Nothing left to do but spread this as truth in hopes it happens lol
Pearl weighs in again
- Thread starter akaukswoosh
- Start date
Nothing left to do but spread this as truth in hopes it happens lol
Are you serious? This is your excuse? Jesus Christ.
“Nobody wants the UK job! We were forced to hire Pope because Kentucky is such a baad job that only poor little ole Pope would take the job. Be grateful Kentucky fans, this is 2025, not 1955!”
Meanwhile Michigan hired Dusty May the same year we hired Pope and they’re #2 in the country. And Lane Kiffin destroyed a good thing at Ole Miss and were making the CFB playoffs to go coach for a program that fired their last coach through their governor and Penn State had a pedophile scandal that should’ve destroyed their program and fired their coach halfway through the year who made it to the semifinals of the CFB playoffs last year and spent most of the coaching search cycle getting turned down by every single coach and managed to pull Matt Campbell, one of the best coaches in football.
But Kentucky? They’re just too hard and expectations are far too high. Winning the SEC? Too high! Winning more than 25 games a year? Too god damned high! Making it past the first round of the tournament? Are you crazy? At Kentucky? Nuts!
Somehow out of all the coaches in college basketball, we ended up with a guy who never even won a single tournament or won a conference title. His last school fought tooth and nail to keep their football coach from going to Penn State but did they try that with Pope? Hell no! They went out, hired a new coach, spent millions on the future #1 NBA lottery pick thats at a school where you’ll get kicked out for premarital sex or drinking a beer while Pope wouldn’t even be able to sniff his jock much less be able to recruit a player of that caliber to Kentucky in a million years and BYU is currently in the top 10 and favored to win the Big 12.
Kentucky is just destined to have guys like Pope and Gillispie, we need to just give the f*ck up. Just ridiculous. Apparently even a winning season is too much to ask for anymore.
When the Kansas and UNC jobs open up in a couple years and hire coaches of the caliber of Oats, are you going to be scratching your head, wondering why they were able to make a home run hire or are you going to shrug your shoulders in say “Well, it’s understandable, the Kansas/UNC job is just a lot better than the Kentucky job. We’re irrelevant and need to accept reality.”
You and people like you have been gaslit by a clown who made more effort finding the women’s basketball coach than they did the men’s. If having expectations higher than a Sweet 16 and 6th in the SEC makes me delusional, then I don’t want to be a Kentucky fan anymore. I’ll quit watching college hoops and move on with my life instead of spending any more time watching the decline of Kentucky basketball and the fans who enable this madness.
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some of what you say is correct
UK basketball is not irrelevant...........down, but not irrelevant
There are plenty of coaches that would take the UK job although they may not be "name" coaches
Duke's coach is not a "name" coach, but he is doing just fine. Mark Few wasn't a "name" coach, but is truly one of the best in the game.
Arizona's coach is not a "name" coach but has a very good team. Pope has been a major disappointment this year. His recruiting ability seems very questionable as is the entire staff's ability to judge talent. NIL has changed the game for the worse, but UK apparently has not adapted to playing this game. NO ONE can tell me that his roster cost 22 million, and IF Pope did pay that much, he must be held accountable. A GM needs to be hired to control this aspect of the "business". Is Barnhart & JMI a hinderance as has been suggested.......I do not know. If they are, then something must be done about that. UK basketball is the cow bell of the university. As good as women's volleyball, and basketball are, they will NEVER generate the income of basketball. Football is just a pipe dream, Competing in the SEC, UK may have an occasional "good" year, but they will NEVER win a division title or the SEC title.
Cal is an HOF coach, has 30 years of experience, 16 years in this league specifically, and has more talented team. Specifically pro talent. That’s what he does.
Pope is in year 2 in this league. No where near the overall experience. Had a rag tag crew last year and even more so this year.
Pope is in year 2 in this league. No where near the overall experience. Had a rag tag crew last year and even more so this year.
I have considered this but it requires Pearl to have seen this year’s problems coming when everyone and his brother had us top 10 or even top 5 preseason. Also, even if we say Pope is a terrible coach, last year’s team would have been a title contender fully healthy, not even really a dark horse. Given all that, for Pearl to gamble that much that the whole world was wrong about Pope and he was right, also that Pope’s demise would be quick and that Mitch who hates Pearl would go ahead and hire him anyway? It beggars belief imo. Interesting coincidence that seems to potentially have merit until you look at it that way, but not realistic imo.
Lute Olson turned UK down in the 80’s to stay at Arizona. Scott Drew Turned it down recently to stay at Baylor. But guess what both of those coaches did? They basically accepted the job and walked right up to it even thought they were engrained at their programs and one had national title the other on his way. They still wanted this job lol and essentially left it just not entirely. They walked back. But they wanted it.
It’s always been this way. You can’t get every single coach you want but Kentucky is one of the few that can take most coaches anyway, or make your coach want to come here. These guys are not famous in Texas and Arizona, they’re not famous at Alabama. They want fame. It’s a human condition. College basketball coaches get that here. We’re also the only program that nearly guarantees you a championship if you coach here. 5 coaches to win titles. It’s an amazing stat.
So yes Kentucky is always going to attract coaches more than any program. Nothing has changed. Nothing will change. It’s Kentucky. People get hung up on what’s happened recent and forget we’ve missed in the past during the pinnacle too. But Pitino wanted to come here during probation without the ability to recruit and he was ALREADY in the NBA. Still wanted it. Scott Drew is winning titles at Baylor where he’s engrained. Still wants it. This isn’t changing stop saying it. Kentucky will always get their attention in that area. Oats would likely take it yes. unknown in Alabama. Pearl wants it. It’s Kentucky anything else said is nonsense.
It’s always been this way. You can’t get every single coach you want but Kentucky is one of the few that can take most coaches anyway, or make your coach want to come here. These guys are not famous in Texas and Arizona, they’re not famous at Alabama. They want fame. It’s a human condition. College basketball coaches get that here. We’re also the only program that nearly guarantees you a championship if you coach here. 5 coaches to win titles. It’s an amazing stat.
So yes Kentucky is always going to attract coaches more than any program. Nothing has changed. Nothing will change. It’s Kentucky. People get hung up on what’s happened recent and forget we’ve missed in the past during the pinnacle too. But Pitino wanted to come here during probation without the ability to recruit and he was ALREADY in the NBA. Still wanted it. Scott Drew is winning titles at Baylor where he’s engrained. Still wants it. This isn’t changing stop saying it. Kentucky will always get their attention in that area. Oats would likely take it yes. unknown in Alabama. Pearl wants it. It’s Kentucky anything else said is nonsense.