Sources: Kentucky is targeting BYU coach Mark Pope to be the school’s next coach. A deal is expected to come together in the near future. pic.twitter.com/xpCnGk34a9

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 12, 2024

Must be nice to have that kind of "worst case scenario" floor to your coaching search.

Man what a crazy hire. But this is the era when the big boys cannot just go get big coaches.

#FireEverybody https://t.co/XUzfCDtiYy pic.twitter.com/lj0Bx4hHhI

— Message Board Geniuses (@BoardGeniuses) April 12, 2024

#Revolt https://t.co/wiM6dHIwFS pic.twitter.com/he9MYwISMm

— Message Board Geniuses (@BoardGeniuses) April 12, 2024

The fans seem ecstatic! I look forward to continuing to cream Big Blue.

bobinator said:

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Must be nice to have that kind of "worst case scenario" floor to your coaching search.

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I get what you're saying, but it is a little baffling. He wouldn't sniff the job if he wasn't an alum. Even our limited fanbase wouldn't love hiring a guy with 0 tournament wins and we're probably closer to the very bottom of power conference jobs than we are to Kentucky.

They completely rushed it, when they probably should have taken a day or two to slow it down and assess after their top targets said no.

Yeah I mean it's still wild, but I think he's a good coach. Not Kentucky good, but like if we had an opening and struck out on a few people we'd have to just keep going down the list. Who knows where we'd end up.

Pope's not bad as names at the end of the go. Definitely still shocked they had to get there though.

I don't disagree, I just think he's a call you make after people like Pearl, Lloyd and others guys in that tier tell you no. Not your first call after your top two say no.

This Pope morman, not catholic

If there'd have been an NCAA Tournament in '20 he'd have made it three out of five years at BYU and be a six seed or better all three times and this year they did it in their first Big 12 season.

If we had an opening I'd be shocked if we could get him.

But yeah, it's strange for Kentucky.

Quick Look and Rupp Rafters message board is melting down.

They went from dreams of Hurley, Donovan, or Scott Drew - and those were primarily the candidate names their local media was pumping - to Pope in about 24 hours.

Not that he isnt a good coach but he is perceived as the 'floor' hire and seems he will have to be winning a lot out the gate to get much traction with them, as there won't be much benefit of the doubt.

It's just going to come down to whether he can recruit. He'll have the tools to recruit obviously, but can he get the right ones?

The guy is a really good X's and O's guy though if he can get the pieces.

Practically an anti-Calipari.

bobinator said:

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Yeah I mean it's still wild, but I think he's a good coach. Not Kentucky good, but like if we had an opening and struck out on a few people we'd have to just keep going down the list. Who knows where we'd end up.

Pope's not bad as names at the end of the go. Definitely still shocked they had to get there though.

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He's not a bad hire after they struck out with the elite coaches; this is scraping the bottom of the bowl for Kentucky fans.

Yeah I wouldn't be that thrilled if we hired him. He's fine but still unproven in my mind. Not even a top 10 coach in the conference.

well they can say they got the tallest coach in D1?

Goofy looking dude

Good coach. Played Bama style of offense at BYU with heavy reliance on 3-point shooting.

Lack of NCAAT wins not a deal breaker, as might've been as much about talent at BYU and matchups as anything else.

But, yeah - looking at last half dozen hires at Kentucky, (not all of which worked out for them....BCG) this one is atypical in not getting someone with postseason credentials at least.

If he flames out it would be hard to think Nate Oates wouldn't be their next hire in a couple of years - assuming he hasn't mived to the NBA regardless of buyout or whatever.

MarcAg said:

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The Marksman said:

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The fans seem ecstatic! I look forward to continuing to cream Big Blue.

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They learned nothing from watching Aggie fans and Mark Stoops

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Hey bro! I'm proud of us leading the charge to get that **** stopped. Fan backlash is the reason we have Mike Elko.

Tabernacle not Vatican. Though the biblical tabernacle was a temporary, tent-like structure and replaced by the Solomon-built first Temple built on a threshing floor David bought in what became Jerusalem.

The LDS leadership structure includes a top leader called a president who is viewed as a prophet and speaks with similar authority to the pope as well as two primary Apostles who serve as counselors to the President in a group called the First Presidency. The President is always the senior Appstle from the Quorom of Twelve Apostles that are considered inspired to give instruction and leadership to the LDS church.

For what it's worth, the Council of 9 Cardinals that the current pope established in 2013 is more than a little similar to tte Quorom.

This should help him get started.

This is confirmed now by another source with the caveat that it’s Two donors combination for an up front $4 million NIL pledge

This is a huge start https://t.co/CEiapuD7Aj

— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) April 12, 2024

Mikesyracuse1

A lot of schools in SEC have good to great coaches and big NIL funds. Kentucky will expect SEC Conference titles and SECT titles and deep NCAA runs at an expectation level way above and beyond even the normal fanatical fan base level.

He is a UK guy so 100% knows what he's stepping into but he'll be up against it. His BYU team was 10-8 and first round loser in NCAA tournament this season. He had a 17-30 record in Quad 1 games as coach at BYU. He has never won an NCAA tournament game. None of those stats are exciting the Kentucky fan base right now.

Also if you ask the simple question 'Would Kentucky had hired him if he was NOT a notable former Kentucky player?' and the answer is No because his coaching resume alone is underwhelming, then it has 'Legacy Hire' smell all over it.

Pope = Vatican

That's where my f'd up mind went. Wasn't considering the magic underwear people where he was coaching.

lol

The 80's called, they want their commercial back.

kinda reminds me of this gem back in the day

Was listening to a podcast yesterday and they briefly discussed the idea of programs eventually going toward hiring GMs to take the load off of the HC. It's a little hard to imagine that these guys would be willing to give up total control, but it's an interesting idea.

Until the NCAA allows schools to directly coordinate NIL distribution, coaches should not want to be involved other than approving potential personnel. So a GM to handle that makes a lot of sense while it remains inefficient. And, no, Congress likely won't fix it.

It doesn't make it any less strange but the video was from a while back, not something he just did last night.