Our only hope is Pope magically becomes a better coach. Probably won’t happen. I expect the wheels to fall off next year with guys like Chandler probably leaving, it’ll be pretty obvious that next year will be bleak.
UNC Coaching Search
- Thread starter BigBlueBubba
- Start date
I bet it’ll be Lloyd or Donovan. Either one sucks for UK fans. Maybe we can hire the one they don’t next year.
It would get Kenny Smith off of TVI'm telling you....Kenny Smith or Jerry Stackhouse is the homerun hire here.
They have to hire a cheater from inside the family, I just hope they get a coach just as good as Hubert Davis or one as smart as Kenny Smith is and not as smart as he thinks he is
I think they're all-on on Lloyd right now but if Arizona wins the title it's hard to see him leaving. He may not anyway. And they're in a tough spot with Donovan because the Bulls' season overlaps the portal opening by a week.
So has Donovan officially turned down UNC yet? I thought I heard that he wanted to concentrate on the Bulls. Might soften the blow on the “what if we waited” scenario. Tbh I don’t think he has any intention of coming back to college.
I dont think "everyone " wants another year... in fact, I think the majority would say let's move on if they knew for certain it wouldn't be looked down upon. Many have heard over and over from other posters, their favorite radio show, and media people like goodman that he gets a year 3 no matter what...so many people go with that even though they know it wont work.
The media would crucify us if we moved on from pope now...but in my mind it doesnt matter because next year if he has 9 to 11 loses and a sweet 16 and we still want to move on it will be the same scenario. Unlike Hubert davis who won a final four and only didnt advance past first round this year due to a top 5 talent being injured. Not a negative peep about UNC moving on.
Oh well ... it feels like doom being a UK basketball fan right now like its UK football and not basketball.
UNC will make a great hire because there only plenty of options which we had as well but Mitch, Eli and our BOT suck. Kansas Bill self probably gets stokes and it will be his n last year and then if we move on from pope then we have to compete coaching search with KU.
Sorry rambled drunk and not fixing typos
He gave the generic "I'm focused on the Bulls right now" answer. But the timeline isn't good unless he leaves the Bulls soon and lets an assistant finish the year.
Lowe seemingly not being invited back and the shakeup in the staff im taking as positive signs. I know it could also be viewed as “rats from a sinking ship”, but with Lowe saying just a few days ago he hoped to be back makes me think it’s the other way around and he wasn’t asked to come back.
Supposedly the strategy rhis cycle is spend big on 3 studs and bargain hunt the role players. I feel good about that with the new assistant (his name escapes me at the moment). My only fear…that guy was adamant in trilly’s discord 2 years ago we should have taken and would have been better off with Aly Khalifa over Amari Williams he got real defensive and agitated when questioned about it and that turned out to be a comically bad evaluation because Amari was an infinitely better all around player than Khalifa.
I’m a huge Pope skeptic but I think player wise we’re going to be better.
I just don’t think it’s going to matter because at the end of the day I don’t think he’s a good teacher of the game, motivator or leader.
That said, if he starts missing on his top targets left snd right again, which we’ll see very soon as all of that is going to play out in the next few weeks, he’s pretty much cooked again. Because that’s what happened last cycle.
This is the same school that hired Bill Guthridge, Hubert Davis and Matt Doherty. I know you're correctly knocking the Pope hire, buuuut uNC has a history of hiring worse coaches than Mark Pope.
I bet a lot don’t even remember or aren’t old enough to know how bad Doherty was
Doherty was horrible but was a good enough recruiter to bring the core of Roy's first title team to UNC. You can say Roy won that ship with Doherty's players.
Guthridge was a Dean Smith asst for 30+ years and was supposed to be a stopgap. That stopgap got 2 Final Fours in 3 years. There's no way you can argue he was a bad coach.
Hubert is generally acknowledged as a bad coach, but he lucked into a Final Four.
All three of the above contributed more to the UNC program than the current head coach of UK has contributed to UK. None of them are worse hires than Pope.
IMO it’s going to be Donovan. First hire outside the UNC tree requires a seasoned, proven coach secure in their abilities, and that’s can take control of the program and not let boosters sway him.
I hope I’m wrong
I hope I’m wrong
It’s the NIL era and we’re a blue blood. Media dosnt have any sway like they used to, it’s irrelevant. We fired Gillispie after 2, and something people don’t remember is the media didn’t know about any of the rumors about his behavior. They didn’t report on any of that. They just said he went to the NIT and recruiting was weird. We landed Calipari and not a single recruit got worried. Calipari don’t say oh I can’t go there…nothing changed but us going up.
Likely they would look at recruiting and say he missed every single top target and Kentucky wants to win now. They spend the most money of anyone and the results was horrendous. On the floor coaching was bad. Pope was in over his head so they pulled it early. That’s all it would be.
No not everyone wants a second year. Most don’t, but I was being hyperbolic.
One thing on that. UNC was at the time trying to stay in the family. They are no longer doing that. They are going for all the big names, Lloyd, May, Donovan etc. they land one, and Kansas hires next. They land one, while we fiddle with Pope, you’re left the top coaches being thinner. It could be catastrophic to us moving forward. Pope should have never been hired, and he should have been fired over inability to recruit, boosters no longer spending over giving millions for bad results, blowouts, and bizarre roster management. It’s the NIL era it’s fine, you can do this when it’s that bad. If it was traditional era or if even he had a top 3 class coming in, had great seasons etc then no you don’t. But Mark has giant red flags that he’s not up to it. It would be fine to move on and it would be smart to be proactive. If this was a major company, I know if this was my company, he’d be fired as the CEO for sure. We are risking a lot continuing to allow this. This isn’t the time for it.
Sorry, your arguments for Hubert and Doherty are laughable at best.
Nobody would take Doherty or Hubert over Pope.
And I'll also add, if those coaches had to deal with the injuries Pope dealt with, they would suck even worse. Hubert just proved that.
Are we sure about that, or is that some NC fan's wish list?
Also, they're going to find out that other schools are willing to pay big money to retain their coaches. Lloyd ain't leaving Arizona. Bring blue blood doesn't matter as much in this arena as it used to.
Bill Guthridge went to 2 Final Fours in his 3 years as coach. How is he worse than Pope?
You left out the part where y'all had AFAM firmly in place to keep players eligible.
I’m gonna chuckle when UNC hires Jerry Stackhouse. His name is gaining steam it seems.
Its either Tommy Lloyd or Billy at this point
I just cant see Donovan coming back. A lot of people are also forgetting that the NBA loves to recycle coaches.. Plenty of other NBA franchises, with more talent than the Bulls, would very likely take Donovan, and he them.
Example being that a team like Houston could move in from Udoka.. Billy Donovan would absolutely be on that list.. and hed get to coach a pretty talented roster.
Example being that a team like Houston could move in from Udoka.. Billy Donovan would absolutely be on that list.. and hed get to coach a pretty talented roster.
Who I wanted 2 years ago but well here we are
You just have to shake your head at posters saying that Guthridge and Davis were worse hires than Pope. Thats 3 Final 4s and a title game appearance right there. And Davis had his team as a 1 seed in another.
They may not have been the best coaches in the world, but they were miles better than Pope.
They may not have been the best coaches in the world, but they were miles better than Pope.
Many here would never have accepted Lloyd. He didn't meet their criteria.... never been head coach, never been to final four
Arizona took a chance and has been rewarded
Just my opinion, but, from everything I’m reading and seeing, this finally seems like the perfect timing for Donavan to get back into the college game. He’s worn out his welcome in Chicago, and no other NBA team is pining for him at this point.
He’s not a youngster anymore either, so, if he’s going to get back in the College game, it’s probably now or never.
His last season at Florida, he went 16-17. However despite a poor start, and a poor ending there, he had a great career overall, with 4 Final Fours, including two Championships, and a National Runner Up.
He’s not a youngster anymore either, so, if he’s going to get back in the College game, it’s probably now or never.
His last season at Florida, he went 16-17. However despite a poor start, and a poor ending there, he had a great career overall, with 4 Final Fours, including two Championships, and a National Runner Up.
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I can't imagine Lloyd actually making the move. Zona is a great job with all the resources to win big, with way less scrutiny than at UNC. He might seriously consider it but in the end I think Zona will do what's necessary to keep him.
