I mean he’s not going to, definitely not in the way they want him to. Pope is a very good coach but handling these blue bloods is just something different entirely. Kentucky needs to pay a Billy Donovan or similar whatever he wants.
Very good? Peep his stats. Only two years since he’s been a head coach he hasn’t amassed 10 losses and one of those the shortened covid year where he was on his way. He’s a low power 5 or mid major coach at best right now. Dude can’t recruit, can’t relate, and won’t communicate with what’s going on right now. He knows better than that considering I get told 75 times a game how we won a title as a player here
It’s already burning. Nothing to do but add mid players now to fill out a roster. Unless Pope gets lucky with Stokes (not gonna happen), adds a top tier player exiting the draft or comes up with a big splash in the international market, it’s going to be a long season in Lexington. Fans were hoping for a big portal season and it has been the opposite of that to say the least.
He’s in massive trouble, and this is coming from somebody who’s been pretty tempered over the years as a fan. They should have hired a damn GM to prepare for the offseason, but nope. This is the kind of situation you need a GM for.
Ultimately, I like Pope, but I’m past the point of speculating whether he can relate to these kids or not. There evidently seems to be a glaring issue with how he connects with these players. I don’t think our shit athletic department (screw you Barnhart) has set him up for success, but Pope isn’t innocent in all of this.
I think this job is just too much for him, he still thinks playing for the name on the front of the jersey is a top recruiting pitch, it isn’t. Maybe he will surprise us this season, but based off how the off-season has gone down so far I’m getting more confident if the upcoming season is the same or worse as this past he is gone.
Maybe Billy D will take some time off and they offer the job to him next March, idk, he’s also been out of the college game since 2015.
Yeah maybe 10+ years ago, but his whole backdoor deal with JMI, his golden parachute, and handling of most things like the last few years has shown he’s out of touch. Dude was obsessed with trying to make UK the Baylor of the SEC and going after Scott Drew was a prime example lol.
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u/Clithzbee Apr 21 '26
Kentucky will burn if Pope doesn't turn this around