The only thing is, he’s turned them down at least twice already right? And he’s been in the NBA since April 2015. Hmmm, the 🔮 is cloudy on that one.
Calipari finalizing deal with Arkansas
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The only thing is, he’s turned them down at least twice already right? And he’s been in the NBA since April 2015. Hmmm, the 🔮 is cloudy on that one.
I'm not doubting you here, but from your perspective what happened to the religious values of Baylor back in the early 2000s? I respect your views.
OFC
Not sure of your point, horrible stuff happened under a prior regime and they were punished. They had a murder of one teammate at the hands of another teammate and then a whole bunch of other things came to light like paying players under Coach Dave Bliss. They received some of the strongest sanctions ever imposed on a D1 school. This all happened in 2003 and they did not have another winning team until 2008. They paid the price and moved on. I don’t think that changed their mission statement at all. The University is well over 150 years old.
Drew took a ruined program and had them in the elite 8 in 2010(lost to Duke) and 2012(lost to Kentucky) and eventually won an NCAA Title. He’s obviously put in a lot of work there in 20 years.
Look at the statement he released today the first sentence was about religion:
“In our program, we strive to put Jesus first, then others, then ourselves. We truly believe God has called my family and I to continue our work here at Baylor, surrounded by the best people and community anyone could be blessed to have. We are grateful for the support of Mack Rhoades, President Livingstone and the entire Baylor Family, and we look forward to working
together to bring more championships to Waco. #JOY”
He just would not have fit in at Kentucky.
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You aren’t lying pisgah101! Not just anybody can keep those redneck inbred fans in line. They like to harass officials and believe in conspiracy theories. I drove through Lexington once and there were a lot of them walking around wearing tin foiled hats!
Interesting. He's done a good job at BYU. Not a home run hire, but a good one. Wonder what RR thinks.
Edit: they are NOT happy!!
Edit: they are NOT happy!!
I'd tell them it's not the worst hire but I don't want to be ripped a new a hole tonight. They wanted Cal gone; they got their wish.
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You could argue he made BYU relevant, but yeah; not a home run hire. But everyone else said no. And he was taking down Gonzaga with lesser talent. He will have to recruit at Kentucky.
Kentucky fans are under the impression they are the be all/end all of programs. They are not consistent enough to be in the same league as Duke, KU, UNC and UCONN
Perhaps Kentucky intentionally wanted a guy who will not be bigger than the program. I for one respect the history of this program tremendously and I still consider them to be the bluest of bluebloods. I know nothing about Pope but with the tradition and NIL they have, if he is a good game day coach (which apparently he is) he may do wonders with this program.
Greetings Gentlemen !
Since Uk is discussed, here some bias thoughts :
Since Uk is discussed, here some bias thoughts :
Cal was more about Cal than Kentucky. After 2019 he was on cruise control and the rhetoric by itself was not winning games. As UK fan, I will be grateful for 15 years and what he did for the Commonwealth and all the charity work.
Mark Pope is going to bleed blue. He is about UK, and he is going to give it all . Is that going to be enough ? Time would tell.
I have no problem with Pope . I have a problem about the hiring process. Our AD did not wait to pursue Billy Donovan , my first choice, because he had to wait few more days…
I think Pope is a good solid hire. If he has NIL money, which he does, he should be able to recruit. I'm guessing Donovan would have said no, but that would be a home run hire.
Recruiting would be my only worries. He is familiar with UK and their fans. Seems like a decent coach. I just don’t see him landing the top end talent that they usually get. At least at first until he builds his program. They might get a lot of shooters similar to BYU in the portal.
Mark Pope might do a great job there. He certainly brings more experience than Scheyer and Hubert it’s just that the latter two were able to start year one with likely better rosters. At least just based on what we know now. Hubert had Davis, Love, Bacot and Black who were all in their 20 year College Journey (lol). Scheyer had junior Roach and that fab recruiting class with Lively, Fillipowski, etc. and overcame injury issues to put a run together for an ACC Championship.
Pope is a smart guy, surely bleeds Kentucky blue given his success there as a player, and Kentucky isn’t BYU. A lot more resources in Lexington. He deserves several years to put his stamp on the program. Will be interesting to see what he does. He’s got a lot of work to do this off season for sure. All Coaches do these days though with all the influx roster movement.
Pope is a smart guy, surely bleeds Kentucky blue given his success there as a player, and Kentucky isn’t BYU. A lot more resources in Lexington. He deserves several years to put his stamp on the program. Will be interesting to see what he does. He’s got a lot of work to do this off season for sure. All Coaches do these days though with all the influx roster movement.
I just read that Pope is now making twice what Mark Few makes. Wow. Did Kentucky ask Few? I don't think Few would have left but you never know.
Really?!!! That’s crazy! So I guess Mark Few is just permanently surgically attached to the Pacific Northwest at this point?
No. Kentucky asked Drew and Pope. I believe the AD wanted the exact opposite of what Cal was.
He had that embarrassing DUI just a couple years ago and I’m not sure if he went to rehab or anything else like Sark did all he could to repair the pr damage as well as get the help he needed. Not to say that anyone who gets a DUI is an alcoholic necessarily, but when you’re Mark Fews age driving around with a .20 bac level that is what they call a red flag.
He hasn’t won a post season game in 5 years. That was the major sticking point for BBN.
