Looks like he has done it again with a killer hire for our basketball program. People will point to hiring Cal, Stoops and Kenny Brooks. All of those had to follow his hires of Billy G, Joker and Elzy. Just ridiculous some of the hires made and contracts given out with no repercussions.
Mitch Barnhart
- Thread starter ComebackCats98
- Start date
Thank god it’s not a huge buyout. This hire looks like a disaster
How that guy is still here just blows my mind
But he's the Dean of SEC ADs! That has to count for something.
We also kind of got Cal because of the issues at Memphis. I cant give all the credit to Mitch there.
I think anything less than a sweet16 for this team means Mitch is gone. Its long overdue. Hes been here what, 20+ years? You could argue thats too long for ANY AD that isnt prolific.. and 1 title between basketball and football is far from that.
If nothing else, its a regime change thats needed for modern college athletics.
I think anything less than a sweet16 for this team means Mitch is gone. Its long overdue. Hes been here what, 20+ years? You could argue thats too long for ANY AD that isnt prolific.. and 1 title between basketball and football is far from that.
If nothing else, its a regime change thats needed for modern college athletics.
I want mitch gone more than mark and mark combined. Borderline hate that man
1 title in 20 years is awful when you realize that UCONN, Duke, UNC, Kansas all have multiple in that time.
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Mitch needs shown the door like yesterday what a ******* clown he’s basically ruined our ******* basketball program!
I despise stoops being here with everything in me but I’d be more than happy to deal with one more year of stoops if it meant getting that nerd out of our AD office
Yeah those 7 top 15 wins were just embarrassing last year
we all want Pope to suceeed. There’s a big difference in how the fanbase feels about Pope. It isn’t like Cal in the end where a good portion of the fanbase could not stand him.
I'd trade 10 straight volleyball titles for one basketball win. And I don't mean titles, one win.
I think Mitch needs to light a fire under coach Pope. He needs to give him a lifetime contract and a massive buyout to really motivate him.
If Mark doesn’t work, and it’s not looking good the longer this goes, Mitch must be removed and there’s no way around it. If he’s not, Kentucky is packing it in. They think we’ll show up regardless and are concerned with turning the university into a real estate company on campus.
I’m not giving on Mark yet until see more. But this team looks to be totally off without a clue how to play basketball. All of which falls directly on Mark Pope. They aren’t as bad as they look. He needs to answer why. No bs. What are they doing? Call the players out that aren’t practicing.
The issue he’s going to have right now is this is going to kill him in the recruiting trail. To take Aberdeen off a title team and have him look this bad? These SEC coaches are going to crush him.
I’m not packing it in, we are hurt but this is well beyond an injury problem. This team has no respect for him or each other. If this continues, I’m not sure it can be fixed. And I was not thinking this way 24 hours ago. But how do you argue it?
In hindsight maybe this fan base should have been a little more appreciative of Cal during the late 2010s (before he dove head first into this divorce also). You had people calling for Cals head because of 2015, after we just had a title and four final 4s. I think if we ever get a true interview of Cal, he would say how surprised he was, how quickly fans turned on him. Which yes, I understand 2021 and on. And he had to go 18 months ago. 100%
And I agree with fellow fans on Pope right now, but this fanbase isnt entirely innocent in some of these insanely lofty expectations. We'd be Indiana right now if not for Cal and I sorta think all that early success was actually what helped bury Cal, warts and all.
Ill gladly take the heat on this take lol. Just how I see it.
Why would you give any credit. Well known to anyone that knows knows that Mike Pratt and Pat made calls to have Calipari hired at Kentucky. Mitch didn’t want him and said if you hire him I’m not responsible for what happens. Mitch had zero to do with Calipari. That’s why he and cal had no relationship and Calipari wouldn’t work with him. That’s why Pevy took over basketball operations.
It wasn’t Cals issues that had anything to do with it. Cal was coming to Kentucky regardless he wanted this job his entire career.
This is was known and was said directly from Mike Pratt.
Guy on here said players almost came to blows before UL. We got team turmoil.
Mitch needs to go before any other changes are made. I said that before Cal left, and I stand by it still.
Barney has drained all of our upper echelon programs of their defined success. Our bb team has had a terrible run with him as AD and the fb team had to vacate its best season. The guy is implicated in a civil trial because of the swim coach. No one talks about it because there were alot of distractions going on when that hit.
I would put money that Oweh is in the middle of it. Body language don't lie
Calling for Cal’s head in 15 WAS insane, I’ll give you that. But outside of 17 those Cal teams were duds and Cal’s attitude towards the fans and the program (treating it like a make a wish foundation) did not help his cause
Yea but last year we saw he’s highly capable. I’m not turning on him yet, it’s 2 games, a lot of the best players we have aren’t on the court. Not making excuses, his performance with this team is inexcusable.
But last year he really really did well. He changed his philosophy this year and he’s going to have to fix it quick. He cannot turn his mold into a defensive team. That much is obvious.
Mark needs to go back to his bread and butter. And I would 100% bench Oweh. I’d tell him he’s not playing and if he doesn’t like it, leave. I’ve thought he had some Vegas in him last year and this year it’s becoming painfully obvious. Just watch him out there vs. his first 10 games last season. I don’t believe he’s up and up.
removing Calipari had to be done. He was throwing sht lots of men believe he was being intentional trying to get more money. Heard it more than once. Calipari went full out war like he always does. He was here too long his personality won’t sustain in one place. Mark not being the right hire has nothing to do with Calipari. He wasn’t staying here regardless.
And Calipari sucks these days anyway. Lose all year for a toss up shot at a final four is not the Kentucky way.
That’s the problem with unproven coaches. You just never know. It looks like Kelsey’s gonna pan out. Nate Oates panned out. But some guys just don’t pan out. Pope is slipping into that bucket.
It became more about how many kids can UK get drafted than how many final fours UK can get to.
I get it and I agreed to the point and we had a bunch of injuries last year, but that was last year. The results are bad enough, but the effort and lack of cohesiveness is honestly an excusable. We still have a lot of games left, so we'll see if this team and coach has it in them to turn around and become cohesive and play team. What happened about the Louisville game at this game was the first five or 10 minutes they hung with both teams back-and-forth played real cohesively than a little adversity like this case the other team not missing three point shot. And they just fall apart. That cannot happen at uk
I think his results should have warranted him a little more good will for a little longer. The people complaining in 2015 were bonkers, but even several years after that, it was too early to jump ship.
I think that really caught him off guard, and him being stubborn, he decides to start throwing it back in the fans face, and start making spiteful decisions (not pressing Sharpe, not playing Reed), and then it was over. It was a bad divorce being finalized over the last few years
But boy.. when you look back at it, knowing what we know now, seeing how we struggled to hire his replacement, get elite talent.. I think that view of "he needs us more than we need him" was a little short sighted.
I don’t know about 15, I didn’t want him removed then. But Cal was given more than enough time and he began to go to war with the boosters. Total war. Not manageable. Calipari always does this he’ll do it at Arkansas too. It was the same situation in Memphis around 2006 he began to pull the same crap. Watch the Missouri game in 2008 as a parting gift.
People can believe what they want about Calipari. I’m not concerned with him. This program is in dire need of protection from Kentucky men. The problem is the AD, he’s a foreigner to the state and he’s a hatchet man for the establishment of which they aren’t Kentucky men either. The problem is we’re being ran by outsiders that’s the only reason Mitch is still here. Anywhere else he’d be gone but he does the bidding.
Kentuckys only protection right now is a few boosters who love the program. Mitch and this president don’t care about being dominant. And that’s the real problem and it is thought about often.
So Calipari had to go there was no way around it. If there was, it would have happened. Calipari packed it in and was tanking until he got what he wanted. And he wasn’t going to get that.
I think 15 was when it started for the people who didnt want him here in the first place, and they were waiting for their moment. And it also was some armchair types who said they knew then, that he was flawed (such as the twins playing over Ulis). But hes gone now, so its whatever. I just point it out because I think when he left, we wanted to pin all of UKs troubles on him, and I think were realizing a lot of this was in Mitch, the state of the program, etc etc.
The other thing ill say, while im sure Kentucky fans want things done BY Kentucky people.. that doesnt neccesarily yield results. Same people who think we can win with in-state 3 and 4-stars. Im fine keeping tradition, but this program HAS HAS HAS to be run like a business, if we want to win games. No more church hires, get rid of the AD, pay players, tell them what they want to hear at times, move student section to sidelines, keep up facilities, hire a GM.. ive been ranting on these things for YEARS now. Have to run this like a business now.
UT fan here. MB was a jerk here. Was Doug Dickey’s hit man. All about PR. Cats deserve someone who loves UK. We have a similar guy in Danny White. Can’t wait for him to be gone.
I hope Pope succeeds and turns it around but if that doesn’t happen then I think the Administration will need to make a move to remove Barnhart because he should not be allowed to hire another Coach!!