going to be on the hot seat. If people don't like that, why are they even cheering for Kentucky? No other blue blood would allow that BS either.

 

[One2Three]

Career sub .637 winning percentage
8 out of 10 years with double digit losses
Two all time tournament wins
Zero top 10 recruits

I'm cheering for Mark to have success, but if he has any kind of success in recruiting or with winning at the highest level, it will be the first time in his life he pulled it off. Those are just the facts.

The guy is not going to change his coaching methods after coaching for the last decade. I don’t even know why we expect that at this point. Pope will win some games he shouldn’t and lose some games he should.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

This is what has me feeling conflicted. I can't actively root against the team. I really like a lot of our talent this year. But I also truly think Pope ain't it. I can't unsee the things I've seen from him so far this year. I think most UK fans know deep down that he ain't the guy, that's why all the defenses of him boil down to "he's the biggest fan" or "he bleeds blue" whatever that means.
And I also know Barnhart. We know he likes to pass out contract extensions like candy on Halloween. What would it take for him to extend Pope before he (Barney) resigns?

I was actually just thinking about that today, that Mitch is going to extend Pope at the end of the year. All I think it would take is Pope winning over 20 games and finishing in the top three in the SEC, or going back to the Sweet 16. Both of those would be seen as a success in Mitch's eyes, even though we started as a final four contender this year.

We're becoming Indiana and a bunch of our fans are cool with it because we have a passionate head coach who loves the program.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

I was actually just thinking about that today, that Mitch is going to extend Pope at the end of the year. All I think it would take is Pope winning over 20 games and finishing in the top three in the SEC, or going back to the Sweet 16. Both of those would be seen as a success in Mitch's eyes, even though we started as a final four contender this year.

We're becoming Indiana and a bunch of our fans are cool with it because we have a passionate head coach who loves the program.

I don’t think we have a bunch of fans that would be happy with a S16 and 20+ wins. This is a point where people can stop talking past one another. I was part of a pretty unanimous board criticizing a fellow Pope-believer for saying S16s every year are good enough.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

I would say anti-Kentucky fits it well right now. Mark Pope is Kentucky's coach right now and I think all of us want UK back to being UK, but I don't think that Pope has been given enough time to say he can't do the job. Last year was a success. Not a championship, but for a coach that was hired late and had to put together an entire roster; reaching the Sweet 16 was quite an accomplishment. Would I have loved them to do better? Sure; but I also realize that's not realistic. Pope isn't responsible for how bad Calipari sucked and the gap in the all time wins margin shrinking so much. None of us want mediocrity, but we also realize that it's not that easy to change in a short amount of time. I don't know if Pope is the answer or not, but there is no other coach that loves Kentucky like he does, and there no other coach that wants to win more at Kentucky than he does, so I feel like he deserves a chance. Last year was good and I'm hoping this year is now going to take off after the improvement we're seeing. I'm not trying to bash you; we've both been on this board a long time and I've just been surprised at how harsh you've criticized Pope when he hasn't been here that long. Take care!

He gets 3 years. With the portal there's no excuse anymore. If you can't win the SEC after 3 years with our resources, you're not the man for the job.

 

[One2Three]

I don’t think we have a bunch of fans that would be happy with a S16 and 20+ wins. This is a point where people can stop talking past one another. I was part of a pretty unanimous board criticizing a fellow Pope-believer for saying S16s every year are good enough.

You clearly haven’t been on Facebook, Twitter or Reddit where it’s clear that many fans are completely okay with those results.

 

[I’m The Village Idiot]

You clearly haven’t been on Facebook, Twitter or Reddit where it’s clear that many fans are completely okay with those results.

Yeah I clearly haven’t because I don’t use that stuff. I’m referring specifically to this site. I’d say since you made it clear you just want to spam your opinions and not have them held up to the light, don’t reply to me going forward. I’ll save my energy for people who actually want to have a 2-way discussion and not a monologue.

 

[NociHTTP]

Seeding matters.

 

[preston-lemasterpiece]

I was actually just thinking about that today, that Mitch is going to extend Pope at the end of the year. All I think it would take is Pope winning over 20 games and finishing in the top three in the SEC, or going back to the Sweet 16. Both of those would be seen as a success in Mitch's eyes, even though we started as a final four contender this year.

We're becoming Indiana and a bunch of our fans are cool with it because we have a passionate head coach who loves the program.

Worst possible outcome

if pope is here 5 years, with similar results to last season, idk how the program ever recovers from that. I hope I’m wrong but I don’t like how close pope and Mitch seem to be.

an elite coach would recognize mitch for the clown he is and treat him as such (and I know about clowns believe me)

 

[NociHTTP]

Sounds like a reasonable response. The people calling for him to be fired are exhausting but so are those who blindly overlook getting smoked by multiple teams this year and saying Pope is killing it. Both are equally ridiculous.

Who is saying Pope is killing it?
Pope is improving, and IMO dealing with drama on the team (BG). He's improving and getting up to speed with this level of competition.

 

[theKybluedude]

He just got his team on the floor. Been playing without arguably 3 of his best players.
How hard is that to understand? Really shows how,frankly, stupid and uninformed some UK fans can be.
What other college basketball team would not miss a step without their pg, center and p forward… all very good players?

 

[megablue]

Career sub .637 winning percentage
8 out of 10 years with double digit losses
Two all time tournament wins
Zero top 10 recruits

I'm cheering for Mark to have success, but if he has any kind of success in recruiting or with winning at the highest level, it will be the first time in his life he pulled it off. Those are just the facts.

He was not qualified to be coach here.
He's here, so good luck to him.
KY fans want him to succeed.
GO CATS !!!

 

[UKortho]

Show me the lie unless you are contesting never posting here again. Maybe you didnt say that but you guaranteed Calipari was gone, whipped this forum into a wild frenzy, told people to relax as it was in motion and then vanished for a while when it didn’t happen. You gonna lie and contest that?? The receipts are still there if anybody wants to search your history, dear sir. I’ll let people look if they want and wash my hands of your petulant behavior as well.

Yeah, the receipts are I quoted your post.
-I never guaranteed anything
-I never said I would never post again (I said even if my source was wrong I would still outlast Cal here)
-And I never vanished lol. I came right back after Texas backed off and even posted on that thread. By the way , he was gone. Texas got cold feet. What happened the following year?

You are a pathetic **** stirrer here. Go make another screen name.

 

[storm1507]

He just got his team on the floor. Been playing without arguably 3 of his best players.
How hard is that to understand? Really shows how,frankly, EMOTIONAL (both good and bad) some UK fans can be.
What other college basketball team would not miss a step without their pg, center and p forward… all very good players?

FIFY

 

[theKybluedude]

Career sub .637 winning percentage
8 out of 10 years with double digit losses
Two all time tournament wins
Zero top 10 recruits

I'm cheering for Mark to have success, but if he has any kind of success in recruiting or with winning at the highest level, it will be the first time in his life he pulled it off. Those are just the facts.

I think Saban had about a 60% winning % when he got the LSU job. He developed.
I think CMP will as well.

 

[preston-lemasterpiece]

I think Saban had about a 60% winning % when he got the LSU job. He developed.
I think CMP will as well.

well then can he go develop somewhere else and come back when he's an elite coach?

 

[RunninRichie]

I'm officially done. He admitted on a thread in The Paddock that he is not well mentally (depression). That's no laughing matter so I won't contribute to the downward spiral that is occurring here in real-time. I feel sorry for him wish him better mental health and am washing my hands of it.

Lol, bringing up a years old posts, when I was going through a rough patch, mentally, in my own life. Over a basketball discussion. GFY POS.

 

[Johnnie Africa]

The whole thing is dumb and exhausting because even the people like Richie that want him gone so soon don’t really want him gone. They don’t actually want Mitch to hire the next coach and they know firing a coach after this year will look awful for any potential coach to bring on so it’s just obnoxious bitching to *****. More for them to say “I told you so” and to prove how good a fan they are if Pope doesn’t end up working out in the next two years. One of the reasons the internet is so awful and people shouldn’t take it so seriously.

 

[[email protected]]

If Pope can’t recruit at a high level , he is not going to last long at UK. Talking about the elite high school recruits and transfer portal.

 

[UKortho]

Lol, bringing up a years old posts, when I was going through a rough patch, mentally, in my own life. Over a basketball discussion. GFY POS.

Happens to everyone. MFer bringing it up is a pos.

 

[UKortho]

The whole thing is dumb and exhausting because even the people like Richie that want him gone so soon don’t really want him gone. They don’t actually want Mitch to hire the next coach and they know firing a coach after this year will look awful for any potential coach to bring on so it’s just obnoxious bitching to *****. More for them to say “I told you so” and to prove how good a fan they are if Pope doesn’t end up working out in the next two years. One of the reasons the internet is so awful and people shouldn’t take it so seriously.

Fire fast and hire slow. Worked for me. Pope was a desperation hire. That won’t work in my opinion only.

 

[KYFOSSIL]

So true. Good move and I will follow.

So true. Good move and I will follow.

?

 

[Johnnie Africa]

Fire fast and hire slow. Worked for me.

But you don’t want him fired right now. It would be completely unhinged to fire him now, from an objective angle, especially after last year and the injuries this year. Firing him now would make it basically impossible to bring on another coach, and there aren’t any that would leave mid season that we would want anyway. You also don’t want Barnhart to make the next hire, unless you are an inconsistent psychopath. You also want this JMI thing figured out, because you know it’s one of the most important things that needs figured out before bringing on a new coach, and right now it’s a mess. So what the hell are we even arguing about? You don’t want him fired right now because it wouldn’t make sense for a variety of reasons. So all you are doing is bitching to *****. It’s a dumb waste of time. In real life someone would slap you in the face or throw cold water in your face and say get it together and you would say “ok ok thanks I needed that” lol

 

[UKortho]

But you don’t want him fired right now. It would be completely unhinged to fire him now, from an objective angle, especially after last year and the injuries this year. Firing him now would make it basically impossible to bring on another coach, and there aren’t any that would leave mid season that we would want anyway. You also don’t want Barnhart to make the next hire, unless you are an inconsistent psychopath. You also want this JMI thing figured out, because you know it’s one of the most important things that needs figured out before bringing on a new coach, and right now it’s a mess. So what the hell are we even arguing about? You don’t want him fired right now because it wouldn’t make sense for a variety of reasons. So all you are doing is bitching to *****. It’s a dumb waste of time. In real life someone would slap you in the face or throw cold water in your face and say get it together and you would say “ok ok thanks I needed that” lol

Never said fire him now. And you love to ***** about posters you disagree with. Hopefully you don’t do that in “real life”. lol.

 

[Johnnie Africa]

Never said fire him now.

thanks for literally backing me up and agreeing with me you dont want to fire him now, which is literally exactly what I said. So all you’re doing is bitching to *****. You said “fire fast and hire slow” in the post before this and then said “I don’t want to fire” Gotta love the internet, it’s an amazing waste of time lol

 

[UKortho]

thanks for literally backing me up and agreeing with me you dont want to fire him now, which is literally exactly what I said. So all you’re doing is bitching to *****. You said “fire fast and hire slow” in the post before this and then said “I don’t want to fire” Gotta love the internet, it’s an amazing waste of time lol

You don’t know what I am thinking. Does fire fast mean today. No. I am perfectly fine waiting until the end of the year to make a determination. Don’t take this personal and get your feathers ruffled. Seriously. Have a great Christmas!

 

[Johnnie Africa]

You don’t what I am thinking. I am perfectly fine waiting until the end of the year to make a determination. Don’t take this personal and get your feathers ruffled. Seriously. Have a great Christmas!

lol what? I’m not the one bitching, I’m just saying how ridiculous the people complaining about Pope are right now because even they don’t want him fired. If you asked Richie who’s running around like a 15 year old Goth kid if he wants Pope fired right now he’d say no. So let’s just all try and enjoy the season and give Pope a chance. My feathers aren’t ruffled trust me. Merry Christmas to you as well!

 

[BarefootBeach]

lol what? I’m not the one bitching, I’m just saying how ridiculous the people complaining about Pope are right now because even they don’t want him fired. If you asked Richie who’s running around like a 15 year old Goth kid if he wants Pope fired right now he’d say no. So let’s just all try and enjoy the season and give Pope a chance. My feathers aren’t ruffled trust me. Merry Christmas to you as well!

This.

 

[theKybluedude]

well then can he go develop somewhere else and come back when he's an elite coach?

So LSU made a mistake hiring Saban who was a 60% winner? They should have sent him elsewhere? He developed a NC team there?
Not following your logic or lack of?
LSU took a chance on Saban and with better program resources than he had at Toledo or Mich State he developed and won big. Took him a few years at LSU but he eventually figured it out and won a title.