I'm sure Barnhart thought Scott Drew would jump at the opportunity to coach UK. The Hurley stuff was purely theatrics, the dude just won back to back titles; he wasn't leaving Uconn for anyone. After that it's anyone's guess who else was honestly contacted, but it did seem they were afraid of being told no again and went with a guy who would 100% say yes.
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I think your last sentence nails it. I bet he had 2 or 3 guys he was going to shoot for and when he got a no, he was going to go right to Mark Pope, who realistically should have been much further down the list. He didn't want a repeat of when Tubby resigned on March 22 and BCG was finally named coach on April 7 after lots of no's. So, he went right to his safe hire on day 2 or 3.Comment
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I still think he could have lured a big name in had he had the wherewithal to do it. Pearl may not have been a popular choice with a lot of the fan base but you'd think he'd have been on the first bus to Lexington. There are probably other guys on the list who should have been ahead of Pope, like you say. Still, you make them all say no before you get down the list. Pope would have been here ASAP whether he was number 1 or number 1,000.Comment
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Totally agree. I was huge on Pearl and to a lesser extend (just due to age), Kelvin Sampson. Now, I'm guessing it's a guy like Tommy Lloyd, although I'd like to see him do something a little more in the tournament. Maybe TJ Otzelberger, although he has the same issue as Lloyd with semi-success in the tournament.
When the time comes, if Pope is not the guy, we need to get it right, or we might be in serious danger.Comment
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Travis Ford is as close to the UK program than he has been in years....Comment
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Nate Oats turned Kentucky down supposedly but then again, he was in the middle of the NCAA tournament..
It may seem like a Pipe Dream but Nate Oats to Kentucky may not be as far fetched as some may think. Even Dustin May at Michigan.
At some point, football school and basketball coaches still don't mix...Comment
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He also didn't want to wait a week for Donovan to finish his NBA season either. Or, he didn't want to risk being turned down for a third time (most likely scenario).
Bottom line.......
This pretty much nails it.
Mitch's pride doesn't handle rejection well. He simply wasn't going to allow himself to continually be turned down, so he panicked and went for the sure thing rather than the best candidate.
If we learned anything from the Billy Gillespie hire, it's that Mitch Barnhardt will make a bad hire much more frequently than one would like to admit.
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Pearl's age (65) is what held him back. That, and the fact that he coached one more season and then retired from coaching (indicating that the writing was pretty much on the wall).
You named the two guys I wanted Barnhardt to interview at the time, and would still be interested in if the decision is made to move on from Pope. Ironic that those two are currently coaching two of the top three teams in the country and both are undefeated......Comment
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100% and that's why I was against the Pope hire when it was made. I drove that point into the ground on the other board when his name came up. He would have never even been a top 30 candidate had he not played at UK. Those are the kind of hires that screw a program. Ask UL, St Johns, Georgetown, NC State and IU among many other schools who hired an alum that would have never been considered otherwise.Comment
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I hope Pope turns it around but it seems like you was 1000% right about his hire...
I don't wish anything bad on nobody and wish him success but the reality is as a UK fan, I am so ready to be relevant and winning again, it's been over a decade in my mind, frustrating.
Feel like a blue blood dear in headlights struck by a semi just laying in the ditch bleeding out, kind of how I feel about the Kentucky basketball program right now.
The losses this year, it's not even about the losses, it's how we lost. Most of those games it never felt like we where ever in the game. Down 20,25, 30,35, embarrassing. This team isn't even playing hard and fighting to the end, that is a problem in itself . In my opinion, he's lost this team if he ever had it to begin with. As a protege and former player of Pitino, i absolutely expect more out of Pope.
In the midst of all the chaos and something that never gets talked about. Pope had to come in behind Hall of Fame game changing cultural coach Calipari. Of course Cal lost it in the end at Kentucky but still overall, he is still Calipari and a Hall of Fame coach, big shoes to fill.
This may be a BCG 2.0. The next guy coming in won't be directly following Calipari...Comment
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I know we may disagree on this but knowing what I know now and with NIL becoming a real thing, I would have just rode it out with Calipari for better or worse and let it be. Seems like every coach every team every year is dealing with a one and done situation freshman, transfer, no holds barred. Yes I was frustrated and vocal about Cal his past few years for many reasons but still, dude gets talent and talent still wins basketball games...
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What I hate about all this the most is now I have to be the A hole lobbying sick and tired wanting Pope out of here already. I have seen all I need to see and my decision is made. His feel for the game is not great on the sidelines and obviously he does not know how to control and get the respect out of his players, they ain't playing hard for him and why should they, he's never accomplished anything on the big stage as a basketball coach, just a transfer role player on a stacked 96 team...
I know I know, you can't get rid of a coach two years in, nobody will ever want to come here again blah blah blah .Blah blah blah, blah blah blah and blah blah blah some more, who cares??
This is Kentucky, not only do we deserve to have one of the top coaches in the entire game but in my opinion, hell we are ENTITLED to that, sorry not sorry.
If the AD is the problem, he has to go too. He just doesn't get to roll the dice on the KENTUCKY BASKETBALL program.
Mark Pope may go on at Kentucky and win everything and become a HALL of FAME coach and if so, great for him, he's a great person, i will root for him.
Still, with all due respect to UK athletics, could care less about football, volleyball, baseball, softball, soccer, golf, putt putt, throwing darts playing dominos, who cares?
Without Kentucky basketball none of this crap would have existed.
It is the BRAND PERIOD!!!!!!!!!
Last edited by KentuckyWild2020; 2 weeks ago.Comment
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Nope, nope, nope.
I would bet my bottom dollar that Mitch had that discussion with him (the "Hey, with NIL and the NCAA allowing 5th year seniors because of COVID and the college basketball landscape changing with older players staying longer....do you think..."
Only to have Cal interrupt and say "No, no, no. It's MY program, and I'm not going to change a damn thing")
The ONLY reason Cal has changed at Arkansas is because HIS (John Calipari's) legacy and reputation is now in doubt and has been tarnished. Everyone knows, regardless of how it was played out in the media, that John Calipari was essentially shown the door by the University of Kentucky. Everybody and their brother knows this. Doesn't matter that "he announced he was leaving first"....the wheels were in motion and huge sums of millions of dollars were being assembled to buy him out of his contract. And everyone knows this.
So...he was put in the position of being let go by UK, a place that had just given him a LIFETIME CONTRACT a few years earlier.
I'm sure he had an opportunity to change....but he refused. Because nobody, especially not Mitch Barnhardt, was going to tell him how to run HIS program!
The only reason he's doing it the right way now in Arkansas is because he's no longer at Kentucky!!! He was embarrassed and so now he's out to prove something. For the first time, probably since he was fired by the Nets in 1998, he was humbled and felt like he had to PROVE something! He isn't keeping guys around for their sophomore and junior years because it's good for business and his reputation of "getting guys to realize their hopes and dreams as a teenager".... he's doing it because for the first time in a long time, he has to prove something! If he was still at Kentucky, he wouldn't have that attitude.... he'd have a lifetime contract!
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I was so sick and tired of Cal, but my honest hope was that he would've said last year was it (sill at UK) and announced his retirement tour. He would retire at UK and that would've given a year to gauge interest from others. Still might've ended up with Pope, but the process would've felt a little different. UK kind of went from one extreme to another.Comment
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