People saying The Fire Mark Pope talk is premature.

[Tri-Countycat]

I disagree. I will agree that I’ve never seen a fan base flip so quickly. The reason is 0% wanted or expected Mark Pope to ever be the head coach at UK. We had to accept it because we aren’t the decision makers. We had big dreams of replacing Cal with a proven winner, leader, someone we knew would return us to relevance. Pope was a huge gamble and it has turned to a place that can’t be recovered from short of going on a 10-12 game winning streak and that isn’t going to happen. I honestly don’t know how you fix this quickly. The naysayers will say if you get rid of Pope this quickly then it hurts getting a good coach to replace him. What coach will come knowing that if they do terrible in a year and a half, they’ll be fired. I know what coach would come. A killer, someone like Cal that oozes confidence. I’m not sure who that name is but at UK you can’t hire a labradoodle to do the job intended for a pitbull.

 

[Anony Moose]

I disagree. I will agree that I’ve never seen a fan base flip so quickly. The reason is 0% wanted or expected Mark Pope to ever be the head coach at UK. We had to accept it because we aren’t the decision makers. We had big dreams of replacing Cal with a proven winner, leader, someone we knew would return us to relevance. Pope was a huge gamble and it has turned to a place that can’t be recovered from short of going on a 10-12 game winning streak and that isn’t going to happen. I honestly don’t know how you fix this quickly. The naysayers will say if you get rid of Pope this quickly then it hurts getting a good coach to replace him. What coach will come knowing that if they do terrible in a year and a half, they’ll be fired. I know what coach would come. A killer, someone like Cal that oozes confidence. I’m not sure who that name is but at UK you can’t hire a labradoodle to do the job intended for a pitbull.

We could call Pearl this morning and I'm pretty sure he would be here by early afternoon.

Hell, we fired BCG after 2 years and hired Cal pretty easily and quickly after.

 

[Drcatfan]

Reality is only option is to behind the scenes see if we could get someone like Oats, Pearl, Hurley. If so, you tell Pope you can resign in the best interest of everyone or we are going to fire you. If you can’t get one of those, you just continue to live with Pope for now.

 

[jedwar]

Pearl was the answer when Pope was hired is the answer now. Yes he’s not young but he’d give 5 years of unmatched energy and passion.

 

[RunninRichie]

Pearl was the answer when Pope was hired is the answer now. Yes he’s not young but he’d give 5 years of unmatched energy and passion.

Oats was the hire.

 

[Aike]

Pearl was the answer when Pope was hired is the answer now. Yes he’s not young but he’d give 5 years of unmatched energy and passion.

Pearl can coach, but I still say there’s too much really shady character stuff in his past to ever bring him to Kentucky.

 

[Formerly Imafan4evr_]

It’s not premature, just like it wasn’t premature when it was BCG’s second year. We all saw it then and see it now. This type of job, you just know when someone has it and when they don’t. It doesn’t take years of trial and error to assess.

 

[Aike]

Oats was the hire.

Yeah. Thought so at the time.

 

[jedwar]

Oats was the hire.

Would have loved it.

 

[jedwar]

Pearl can coach, but I still say there’s too much really shady character stuff in his past to ever bring him to Kentucky.

BBQ and the snitching stuff is all I know. Imo he has less baggage than Cal did.

 

[Cats_2010]

On the surface it definitely sounds premature but sometimes you have to act quickly to recover from a mistake as quickly as possible. All of BBN wanted this to work, pope is not hated by the fan base, we all feel for him but at the end of the day this has turned into a disaster for which I don’t see a recovery. Letting this drag out only sets us that much further behind.

Cut ties now, get the coaching search underway and let’s right the ship for 26. Time wasted is precious in today’s recruiting world. We can ill afford to play the waiting game.

 

[Anony Moose]

Oats was the hire.

Oats would have been a great get, but I think several could have probably done really well here. Barnhart just chose to hire one who had zero indication he would.


Also, Oats had that ridiculous 16 million dollar buyout at Bama.

 

[The_Answer1313_rivals]

Oats was the hire.

Except Oats did not want to come here.

 

[Anony Moose]

BBQ and the snitching stuff is all I know. Imo he has less baggage than Cal did.

And the BBQ would be legal now. So even the NCAA admitted that was stupid.

 

[Tri-Countycat]

I don’t get the Pearl is shady talk. He had a BbQ, Pearl is a choirboy compared to what Cal was.

 

[cornbreadnmilk]

Except Oats did not want to come here.

Since he was never offered we don't know that.

 

[Son_Of_Saul]

I disagree. I will agree that I’ve never seen a fan base flip so quickly. The reason is 0% wanted or expected Mark Pope to ever be the head coach at UK. We had to accept it because we aren’t the decision makers. We had big dreams of replacing Cal with a proven winner, leader, someone we knew would return us to relevance. Pope was a huge gamble and it has turned to a place that can’t be recovered from short of going on a 10-12 game winning streak and that isn’t going to happen. I honestly don’t know how you fix this quickly. The naysayers will say if you get rid of Pope this quickly then it hurts getting a good coach to replace him. What coach will come knowing that if they do terrible in a year and a half, they’ll be fired. I know what coach would come. A killer, someone like Cal that oozes confidence. I’m not sure who that name is but at UK you can’t hire a labradoodle to do the job intended for a pitbull.

We need to let Pope finish out the season. It will only get worse and compound the rationale for getting rid of him.

Then he will have had two years at kentucky, the same as Billy Clyde. Then we can hire somebody like Oats, Pearl, Golden, Kelsey, or Vogel.

Kentucky will throw $10 million dollars at the next hire, and they will come here. Golden is the best option. He's young, competitive, and he has a resume. Nate Oats which is also a great option. Then Vogel. Then Pearl. You make them say no.

We got Calipari after 2 years of Billy Clyde Gillespie. We can get an elite coach after 2 years of Pope.

 

[ifer1116]

BBQ and the snitching stuff is all I know. Imo he has less baggage than Cal did.

Absolutely! I’m sooo tired of people using this excuse to NOT want to hire a coach. Cal was more shady and we hired him. I think you’d have to take on a case by case basis, but Pearl hasn’t done anything so shady that you can’t hire him for. These guys aren’t angels, we pay them to win. I think Pearl would do just fine at UK and represent the school without issue.

 

[Aike]

The same reason I was ok with the hire - decent up and coming coach who I knew would pour everything in his heart and soul into this job - is the reason it’s harder to pull the plug. It’s sentimentality.

I never thought Pope was the best possible hire, but I thought he was probably top 10. And I figured giving a top 10 guy who was heavy on analytics the Kentucky resources would work ok. Factor in that he bled blue through and through and I thought there was a great chance he’d win a Title.

I hate it, but I’m beginning to feel that all of his talk is just self-talk to try to convince himself he isn’t in over his head. I’m not sure he has the swagger for this job or ever will.

We saw glimpses of it when Arkansas came to town last year. Flood gates sort of opened in the Sweet Sixteen vs. UT.

He’s pretty good in an underdog role. He can beat some teams he’s not supposed to beat. But can he bring it every night as the hunted, with a target on his back? Doesn’t appear that he can.

 

[Kywildcat_nation28]

The problem is you gave Pope 22 mil to build a roster and probably not even going to make the tournament there is no other choice but to let him go! If I lost my company 22 mil I would definitely be fired!

 

[Aike]

BBQ and the snitching stuff is all I know. Imo he has less baggage than Cal did.

It wasn’t just snitching. He secretly recorded a phone call with a recruit to gather incriminating evidence in order to snitch.

It’s bad enough that he did it. Makes it much worse that he wasn’t exactly Dudley Do-right himself.

 

[K_TIME]

Ok so let’s play this out

1. Year one had great moments, but some really poor performances..especially on defense..we did lose 12 games which is a lot of losing
2. In his first recruiting cycle….ee basically only get two Ky kids and strike out across the board on the rest of recruiting
3. Portal….we strike out in every PG …then do this weird Jalen Lowe move…runs off Academ Lewis …then we get some solid but not amazing portal players with exaction of Quantenance….bit he is coming off ACL…so we only get him for half seasons at
The price we paid
4. This season is a mess ..well miss NCAA
5. We have struck out on every recruit in this. Cycle as well

So rell me how much patience we need. There is no positive to hold out for.

 

[gonefishin]

I wanted Pearl as soon as the cal/arkansas stuff started to surface and was legit.
Pearl has basically begged for the job in interviews over the last few years when talking about uk basketball.
I still want him here. He is still the top of the list for me. Amazing energy, can recruit his *** off, guys want to play for him…
Think he would crush it here.

 

[dynastydreamuk]

Reality is only option is to behind the scenes see if we could get someone like Oats, Pearl, Hurley. If so, you tell Pope you can resign in the best interest of everyone or we are going to fire you. If you can’t get one of those, you just continue to live with Pope for now.

There are plenty of options, Dusty May might even be lured away from michigan, or The iowa state coach etc etc, there are plenty of good coaches out there with good records and way better proven track records than Pope's resume..... The pope hire is a complete blunder by Mitch. And i tend to think Mitch is just bad at hires (see Gillespie, Joker, Elzy, and bad contracts) but hiring pope may have been pressure from some dumb booster with a ton of money that demanded it because they thought it was a good hire, who knows.

Oats would have been a great get, but I think several could have probably done really well here. Barnhart just chose to hire one who had zero indication he would.


Also, Oats had that ridiculous 16 million dollar buyout at Bama.

Yup, there were plenty of coaches not even asked that had better resume than Pope. By the way, we paid BYU 6 million for Pope's buyout to get him out of byu, then we over paid for Pope in classic Mitch fashion. Pope would have came for a 3 year deal at 3.5 mil a year I bet. Instead we gave him 5 million a year for 5 years and each year it increases by $250,000 and then he got a 6th year just for making a sweet 16 because we all know sweet 16 is so amazing at Kentucky ... pshhh. Luckily his buyout is 33% of what remains on his contract... So i've heard that's either 7.75 mil or 13 mil depending on which math you do.

 

[Johnnie Africa]

I just don’t see how you can make any sort of move with Mitch still as AD

 

[dynastydreamuk]

I wanted Pearl as soon as the cal/arkansas stuff started to surface and was legit.
Pearl has basically begged for the job in interviews over the last few years when talking about uk basketball.
I still want him here. He is still the top of the list for me. Amazing energy, can recruit his *** off, guys want to play for him…
Think he would crush it here.

part of me thinks Pearl stepped down at auburn to make himself open to a hire by UK if Pope didn't work out and thus no auburn buy out. There was some clues last season even that Pope was still a question mark, and the off season our recruiting and poor gets, losing 12 games last year and losing some odd games... we won some of those big games with crazy comebacks and buzzer shots. I like Pearl and would have taken him over Pope 10x ... Pearl was like 6th on my coaching wanted list... but Pope, i would have had to go to like 30 or 40 before I may have put him on there.... resume just wasn't enough to be considered for Kentucky.

 

[Mike-D]

Oats would have been a great get, but I think several could have probably done really well here. Barnhart just chose to hire one who had zero indication he would.


Also, Oats had that ridiculous 16 million dollar buyout at Bama.

So what did Mitch do? He paid BYU 6 million to buyout Pope, and then signed him to a 27.5 million dollar contract over 5 years + 1 year S16 extension, which tacks on another 5.5 million.

16 million seems irrelevant right about now.

 

[rick64]

Unless something changes drastically with the performance of this team UK may very well be looking for a new head coach.....again. I hate that for BBN and for Pope. It will absolutely break his heart he couldn't make it work.

If this happens Mitch cannot be involved. Whoever is taking over as AD needs to make the call whether it's Marc Hill or if they hire from the outside. Maybe they handle it like the Cal hire which was basically taken out of Mitch's hands.

I wonder if this JMI deal affected the coaching hire. No one else is doing it this way.

 

[Aike]

part of me thinks Pearl stepped down at auburn to make himself open to a hire by UK if Pope didn't work out and thus no auburn buy out. There was some clues last season even that Pope was still a question mark, and the off season our recruiting and poor gets, losing 12 games last year and losing some odd games... we won some of those big games with crazy comebacks and buzzer shots. I like Pearl and would have taken him over Pope 10x ... Pearl was like 6th on my coaching wanted list... but Pope, i would have had to go to like 30 or 40 before I may have put him on there.... resume just wasn't enough to be considered for Kentucky.

I thought Pearl was running for Senate?

I have a friend who worked in Auburn athletics dept. when Pearl was there. I’ll see if he’s hearing anything.

 

[AllBall]

Pearl can coach, but I still say there’s too much really shady character stuff in his past to ever bring him to Kentucky.

He had a BBQ. Now they hand out cash at functions.

 

[AllBall]

Oats would have been a great get, but I think several could have probably done really well here. Barnhart just chose to hire one who had zero indication he would.


Also, Oats had that ridiculous 16 million dollar buyout at Bama.

Is 16 ridiculous in hindsight? We're paying 37.5 on Stoops and would owe Pope something like 12. Seems like a bargain given Barney's deals.

 

[Anony Moose]

Is 16 ridiculous in hindsight? We're paying 37.5 on Stoops and would owe Pope something like 12. Seems like a bargain given Barney's deals.

It's a lot of money to just have the ability to even be able to offer them. That's not counting he was going to demand a lot more per year than 5 million we pay Pope. So, I get it. Would I have still tried for Oats, sure! But it's not my money.

 

[AllBall]

It wasn’t just snitching. He secretly recorded a phone call with a recruit to gather incriminating evidence in order to snitch.

It’s bad enough that he did it. Makes it much worse that he wasn’t exactly Dudley Do-right himself.

This adds a whole new meaning to my next question, "you want a Pope or a ball coach?"

 

[dynastydreamuk]

I thought Pearl was running for Senate?

I have a friend who worked in Auburn athletics dept. when Pearl was there. I’ll see if he’s hearing anything.

Yea I heard Pearl wanted to get into politics and that is why he stepped away from basketball, he's doing broadcasting as of now and was on tnt last night and made a joke that we may be looking for a new coach soon.

 

[Farsight Clone]

Pearl was the answer when Pope was hired is the answer now. Yes he’s not young but he’d give 5 years of unmatched energy and passion.

I agree 100%. He has the personality for the job.

Notice the color pearl is wearing in this video.

 

[TFCat11]

You know what’s 10x worse, OP? Is keeping this dumpster fire burning and alienating BBN, boosters, and the big $$$ donors!

The train is off the tracks! Pope should (and still might) resign, and Mitch name Brooks III the interim coach, and then start working the channels for one of these 3…
Donovan
Pearl
Oats

This could turn into one of the greatest MCBB sh**shows this sport has ever seen, if this is allowed to continue!

The players (minus 3-4 guys) have totally quit!

It’s over.

 

[One2Three]

Pearl was the answer when Pope was hired is the answer now. Yes he’s not young but he’d give 5 years of unmatched energy and passion.

His age might solve the 10-year job limit problem, at least.

 

[GoBIG BLUE]

part of me thinks Pearl stepped down at auburn to make himself open to a hire by UK if Pope didn't work out and thus no auburn buy out. There was some clues last season even that Pope was still a question mark, and the off season our recruiting and poor gets, losing 12 games last year and losing some odd games... we won some of those big games with crazy comebacks and buzzer shots. I like Pearl and would have taken him over Pope 10x ... Pearl was like 6th on my coaching wanted list... but Pope, i would have had to go to like 30 or 40 before I may have put him on there.... resume just wasn't enough to be considered for Kentucky.

Looking at all of this in hindsight; alot of the decisions and actions could be precieved as 'calculated' or possibly manufactured to get to this point we are in currently... available for a proven coach (not replacing Cal, but now a failing Pope.)
It would take a pretty awful second year for that to even be a consideration, after the sweet 16 finish in Popes 1st year.
I'm still somewhat shocked and at a loss for words really. The team we saw play Purdue in the exibition has vanished entirely.

 

[Farsight Clone]

part of me thinks Pearl stepped down at auburn to make himself open to a hire by UK if Pope didn't work out and thus no auburn buy out. There was some clues last season even that Pope was still a question mark, and the off season our recruiting and poor gets, losing 12 games last year and losing some odd games... we won some of those big games with crazy comebacks and buzzer shots. I like Pearl and would have taken him over Pope 10x ... Pearl was like 6th on my coaching wanted list... but Pope, i would have had to go to like 30 or 40 before I may have put him on there.... resume just wasn't enough to be considered for Kentucky.

I could see that. I do think that is a small fraction of it. I think the MAIN reason why he stepped down is to give his son a job at Auburn so they had no choice but to keep him lol.

 

[Woodrow24]

I’ve said it a few times, NIL has changed the game. Pope spent 22 million on this bad of a roster and was comparing these guys to having a “blue Ferrari” before the season started. Poor guys in over his head and wasn’t ready for a job like this. If he’s the coach when season ends I’ll be surprised.