Announcement

Collapse

You can find details about the Wildcat Nation Tailgate in the football forum. We hope to see you there!

Just an apology to make...

Collapse
X
 
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
  • 40bill
    Senior Member
    • Nov 2014
    • 8451

    #1

    Just an apology to make...

    I was like quite a few others who was left in a bit of disbelief at Mark Pope's hire.
    Really?
    I thought his name was just a joke thrown in with the others.
    What on earth is Mitch Barnhart doing?

    I didn't go as far as some of the radical brethren that wanted to pull a Tennessee or aTm and kill the deal...but I read enough about it


    I whole heartedly apologize for anything I may have thought before coach's intro speech, including the players he went out and got...who to be honest I'd never heard of.

    It is so incredibly satisfying to be proven so, so wrong.
    These guys have exceeded any expectations I'd ever had.
  • Jeff ROCKober
    Senior Member
    • Oct 2014
    • 420

    #2
    I think many had skepticism over the hire, including me. Kentucky was going after a homerun hire and Pope seemed like a single at the time. Pope has embraced the coaching challenge from the get-go and has already proved many wrong. It is still early in the season, but I am super excited to see how this team grows this year.

    Comment

    • Lighthouse
      Gone But Never Forgotten
      • Oct 2014
      • 35962

      #3
      ^ I am excited too. I don't expect the season to be perfect but it will be fun.
      John 3:3

      Comment

      • KentuckyWild2020
        Senior Member
        • Dec 2020
        • 4120

        #4
        Alot of us including myself was caught in Marquee names. Stevens, Drew,Donavon Jay Wright, etc.

        Divine Intervention

        Comment

        • justafan
          Senior Member
          • Oct 2014
          • 1407

          #5
          Barnhart had to make a run at the expected big names. If he didn’t, some set of fans would’ve been screaming.

          Just a reminder though that not everyone is going to come running to UK.

          I loved when Pope was announced. UK will never have to worry about him flirting with another school. He wants to be here.

          We’ll see if he’s a success in the long term. I think fans already realize he’ll be prepared, he’ll coach from the bench, he’ll run an exciting offense, he’ll not dog the fans, and he’s excited to be here not just for the check.

          Comment

          • Joneslab
            Senior Member
            • Oct 2014
            • 39604

            #6
            The parity in college basketball over the last 15-20 years has made it a kind of free for all with coaches. Those dominant celebrity coaches you used to see have just become in short supply as a coach will make a run one year, be the darling of the sport, and then the next season struggle. Tony Bennett is a great example of this.

            So it's not like Kentucky had a long and extensive list of possible replacements for Cal. After you got past the obvious three guys what were you going to do? Every coach out there was a risk. Given that's the case, it's inevitable you're going to get somebody with some warts on the resume. That's just the nature of the sport in 2024. I think the logic was why not get a guy who's going to want to be here, who's not going to try to jump out at every opportunity, and who's not going to use the NBA as leverage every offseason? So far it's been kind of a brilliant decision on Mitch's part.

            Comment

            • DA#23
              Administrator
              • Oct 2014
              • 7342

              #7
              We've returned the focus to college basketball, the game of basketball, rather than viewing it simply as an opportunity to reach individual goals.

              It's amazing what happens when a program regains its focus and passion for the sport instead of treating it like a means to an end.

              Pope realized how the program had lost its way, and he's helped it get back on track with an efficiency I feared couldn't be possible.

              There's still a ton of games left to play, and I'm very excited to follow the team.

              Comment

              • Joneslab
                Senior Member
                • Oct 2014
                • 39604

                #8
                Originally posted by matt colvin

                Pope realized how the program had lost its way
                Yeah. I've said this a few times, but I think the text chains that the former players were all on were *heated* at Cal. We know this because of some of the things Derek Anderson has said. Before Reed, Jeff Sheppard had some comments. You know Rick Pitino was active on those things. I'd say Mark Pope was too.

                Obviously that alone doesn't make Pope a great candidate for the UK job, but you can tell by how the players talk about the Kentucky uniform that Pope is trying to instill that in them. I'd say he talks about it a lot more than any of us realize. And because the sport of basketball a lot of times comes down to stuff like want-to and hustle and pride, the "name on the front of the jersey" stuff isn't just psychobabble from a coach. It can matter in the results on the court.

                Comment

                • bigbluebob
                  Senior Member
                  • Jan 2015
                  • 125

                  #9
                  Well said Will!
                  God, Family, Kentucky Basketball

                  Comment

                  • Matt Dillon
                    Administrator
                    • Oct 2014
                    • 49617

                    #10
                    Originally posted by justafan
                    Barnhart had to make a run at the expected big names. If he didn’t, some set of fans would’ve been screaming.

                    Just a reminder though that not everyone is going to come running to UK.

                    I loved when Pope was announced. UK will never have to worry about him flirting with another school. He wants to be here.

                    We’ll see if he’s a success in the long term. I think fans already realize he’ll be prepared, he’ll coach from the bench, he’ll run an exciting offense, he’ll not dog the fans, and he’s excited to be here not just for the check.
                    I was another who was happy with the Pope hire.
                    Philippians 4:11-4:13

                    Comment

                    • justford
                      Senior Member
                      • Oct 2014
                      • 4669

                      #11
                      Honestly I was to the point that anyone breathing was fine with me as long as Cal was gone😊

                      Comment

                       

                      Forum Ch-ch-changes - Report Here

                      Hello All! You may see some things bouncing around, colors changing, and functionality being added and removed as we look at how to make some requested...
                       

                      A Word From Our Founder

                      With the recent discussion of rules and what is and is not posted I set out to find what our mission statement originally was and this is what I found:...

                      Just an apology to make...

                      Collapse
                      Working...