I can already see the future people like you will always have an excuse. If Pope happens to make a run in the tourney and gets a FF, you will still want him fired. You will say that the only reason it happened was because of injuries and that forced Pope to change, you will say he got lucky, you will say that his 3rd year will be back to the same, you will say Pope can't coach and the FF doesn't change that and it was all luck.
Nate Oats?
- Thread starter HappyBlue
- Start date
If pope ends up getting a third year and he turns it around I’ll be the first to admit I was wrong and I’ll be happy about it. I just don’t see it happening, and I don’t see a point in wasting another year
Not at all. I don’t hate pope, I just think he’s a mediocre coach. If pope wasn’t an alumni would you be as behind him as you are?
You are so full of **** that it is coming out your ears, if UK hired a coach pre nil that had back to back losing seasons, you would be calling for his firing during the second season. No way in hell you would be patient enough to wait until the 4th year. No way. The issue is you hated the Pope hire from day one and nothing will change your mind. I bet even if he went on an amazing run and won the title you would be on here making excuses as to why none of it was because of Pope.
Believe what you want. No reason to get mad because I think pope isn’t the right guy.
Yes I would. I think giving 3 years is not asking too much. Now if Pope had a bad first year, miss the tourney or barely get in and get knocked out in the 1st round, then come back the 2nd year with this, I would be right beside you saying he has to go.
i wish he'd go one one of these amazing runs. it'd be the first time in his decade plus career
no it really is the simplest concept ever: winning cures everything.
i don't believe Mark Pope is the guy. many people share that feeling. there's a very simple way to change that: string some wins together. People won't be calling for his job or booing him at Rupp if he's in the midst of a winning streak. So go do it.
Prove me wrong.
Take 3 of the next 4. That should be doable. the schedule isn't getting any easier going forward.
i don't believe Mark Pope is the guy. many people share that feeling. there's a very simple way to change that: string some wins together. People won't be calling for his job or booing him at Rupp if he's in the midst of a winning streak. So go do it.
Prove me wrong.
Take 3 of the next 4. That should be doable. the schedule isn't getting any easier going forward.
As a fan of Pope the person, I want to give him another year. However, as a fan of the program, I have zero faith in his direction for the future of UK basketball.
1.) Zero incoming elite freshmen signed
2.) He had to outbid other teams to get the current players.
3.) Retention is supposed to be a big thing for him. The chemistry for this team is horrible and the players are not program changers. That said, how many guys stay, and how many do we even want to stay?
4.) How is he going to recruit for next year in the portal? He can't overpay for players again. He can't point to play style. He can't point to prior success in wins. He can't point to getting anyone to the league.
All that said, I do want to keep him another year. Getting rid of him after year two doesn't help luring elite coaches that already have zero issues winning at their current school. I also don't trust Mitch Barnhart to make the next hire.
You don’t have to answer this on the message board: just ask yourself this question. Before the season started, did you look back at last season and think to yourself “wow that was nice. I bet it will be even better with some real talent.” If you didn’t that’s fine…most of us did. It was a very fair consideration. This year, it didn’t work out, but I don’t think it’s completely out of the realm of possibility that he does do exactly that in a year 3. I go back and forth on whether or not he should get a year 3, but I don’t think either position is entirely absurd.
I was still questionable on his defense but thought maybe with better talent he could do well. This team has talent in my opinion, and he hasn’t done a good job, if we had lost games and been competitive it would be different but the team looked completely unprepared against top teams getting completely blown out. Which leaves me to believe he just is what he is as a coach, we’ll see though I guess