Kentucky Hires Mark Pope

[arktiger1975 518]

Big Blue fans are outraged, but I think it is a better hire than many think. A lot of their fans wanted Bruce, which is flattering.

[tigeraddikt 1,610]

Ummm….really? Yikes. I get that he’s been a serviceable coach at…BYU…and was a role-player big on Pitino’s team in the 90s. But I don’t see any way to spin this as anything less than an embarrassment of a hire.

Edited April 12 by tigeraddikt

[aubcali 433]

Yep.  Good news for Auburn.  

[tigeraddikt 1,610]

1 minute ago, aubcali said:

Yep.  Good news for Auburn.  

Trading Muss for Pope. Yes, please.

[TeamZero77 1,784]

Most of the Kentucky fanbase wanted Calipari fired the past couple years. I've seen some of them say "Calipari should do what's right and just step down as our HC." 

So now he has stepped down at Kentucky and taken the Arkansas job, while Kentucky has gone out and hired Mark Pope to replace him. And guess what........Big Blue Nation seems to be losing their minds over Mark Pope being their new HC and now the fans are pissed off at Calipari for leaving!!!😂 They're blaming Calipari for not giving the Kentucky AD and BOT a notice that he was leaving. They think it blindsided the Kentucky AD and BOT and that they weren't in a position to find a top tier coach to replace Calipari.

I think alot of Big Blue Nation's anger (and their pride won't let them admit it) is that they were publically turned down by Hurley, Oats, Wright, Drew and Donovan. The PTB at Kentucky seem to have settled on Mark Pope because they knew he is an alum and former player on the 1996 Kentucky team that won a Natty and he wouldn't turn them down. Pope's average win/loss record over 5 years at BYU is 22-10 and he's made the NCAA Tourney twice but has never made it past the 1st round. 

Knowing how arrogant Calipari is, you know he is loving this Mark Pope hire because it's a "Be careful what you wish for" moment directed straight at Big Blue Nation.

[AU9377 4,934]

Had Bruce wanted the job, he would have been offered the job.  Thankfully, he didn't.

[JerryAU 1,660]

On 4/11/2024 at 11:58 PM, TeamZero77 said:

Most of the Kentucky fanbase wanted Calipari fired the past couple years. I've seen some of them say "Calipari should do what's right and just step down as our HC." 

So now he has stepped down at Kentucky and taken the Arkansas job, while Kentucky has gone out and hired Mark Pope to replace him. And guess what........Big Blue Nation seems to be losing their minds over Mark Pope being their new HC and now the fans are pissed off at Calipari for leaving!!!😂 They're blaming Calipari for not giving the Kentucky AD and BOT a notice that he was leaving. They think it blindsided the Kentucky AD and BOT and that they weren't in a position to find a top tier coach to replace Calipari.

I think alot of Big Blue Nation's anger (and their pride won't let them admit it) is that they were publically turned down by Hurley, Oats, Wright, Drew and Donovan. The PTB at Kentucky seem to have settled on Mark Pope because they knew he is an alum and former player on the 1996 Kentucky team that won a Natty and he wouldn't turn them down. Pope's average win/loss record over 5 years at BYU is 22-10 and he's made the NCAA Tourney twice but has never made it past the 1st round. 

Knowing how arrogant Calipari is, you know he is loving this Mark Pope hire because it's a "Be careful what you wish for" moment directed straight at Big Blue Nation.

Fans are fickle.  

UK fans packed out Rupp and left hundreds standing outside who couldn't get in to attend Pope's introduction speech as UK HC.  They had more rabid fans attend Pope's inauguration than we had on a beautiful spring A-Day game in JHS. 

[TeamZero77 1,784]

1 minute ago, JerryAU said:

Fans are fickle.  

UK fans packed out Rupp and left hundreds standing outside who couldn't get in to attend Pope's introduction speech as UK HC.  They had more rabid fans attend Pope's inauguration than we had on a beautiful spring A-Day game in JHS. 

Yeah, I agree about fans being fickle. I'm guilty as well. I remember being so pissed off about us hiring Gene Chizik as HC but after he started putting together a really good staff, I was 100% onboard. (Hell, I would've been onboard regardless)

It was pretty funny yesterday when ESPN Sportscenter had Mark Pope on and they were asking him about Kentucky and replacing Calipari, etc. The usual stuff they always ask. Pope called Kentucky the "Cougars" on 2 different occasions during the 2 minute interview. That's an easy slip up since he's been head coach of the BYU Cougars for the past 5 years but I'm sure some of the UK fans are keeping receipts.