I will say this about Mark Pope....

Doesn’t surprise me

SiiscoTTV said:

When I get to work (8:00 am), he's here. When I leave at 5:00 pm, he's still here. Other than days after an away game, I've really never seen him not at Memorial. This has been consistent since he's been the Coach. If y'all have seen my comments, you know how I feel at this point. His lack of success this season isn't due to him not trying.

I feel like this post is about me. Except i have some success to show for my actions and ridiculous long hours at the office/road.

SiiscoTTV said:

When I get to work (8:00 am), he's here. When I leave at 5:00 pm, he's still here. Other than days after an away game, I've really never seen him not at Memorial. This has been consistent since he's been the Coach. If y'all have seen my comments, you know how I feel at this point. His lack of success this season isn't due to him not trying.

You know what else would help him? a GM....so he wouldn't have to do literally everything. We know he hustles but I'm sure he is fatigued having to do literally everything. That's why he needs a GM asap

SiiscoTTV said:

When I get to work (8:00 am), he's here. When I leave at 5:00 pm, he's still here. Other than days after an away game, I've really never seen him not at Memorial. This has been consistent since he's been the Coach. If y'all have seen my comments, you know how I feel at this point. His lack of success this season isn't due to him not trying.

Probably studying analytics until he has paralysis from over analysis. He should hire a GM and lessen his load .

SiiscoTTV said:

When I get to work (8:00 am), he's here. When I leave at 5:00 pm, he's still here. Other than days after an away game, I've really never seen him not at Memorial. This has been consistent since he's been the Coach. If y'all have seen my comments, you know how I feel at this point. His lack of success this season isn't due to him not trying.

Lol, seems like a normal working day for most folks. With what the coaches get paid - during the season, they should be working 15hr+ days, 7 days a week.

CFE_ said:

I feel like this post is about me. Except i have some success to show for my actions and ridiculous long hours at the office/road.

Yeah, and Pope makes millions of dollars, while I'm sure....you probably don't make millions of dollars (I hope you do). So, I guess the counter to my post could be "Dude's rich, he SHOULD be working hard," which is objectively true. For me, it at least humanizes him in a way? Like, though he's failing (this season), he's giving it everything he has. A for effort, F for execution (thus far) Speaking of execution, that's what I wish would happen to me while I was watching that Texas A&M game.

Man works normal business hours. Good for him (half joking)

UKAlum07 said:

Lol, seems like a normal working day for most folks. With what the coaches get paid - during the season, they should be working 15hr+ days, 7 days a week.

Don't disagree, but my point is that to me it makes me feel like he's at least trying. If he weren't here, I'd be the first to criticize him on that (if we were not winning lol)

Skippy03 said:

Man works normal business hours. Good for him (half joking)

I think y'all are confusing MY hours for his hours. I need to clarify in the post. I should have noted that when I've come in early and stayed late, he's still here.

SiiscoTTV said:

Yeah, and Pope makes millions of dollars, while I'm sure....you probably don't make millions of dollars (I hope you do). So, I guess the counter to my post could be "Dude's rich, he SHOULD be working hard," which is objectively true. For me, it at least humanizes him in a way? Like, though he's failing (this season), he's giving it everything he has. A for effort, F for execution (thus far) Speaking of execution, that's what I wish would happen to me while I was watching that Texas A&M game.

I’m pretty negative on Pope, but I’m not mad at him for failing or think he’s not trying. I’m mad at Mitch for giving him the job because he’s not good enough.

BOOM! said:

I think this just proves the point that we've been making: no one doubts Mark Pope's work ethic or his desire to make this work. But he can't do it by himself. No one can. He has to bring in help instead of spreading himself too thin, thinking he can do it best. That's a hard lesson but necessary lesson to learn as a leader.

ukfootball said:

I’m pretty negative on Pope, but I’m not mad at him for failing or think he’s not trying. I’m mad at Mitch for giving him the job because he’s not good enough.

You hit exactly how I feel about the entire situation. Pope is a good coach, I fully believe that. He's struggling, but that doesn't mean the man doesn't know the X's/O's. A lot of his failures tie to a systemic issue that's out of his control: JMI, Mitch, etc I criticize Pope, because he's the face of the program, but it's not fair to Pope to criticize him because high-level talent doesn't want to sign these insane contracts JMI is trying to force

SiiscoTTV said:

When I get to work (8:00 am), he's here. When I leave at 5:00 pm, he's still here. Other than days after an away game, I've really never seen him not at Memorial. This has been consistent since he's been the Coach. If y'all have seen my comments, you know how I feel at this point. His lack of success this season isn't due to him not trying. Edit 1: I mean, he's putting in MUCH longer hours/days than I am (I try to work 40 hours a week and no more). When I've come in early, or stayed late, he's always here. My hours are normal working hours (8-5)

Putting in bulk hours and trying aren't the same thing. You have to be smart too. He's being stubborn and stupid in numerous areas. That's not trying.

TylerThompson said:

I think this just proves the point that we've been making: no one doubts Mark Pope's work ethic or his desire to make this work. But he can't do it by himself. No one can. He has to bring in help instead of spreading himself too thin, thinking he can do it best. That's a hard lesson but necessary lesson to learn as a leader.

100% - Pope needs help. This level of stress isn't good for anyone, and it's going to wear him down quickly. I think it's fair to have the viewpoint of "He's working like that because he HAS to because the system is broken in the Athletic Department." Pope deserves criticism, but I also think it's fair to think about how much of this is really his fault.

cchryno said:

Putting in bulk hours and trying aren't the same thing. You have to be smart too. He's being stubborn and stupid in numerous areas. That's not trying.

Good point, and I agree. Personally, I've fallen for the "I'm going to work a lot of hours, and it's going to put me ahead," and it never did. That said, I just wanted to note what I see on a daily basis. Thats all :)

SiiscoTTV said:

Yeah, and Pope makes millions of dollars, while I'm sure....you probably don't make millions of dollars (I hope you do). So, I guess the counter to my post could be "Dude's rich, he SHOULD be working hard," which is objectively true. For me, it at least humanizes him in a way? Like, though he's failing (this season), he's giving it everything he has. A for effort, F for execution (thus far) Speaking of execution, that's what I wish would happen to me while I was watching that Texas A&M game.

I have no doubt Pope works hard - zero. I have no doubt he is trying his best to figure this shit out at UK and how to get the team to perform up to UK standards. But in any business, the results drive decisions. What are the margins, what's the revenue vs deficit, production costs, etc... In athletics - we come up with all kinds of analytics, metrics and stats - but it all boils down to wins and losses. Injury excuse only goes so far. I hope he crushes it next season and they go 27-4, win the SEC outright and we win the SECT and make a run at the F4. But my brain, based of what i've seen to date at UK and factoring his previous stops, tells me this is who Mark Pope is as a Head Coach. He's a 20ish - 1xish regular season coach who isn't known to recruit elite athletes. And that doesn't seem like a recipe for success at UK. Who knows, maybe his boy Mr. Hill get's hired as the next AD and he lets Mark ride a few more seasons before the empty seats grow and pitchforks come out from the fanbase.

SiiscoTTV said:

When I get to work (8:00 am), he's here. When I leave at 5:00 pm, he's still here. Other than days after an away game, I've really never seen him not at Memorial. This has been consistent since he's been the Coach. If y'all have seen my comments, you know how I feel at this point. His lack of success this season isn't due to him not trying. Edit 1: I mean, he's putting in MUCH longer hours/days than I am (I try to work 40 hours a week and no more). When I've come in early, or stayed late, he's always here. My hours are normal working hours (8-5)

Are you saying his assistant coaches have let him down? I can believe that. Putting in the hours is a good thing but as fans we judge him by wins and losses and of course, unbelievable inconsistency. You never know

CFE_ said:

I have no doubt Pope works hard - zero. I have no doubt he is trying his best to figure this **** out at UK and how to get the team to perform up to UK standards. But in any business, the results drive decisions. What are the margins, what's the revenue vs deficit, production costs, etc... In athletics - we come up with all kinds of analytics, metrics and stats - but it all boils down to wins and losses. Injury excuse only goes so far. I hope he crushes it next season and they go 27-4, win the SEC outright and we win the SECT and make a run at the F4. But my brain, based of what i've seen to date at UK and factoring his previous stops, tells me this is who Mark Pope is as a Head Coach. He's a 20ish - 1xish regular season coach who isn't known to recruit elite athletes. And that doesn't seem like a recipe for success at UK. Who knows, maybe his boy Mr. Hill get's hired as the next AD and he lets Mark ride a few more seasons before the empty seats grow and pitchforks come out from the fanbase.

Don’t always agree with you but this is a great post. I get a little annoyed when people say “Mark Pope doesn’t understand the assignment”. I have no doubt he understands it, he might just not be very good at the assignment haha. Hopefully the hard work pays off next year

JayHank said:

Are you saying his assistant coaches have let him down? I can believe that. Putting in the hours is a good thing but as fans we judge him by wins and losses and of course, unbelievable inconsistency. You never know

I know nothing and this is all speculation but I don’t love the idea of Mark Fox being such a prominent assistant (again maybe he’s good and I’m wrong)

I’ll never question his work ethic or desire to win for this program. I just severely question his approach both on and off the court.

Work ethic isn't the problem. I know he's obsessed with winning big at UK. The problem is the inconsistent play in terms of being locked in and intense. It's a Jekyll Hyde thing and it's a pattern. I bet for a month Will Stein didn't sleep more than a few hours a night. It's part of the job and they get paid well to do it. At the end of the day it's the bottom line that will make or break him.