Wes Miller firing could give Kentucky basketball its missing piece

[Pete Hogwallop]

It varies so much from school to school and a lot of the top programs don't have one. Looks at the 1 and 2 seeds this year:

Duke - They have had a GM since 2022, but she has nothing to do with roster management. Her main role is working with the players on endorsements and such.
Arizona - No GM
Florida - No GM
Michigan - No dedicated GM. An assistant coach has it as part of his duties
UConn - Dedicated GM - moved a guy who had been an assistant at Uconn since 1994 into the role
Purdue - No GM
Houston - No GM
Iowa State - No GM

So, 0 of the 8 teams have a real GM person. One is a 32 year assistant, another is only working on endorsements for current players and the last is an assistant coach with GM responsibilities.

Thanks for the info. This is exactly why I was wondering why so many people seem to think UK absolutely needs one and that it's a failure that we don't have one yet. It doesn't seem quite so black and white when you look at the information above.

[bthaunert]

Thanks for the info. This is exactly why I was wondering why so many people seem to think UK absolutely needs one and that it's a failure that we don't have one yet. It doesn't seem quite so black and white when you look at the information above.

It's definitely not black and white and the "everyone is doing it" crowd is just not correct. I think the biggest issue with a hiring a true GM is you have to have a coach willing to give up control of an aspect of their job that they have controlled from day 1 as a head coach. That's a difficult thing to do for anyone.

I think Pope would benefit from someone in a GM role who is on top of the portal and has a really good sense of the value of players at both the high school and portal level. They then provide that info to Pope and he makes the decisions. Probably very similar to what Will Stein has as a GM on the football side of the house.

[Helix]

To the extent we’ve lost players at the negotiating table, I’d like to see a GM who can screen/identify the entire pool of college eligible players, work with their agents and *smoothly* get priorities signed - someone who knows the market. As much as I like Pope personally, it’s a business now. If reports are true, I can understand how his personality, boosterism and UK rah-rah might have put off some players and agents at critical moments. There’s plenty of time for players to fall in love with the program after the sale.

Just my opinion, which is worth about what you paid for it.

[BJD]

A GM will not change one thing with Pope.

[Sjslhill]

A GM might be a good idea. The coach and GM get together and come up with a plan.