People saying The Fire Mark Pope talk is premature.
- Thread starter Tri-Countycat
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The "fire Mark Pope talk" IS premature. Gotta get rid of the AD that hired MarkaBilly Popellispie first.
Mitch is set to retire in about 5-6 months so, the President and board if competent should be figuring out who the next AD is and that person plus small committee should make the decision with Barnhart just rubber stamping it.
I hope that Pope figures this out and does what has to be done. I want him to win so badly but I cant ignore the alarming red flags and sirens going off. Pope or he needs to let Fox or someone do the hard parts for him , he needs to force player/s to transfer. Cal had the balls to do that, Quade was a problem that one year, he was kicked off the team and disguised as him wanting to transfer to not make the kid look too bad and then the team turned it around as every other player was whoa sh*t, I better get it in gear or I'm off the team too. If Pope wont do whats needed, he wont be here next year. I only donated 2K to NIL and I am so furious I might have fired Pope at 10PM last night if I was in charge , I cant imagine how furious those that donated 50K or more feel.
I hope that Pope figures this out and does what has to be done. I want him to win so badly but I cant ignore the alarming red flags and sirens going off. Pope or he needs to let Fox or someone do the hard parts for him , he needs to force player/s to transfer. Cal had the balls to do that, Quade was a problem that one year, he was kicked off the team and disguised as him wanting to transfer to not make the kid look too bad and then the team turned it around as every other player was whoa sh*t, I better get it in gear or I'm off the team too. If Pope wont do whats needed, he wont be here next year. I only donated 2K to NIL and I am so furious I might have fired Pope at 10PM last night if I was in charge , I cant imagine how furious those that donated 50K or more feel.
Are we doing the Bruce Pearl midseason fantasy thing again?
Y’all, Pope isn’t getting fired in December and Pearl isn’t going to become the UK coach in December to go on the road against his former school coached by his son in February.
End of the year? Who knows. Now? C’mon. Lol
Y’all, Pope isn’t getting fired in December and Pearl isn’t going to become the UK coach in December to go on the road against his former school coached by his son in February.
End of the year? Who knows. Now? C’mon. Lol
You all are going to be eating crow when he turns this thing around once we start conference play. Have some faith.
One reason it's premature is that you accomplish nothing by firing a coach mid-season other than show potential other coaches a couple bad games and they too could lose their job here instantly.
We are talking 1 season and not even 1/3 of the next season. Fire Pope after that (that quickly), and top candidates are going to look at UK and say "hell NO".
You can "ooze confidence", but even very good and confident coaches can lose a few in a row or to opponents they shouldn't lose to (9-16, St. Peters, Oakland).
Let’s be honest, assuming Pope has a losing season, that is uniquely terrible considering UK paid $20 million for this roster. A half decent coach, Cal included, would 95% not churn out a losing season with that kind of money.
So for that reason alone I can’t imagine most coaches will think we’re too hard on a coach if we got rid of them if they massively failed with an incredibly expensive team. But I doubt we’ll have to worry because I’d place money on Pope resigning assuming he can’t fix this team. If he doesn’t then I misjudged the kind of man he is.
A really good coach will look at last night's game and think "wow, that's a poorly coached team; give me 3/4 of the NIL Pope has and I'll put together a champion".
I just want to fire him; I think shooting is going too far.
When they have to buy your contract out like Stoops, over $30,000,000 when they send you down the road, why wouldn't they come. I'll bet Stoops is laughing all the way to the bank. I really think Pope would give it all back, to bring Ky back to glory.
The only winning move is to bring in Nate Oats. Program is dead until futher notice.
You wanna teach Sunday school or you wanna win?
Zero chance Pope is fired unless he gets crazy off the court and mistreats players like BCG. Especially considering that when Pope recruits to his system he is successful. He obviously got away from that the last cycle. Needs to get back to what he knows. If year 3 is a flop, then a change is made.
He’s likely gone because he’ll resign at the end of the year. Either on his own or from boosters pushing him to, especially if he can’t pull off a miracle and make it to the tournament. Pope is toast with a losing record and it won’t be the AD who gets to decide. Boosters will be threatening to withhold future funds if their demands are not fulfilled.
Because of the 1% fans that think people give a **** what they say. Once JLow, mod, and JQ return then complain.
I love how 95% of the fan base thinks like this and knows the best move is to let pope go but yet it’s only the 5% that has the biggest voices and what you see on other media platforms and radio talking about how we’re crazy. It’s incredible how dumb they are.
I don't think it's premature at all, He's responsible for player development, recruiting and roster construction. He has failed on all of those. You cannot just overlook blowing 20 million on this roster & Kentucky is the laughingstock of college basketball.
Oates IS the hire this time. You are are undoubtedly correct and anyone arguing it well they don’t have the mindset to win. It’s friggin obvious what needs to be done
Remember when pope came he had zero qualifications to coach at UK. His resume was questionable to coach UT or Ark hypothetically. He has very few relationships where it is required to win at Kentucky. His ability to evaluate players is terrible and look he leaves byu and what happens??? BYU starts landing stud recruits and winning like they hadn’t with pope. Mark said “I couldn’t get the guys I wanted at BYU because of the school policies”. That is a total miscalculation.
Keep dreaming. When he retired Kentucky was seemingly locked up. Not to mention Pearl would be a terrible hire because he doesn’t have a base of players to bring with him. He’s not gonna take his kids players.
and to the point someone else made to let pope finish the season. No. We need to land the right guy. Not hire a guy in haste but now start the list and start working on contacts with agents etc. that’s what happened this season in sec fb. Teams cleaned house early so they could get their guy fast as soon as the season ends
So 6th place finish in the SEC is successful season? I don’t consider that successful but rather barely getting over the hill which is fine for his first season but this season he went full throttle in reverse for whatever reason. It doesn’t matter because he’s not going anywhere.
He should’ve offered it to Jeff Sheppard, he won that title, played for the cats, he’s nice, he’s bald, and Reed would’ve came back to lead the cats #9.
It’s amazing that people are still saying. Wait until Lowe gets going, Mo and JQ are back, “then you’ll see”!! Lowe is made of glass and can’t guard anyways, Mo is so challenged offensively and from the time he has played, hasn’t played much defense either. JQ averaged 9 points last year, do people think that a guy that hasn’t played in a year is going be a 20 point a game scorer. This team is broken and no one can save them. I would like to see Hawthorne play, he can’t be any worse.
We have Mike Pratt to thank for the Calipari hiring. RIP.
Pearls maybe is a bad hire now... but still would be a 10x better hire than the pope hire in 2024 and keeping pope honestly. I never said pearl was top of my list....but pope was never on it.....
Nate Oats is plausible target 1, golden probably not leaving florida...don't know why. TO at Iowa st... dusty may. Heck even stealing Pat K from cards... loyd... there are many more... many calls ti be made...as should have been in 2024 before Pope hire
Id bet you whatever you want he is here all season and he will probably be here next season unless something non-basketball related comes out that is a fireable offense.
Expect boosters to riot if that happens. All we need is boosters openly going after the program. It will screw over NIL for next year at least.
Pope isn’t just possibly looking at an NIT, we’re looking at a losing season. A 24-12, 6th in the SEC and a Sweet 16 blowout to Tennessee doesn’t save you if you end up with a losing season, nor should it.
People called me crazy when I said it once Cal left. Would loved for Pearl to have came. Met him. He’s an awesome guy and way more down to earth than you’d imagine. That being said, Pope will get this year and probably next before a decision like that is made.
I’ve never said he wouldn’t be here all season. I’m just saying a coach doesn’t get as much time as they used to because of NIL.
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I think he gets this year and next too. Unless this year is so awful he decides to say this isn't for me. I at one time said no way that will happen but with his demeanor this year at times IDK. Regarding Pearl, he would have killed it here. Unmatched passion. Elite players. Hire him if the chance comes up again or Oats.
Oh no! A BBQ that today would not even be looked at.