Pope’s New Tough Guy Alter Ego

[preston-lemasterpiece]

Bro, I might as well have had a back to back national championships tattoo for ‘27 and ‘28. I was on this very website declaring a Pope dynasty after the Duke game. My posts are gone when the site changed over so I could totally get away with pretending I never said that stuff — but oh yeah, I did. Crazy that 14 months later I’m asking for the man’s job.

Even more recently than that for me.
The 2nd round game vs Illinois, I was 100% certain we would win and we went out there and won, in convincing fashion.
That was an incredible feeling. Like "we're back!" I wanted Pope to succeed so much. The guy who might not get the best recruits but dammit he knew the x's and o's better than anyone. He would never lose to Oakland.

Now...I don't know what happened. But I can't unsee the way Pope has handled this season. It makes me question all the positive things about year 1.
Even now people are kinda dismissive when talking about that team like "yeah we got the rest of the best left in the portal, and Pope turned chicken sh*t into chicken salad". But that's not really true. We had some very special guys on that team:
Lamont Butler
Amari Williams
Koby Brea

These guys were all unicorns in their own right. They fit Pope's system perfectly and they all had the maturity and selflessness to understand their role and buy in 100%.
And I think, in hindsight, they made Pope look like a better coach than he is.

 

[Kyfan27]

Bro, I might as well have had a back to back national championships tattoo for ‘27 and ‘28. I was on this very website declaring a Pope dynasty after the Duke game. My posts are gone when the site changed over so I could totally get away with pretending I never said that stuff — but oh yeah, I did. Crazy that 14 months later I’m asking for the man’s job.

It's mind boggling the 180 that has happened. I was also certain after Duke that a dynasty was coming. I remember seeing the video of Pope calling the Cooper Flagg spin move to perfection and just thinking "damn we might have one of the best coaches in the country." Boy was I wrong.

 

[Artlaibesghost]

And an hand on a players throat.

Bob Knight is not someone that should be praised too much.

Im all for tough love but the moment you stomp/choke a player your *** loses credibility

We got alot of high school legends ds in their own minds and tough guys that want a coach exactly like that. I am losing belief that Pope is going to be successful here myself but I also realize it is 2026 and the tactics of coaching through fear is not a winning strategy today.

 

[Artlaibesghost]

Pope is becoming the poster child for a phony religious dude.

They‘re a dime a dozen. They pretend to be holier than thou, but, when things go wrong, they show their true selves. They always make sure to be seen in Church. Shake hands, smile, and hug people.

I consider myself very spiritual. However, I hate Church. I find it boring, and depressing.
I despise most phonies that attend Church. They are some of the worst people on earth.

I pray every day by myself. I think God knows who’s real, and who’s not. Showing up in Church means nothing.

Pope is a phony.

I can feel the spirituality just oozing out of your post.