Will Pope win a Title at UK in his 5 year contract?
- Thread starter Farsight Clone
- Start date
Marks never really done anything to put him in FF or NC conversation. Love what he stands for but just don’t see him accomplishing these goals. JMO 
No coach ever done anything to put them in FF or NC conversation until they did. Tubby, Floridas Coach, heck do you know how long Coach K coached Duke before making a final four or winning a title.Marks never really done anything to put him in FF or NC conversation. Love what he stands for but just don’t see him accomplishing these goals. JMO
Even with our great history we still just managed 8 so that shows you how hard it is. I think he will make a final 4 in those 5 years but not sure about a title.
I'll say yes. Every non drunk UK coach since Rupp has won a title n their first 5 years of eligibility to do so.
I don’t know about 5 years - believe it took Pitino longer than that, but hope we’ll have some that are in contention for one
He doesn’t have 5 years unless he makes a final four in the next 2 years. There is zero patience left. If we wait 5 years that’s 15 since a final four and we re looking for a new coach.
3 years is what he’s got and Barney won’t be here in 3 years. The civil trial will have buried him by then.
3 years is what he’s got and Barney won’t be here in 3 years. The civil trial will have buried him by then.
I'm not seeing it. Pope may be a good coach but is not an outstanding coach or recruiter.
Are you Mitch or even a person who has a say in how long he will be here. Nope. Just another hot take bunch of bullsh*t.
Landscape is COMPLETELY different now. Prior to UK Pope had never won a regular season conf title, a conf tournament title, or an NCAAT game. None of that suggests he was deserving of this job. BUT, he was kind of what the fan base wanted. Certainly the anti Cal (last five yrs version). Embraced the fans. I can see a world where it all comes together and he gets one. I can also see a world where his roster building and defense aren’t the answer and the Cats are stuck in a good (but not great) place. If I had to make a wager, I’d say no. A lot of that is based on just how hard it is to win that title.
Why would you want to give the man 5 years if he doesn’t make a ff? The mentality of fandom behind this program has slipped big time. Pope being a former player is meaningless to me. I loved him as a player as a coach I think he’s soft. He would be a fantastic women’s coach. He lost me with the rant about emotions and his style appeals more to women than men. We need to make dogs of this team. I feel pope has softened them up. Lowe in a position for elective surgery that could have been from wear and tear as a player. NO! Dude we are paying this guy. He should take a tougher stance. I also see our teams as taking on popes mentality. You can’t start soft then decide to fight. This has been a pattern with Marks teams at UK.
the first option was he will have 1 dominant team. This team should be dominant. If Lowe has this surgery he could have had preseason or after the after if he has it now that would be the 3rd player to elect to have a surgery and stop playing for us. Surgeries that could have waited. All of them pgs. One from a guy who didn’t want to play pg so decided to use a nagging injury to get out of it. Once you sew that in by not calling it out more will take advantage. Cal he may have had guys shut down here and there but rarely did a guy need Midseason elective surgery and go through with it or at least go through season ending elective surgeries. I can’t recall 3. I know of guys like Clarke who were injured and pulled out, or poythress blowing out his knee. This is 3 pgs in a year. That is a pattern that is developing.
In my mind he's gotta change some philosophies, or recruiting gotta get better at some point
barney won’t be here in a couple years. The lawsuit will force change. It’s gonna be real embarassing when That thing gets going. I see Barney’s power waning pretty fast. And if you think I’m wrong look at the reaction to the UL loss. This fanbase isnt going to tolerate a 10 loss team. Not with this roster. The fanbase for UK bb turns fast. Heck pope hired - result meltdown that night. Barney sells it - folks calm down. Let’s see what happens but no way does have 5 years carte Blanche
I voted E8… This past summer I would have voted a National Championship, but the Blue Cool Aid has digested, and I’ve noticed a very important component that’s become a pattern, or lack there of…
Pope has not shown (as of yet) that he can recruit the HS ranks or the portal to be able to compete for a Championship, or FF.
Two recruiting cycles in, and he has yet to land a single top 5 HS or portal player, while all of the other Blue Blood programs have singed multiple top tier players in that same span.
Things can change, but if they don’t, he won’t finish the “assignment”.
Pope has not shown (as of yet) that he can recruit the HS ranks or the portal to be able to compete for a Championship, or FF.
Two recruiting cycles in, and he has yet to land a single top 5 HS or portal player, while all of the other Blue Blood programs have singed multiple top tier players in that same span.
Things can change, but if they don’t, he won’t finish the “assignment”.
There’s a really easy fix for that. Smart people surround themselves with smart people. If he’s competent and understands business enough, he will hire someone very soon that is smarter than he is when it comes to defensive basketball. If he doesn’t do that, he’s not as smart as I thought.
I don’t think UK should ever hire a coach that hasn’t already been to a FF.
I would have made an exception for Vogel because he had won an NBA title.
But I thought Pope was the perfect hire and he was with the way he embraced the program, expectations and the fans.
The perfect hire to follow Cal. I was expecting him to succeed wildly.
Now I’m just hoping.
If I were the one making the decision he gets to fulfill his contract barring a firable offense.
If he doesn’t get to a FF then we look elsewhere.
I would have made an exception for Vogel because he had won an NBA title.
But I thought Pope was the perfect hire and he was with the way he embraced the program, expectations and the fans.
The perfect hire to follow Cal. I was expecting him to succeed wildly.
Now I’m just hoping.
If I were the one making the decision he gets to fulfill his contract barring a firable offense.
If he doesn’t get to a FF then we look elsewhere.
If the next 3 recruiting cycles match the first 2 I don't see anything beyond an E8. A team of solid players but whiffing on the big fish that are game changers.
I think we have a bad year this year. He lands a couple studs and goes crazy in the portal this offseason. Next year will be his year. I have a feeling this year is gonna get ugly based off UKs standard.
We will be miserable by seasons end but next year he wakes up the beast. He will finally get mean and start doing burnouts in his Ferrari. Right now he is driving and trying not to get a scuff mark on it.
We will be miserable by seasons end but next year he wakes up the beast. He will finally get mean and start doing burnouts in his Ferrari. Right now he is driving and trying not to get a scuff mark on it.
That is virtually impossible. There are not that many active coaches who have made a final four and probably 0 that we would could have hired. You don't think we tried to hire someone with a much better resume than Pope? They all told us no. We know for a fact that at least 2 big names told us no and there was probably a couple more that we don't even know about.
That is not a fact. The only coach offered the job other than Pope was Drew.
Barney conducted a sham search.
Maybe you are correct and no FF coach would have taken the job. But we could make the effort.
Vogel wasn’t even considered.
I’m not really busting on Barney for hiring Pope. In hindsight it was exactly what the program needed. And a better hire than getting Drew I think.
But this finesse offense with matador defense just doesn’t seem to be a sustainable formula. Coupled with too many instances of lack of effort.
I’m going to the game in Bridgestone because we have already paid for our room and tickets.
We are sitting out the SEC tournament this season.
I’ve been to almost every SEC tournament since it was started back in 1979. Except for a few years at the end of Tubby’s tenure.
I could change my mind on that but the performance we watched in Bridgestone against Alabama this past March is still pretty fresh.
Especially when I was reminded of it against UL this week.
No matter what happens I hope Mitch is gone before the 5th year is over.
Are you just going to ignore the fact that Louisville beat us running the same finesse offense? I, too, have concerns about Pope’s defensive coaching but if you came away from that game complaining about offense, I’m lost for words.
Good point ... it is very difficult. What is amazing is that UCONN has 6 in the past 25 years, with 3 different coaches. So ... it is not impossible to win it a few times.
I genuinely believe we should have a few more. Two of UConn’s titles we had a lot to do with. Specifically, that 2014 one they should have never beat us. Pure luck for Ollie on that one. But we also held onto coaches when it was clear that the program was not on the right trajectory. During the Pitino era, we were on pace to be a long term dominant force. When Tubby came in, yes we won the title in 98, but by 2000 it had already become clear we were going south and fast. 2001 we started 3-5. 2002 we were a preseason top five team and majorly failed to meet expectations. Tubby should have been let go right then. We got complacent as a program.
Coach Pope can get us to a Final Four in 5 years. I thought that from the beginning. This is year 2. Jury is still out. I do think he can get us to a title within 6 or 7 years. It may take a couple more than 5.
All I can ask is that he brings us a team that is capable of legitimately challenging for a title every season. Had they been completely healthy all last year, that team was legit, if you ask me. I think this year they will have a legit shot as well.... Can they get everyone together and healthy and on the same page ? I'll trust Coach Pope in bringing them along. Hope it can all come together over the long haul of the season.
Nobody likes losing to Lousiville, a huge rivalry game. God forbid the Hoosiers beat this team this year, then you got me all pissed off & riled up, fangs bared thinking insane thoughtsd and punching holes in the walls. I'm liable, likely.... to go on a rant.... UNC***? Same thing. It's everybody's biggest game of the season, every game is the biggest for us too. Pope knows it. From that perspective, he has my support 100% though. I feel like we're in the middle of watching something special happen over this year, the next and year after .... looking better, not worse. Either that glass is half full or half empty, how you want to look at is , well ....
..... on to face Izzo & Michigan State Spartans at MSG !
Go Big Blue !
All I can ask is that he brings us a team that is capable of legitimately challenging for a title every season. Had they been completely healthy all last year, that team was legit, if you ask me. I think this year they will have a legit shot as well.... Can they get everyone together and healthy and on the same page ? I'll trust Coach Pope in bringing them along. Hope it can all come together over the long haul of the season.
Nobody likes losing to Lousiville, a huge rivalry game. God forbid the Hoosiers beat this team this year, then you got me all pissed off & riled up, fangs bared thinking insane thoughtsd and punching holes in the walls. I'm liable, likely.... to go on a rant.... UNC***? Same thing. It's everybody's biggest game of the season, every game is the biggest for us too. Pope knows it. From that perspective, he has my support 100% though. I feel like we're in the middle of watching something special happen over this year, the next and year after .... looking better, not worse. Either that glass is half full or half empty, how you want to look at is , well ....
..... on to face Izzo & Michigan State Spartans at MSG !
Go Big Blue !
I said finesse offense combined with matador defense.
The offense is fine. It’s going to score points. UCLA won 10 titles with it.
But UCLA didn’t play in the SEC either.
And it doesn’t need stars to be effective. So I don’t complain about recruiting either.
With good college players it’s quite effective.
You can’t just outscore people every game. Maybe you can? But not if you turn it over in addition to not defending. We turned it over 13 or 14 times last night. I’ve seen both numbers. I don’t know which is correct.
And that was basically a scrimmage game.
You also can’t spot good teams a 10-15 point lead by not being prepared.
I was very concerned last season about the players not appearing to be in shape, not being prepared and not giving effort. That really came to a head in the SEC tournament. But I was willing to give Pope a pass and blame it on that rag tag team he put together in a month and the coaching staff that was assembled in a week or two that really worked miracles for most of the season.
I was sure that one year later with a hand picked team it would be completely different.
It doesn’t look much different.
Except the rebounding. The rebounding is light years ahead of last season.
Here we are 6 games in if you count the 2 exhibitions and 2 games against physical teams that challenged us and we didn’t match it.
It can’t be blamed on talent either. Even if one believes UL is close to us in talent there’s no way Georgetown is. I say UL is not close either.
But some think they are more talented.
Either way that game wasn’t decided on talent. UL simply outplayed us. They wanted it more. They fought harder.
Those are things that should never be said about a UK team. As much as I hated Tubby as UK’s coach I never once said his teams weren’t prepared or that they didn’t give their best effort.
Bama coach was about to be made an offer, but he told them no before we even made an offer.
I think he'll stay beyond his contract if he makes 1 elite 8. They won't fire him I think final four should be the expectation in 2 of his first 6 yrs considering the drought we've had . But I know that's not gonna happen
Why even bring up the finesse offense then? You’re right , the defense stunk. Needs fixed big time. Btw San Antonio Spurs ran the same ball coverage defense we did against Golden State last night and it made Steph Curry go off like he was 25 years old. Hopefully, we see a better defensive product going forward.
Good points, but Rupp only won it 4 times in 41 years ... last one in 1958.
Since then, we have won it 4 times, with 4 different coaches, in 66 years.
I'd say he will win one pretty soon. Going back to Rupp, every UK coach that wasn't drunk most of the time has won a championship.
Last edited:
We held onto Rupp too long too. I know —- blasphemy. After the 1951 point shaving scandal, things weren’t quite the same. We remained a power through the mid-50s but things started to quickly change. Really, the 1958 team was quite fortunate to win a title as we basically played at home throughout the tournament but I’ll take nothing away from beating Elgin Baylor. Things became a lot more hit and Miss by the 1960s and whether fair or unfair a lot heat had started to be directed at Rupp’s race relations (unfair imo). Many started to want Rupp gone, not just because of the public black eye but also the fading of dominance. We had limited control to rid of Rupp because of tenure back then. I believe we should have let him go sooner in a perfect world. I also think Hall overstayed his welcome as well.
I said E8. I think Pope is a good recruiter not a great one. I think he is a good coach not a great coach. I think he will do good things at UK, but not great things.
I used to right in reviews about people I supervised-they show flashes of great results but otherwise they are an average worker.
I used to right in reviews about people I supervised-they show flashes of great results but otherwise they are an average worker.