[Old School Hound]

Okay, Bluegrass Rivals. Let's play a game(I promise, I'm not the SAW guy), a hypothetical game concerning UK basketball. Pretend you are Mitch, not the old one in the wheelchair who looks like a turtle but the one who is the AD at UK.

Our Cats are likely gonna finish with somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 or 14 losses and  land somewhere in the middle to lower tier of the SEC. Might  win a game or two in the NCAAT, but could be an early exit. Looking ahead to next season and with what is likely to be here, another double digit loss season, possibly another 13 or 14 L season appears to be on the table, at least.

If your pretend AD phone on the UK campus rings and either of these three men are on the other end saying they want to come to Lexington and win multiple championships, are you interested in hearing them out?

1. Bruce Pearl--- one of the best in the game , at the present time. Yes, a he's a slimy, grotesque, snake of a man but, MAKE NO MISTAKE, he WOULD win championships in Lexington, and he would do it quickly.

2. Rick Pitino--- the little Italian Stallion says to you that he will commit the next five years of his life to winning multiple titles at UK. And you KNOW he can do it!!! Like Pearl, he will bring some of the best basketball talent to Lexington and , like Pearl, he WILL coach them up. Rick Pitino, Act 2 would be the hottest ticket in town for five years.  , if However, if you should visit his favorite LEX restaurant after Rick has been there, be careful wiping your mouth with those napkins. You never know where they've been.

3. Brad Stevens --- there have been rumors about the President of Basketball Operation of the Boston Celtics coming back to college. Just recently there was a rumor, now squashed, that he was interested in the IU job.  Let's pretend that the only job that is the apple of Brad's eye is located in Lexington, KY. Suppose he calls and badly wants to be the coach of YOUR UK Wildcats. This cat took Butler... yes, Butler, to two straight NCAA title games. You KNOW he would win multiple titles in Lexington .


By all indications, Mark P. is a great guy, loves KY, understands how KY fans feel about their basketball. He seems to "get it."  His teams play a fun style of ball. You can pretty much count on his team being entertaining. But, you might also be able to count on mid-level recruits and double digit loss seasons. KY's Latter Day head man has never finished very particularly high in his conference, and that pattern has a good chance of continuing this season at UK. He also has never known what it's like to taste the sweet fruits of victory in a NCAAT game. You might have to get used to a sweet fruit -free diet while Mark is here.

I like Mark. I think he's done an admirable job this season with a collection of some okay, but not great, basketball talent. His teams play a fun, entertaining style of ball. I'm okay with 14 losses a year if the team entertains me and makes the four hours of my time I give them a week worth my while. I've been able to enjoy several UK NCAA titles. I'm  here for the journey now... the fun, the entertainment, even watching BBN meltdowns is kinda fun.  Kinda the same reasons I'm here on BGR. It's as much about about fun and entertainment as it is about titles .

  With that said, I've always had a man crush on the coaching savant up at Boston, Mr. Stevens. That would be enticing. Also, Rick Pitino, Part II, are you kidding?! That would be a blast.  And Bruce Pearl, he'd be the Toast of Lexington after back-to-back titles . The only downside is we'd get to see his nasty naked belly painted in blue. That, alone, should gather multiple NCAA infractions,  something Bruce Almighty knows a lot about.

So, let me ask you, gurus, if either of these men called you begging for a chance to come to Lexington, and all but promising multiple titles, do you take them seriously and send Mark on a mission back to Salt Lake?

If you decided to hire one of these three to replace Mark, when one would you go with? Or would you just flat turn down all of these three  coaching superheroes, I mean, superegos... ????

What say you???

[jetpilot]

Dumb thread by the same guy who was furious people wanted Cal gone after sucking for years. I'm thrilled he's gone. People with sense don't project how many losses Pope will have the rest of his career in his first year here, especially with all the injuries. Moreno and J Johnson and many others on the way.

[Old School Hound]

Dumb thread by the same guy who was furious people wanted Cal gone after sucking for years. I'm thrilled he's gone. People with sense don't project how many losses Pope will have the rest of his career in his first year here, especially with all the injuries. Moreno and J Johnson and many others on the way.

I was not furious people wanted Cal gone. I don't get furious about basketball. I get furious over mistreatment of animals , children , the poor,  and the elderly.  Basketball is not important. Why can't you understand that simple fact?

It's just a hypothetical that's not gonna happen. Just an exercise. If Rick called wanting a five -year encore , do you , at least,  entertain his plan or do  you make fun of his "15 seconds of shame" ?

[4 Quarters]

I don't want any of them.  If any of these guys really wanted to be in Lexington, they would've been here.  There was an opening about a year ago.  UK just signed a contract with Pope, honor it.

[Old School Hound]

I don't want any of them.  If any of these guys really wanted to be in Lexington, they would've been here.  There was an opening about a year ago.  UK just signed a contract with Pope, honor it.

It's a hypothetical. Just pretend one of them called and said he met the woman of his dreams, who lives in Lexington and won't move from here. He wants to spend the rest of his life here and wants to coach and win championships. Hell, let's go wild with our imaginations. Let's suppose we had supernatural encounter with a mystical being that told us that one of these three men would win two Nattys in the next three years, if he came to Lexington. Would you dump the 14 loss guy for the Nattys?

[4 Quarters]

I don't want any of them.  If any of these guys really wanted to be in Lexington, they would've been here.  There was an opening about a year ago.  UK just signed a contract with Pope, honor it.

It's a hypothetical. Just pretend one of them called and said he met the woman of his dreams, who lives in Lexington and won't move from here. He wants to spend the rest of his life here and wants to coach and win championships. Hell, let's go wild with our imaginations. Let's suppose we had supernatural encounter with a mystical being that told us that one of these three men would win two Nattys in the next three years, if he came to Lexington. Would you dump the 14 loss guy for the Nattys?

Ok, I'll slide over to your dream world for just a few minutes.
Ricky, forget him, he was here once and left.  Also, that could have been my wife he had on the table.
Bruce, what has he ever won to prove he's worthy?
Brad, he did take what I'll call a mid major to the runner up spot twice.

Brad would be my pick if I were to make a change.

Now, I'm going back to the real world.

[Old School Hound]

I don't want any of them.  If any of these guys really wanted to be in Lexington, they would've been here.  There was an opening about a year ago.  UK just signed a contract with Pope, honor it.

It's a hypothetical. Just pretend one of them called and said he met the woman of his dreams, who lives in Lexington and won't move from here. He wants to spend the rest of his life here and wants to coach and win championships. Hell, let's go wild with our imaginations. Let's suppose we had supernatural encounter with a mystical being that told us that one of these three men would win two Nattys in the next three years, if he came to Lexington. Would you dump the 14 loss guy for the Nattys?

Ok, I'll slide over to your dream world for just a few minutes.
Ricky, forget him, he was here once and left.  Also, that could have been my wife he had on the table.
Bruce, what has he ever won to prove he's worthy?
Brad, he did take what I'll call a mid major to the runner up spot twice.

Brad would be my pick if I were to make a change.

Now, I'm going back to the real world.

Thanks for playing. Brad would be my pick, as well. While I think Pope has done fine, I would dump the Mormon for the Methodist in a heartbeat.  Real world, though. We're stuck with the 14 loss guy who avoids alcohol and caffeine. But... we'll have fun watching his mid majors and knowing that Coach Pope loves us and understands our sensibilities and sensitivities.

[4 Quarters]

I don't want any of them.  If any of these guys really wanted to be in Lexington, they would've been here.  There was an opening about a year ago.  UK just signed a contract with Pope, honor it.

It's a hypothetical. Just pretend one of them called and said he met the woman of his dreams, who lives in Lexington and won't move from here. He wants to spend the rest of his life here and wants to coach and win championships. Hell, let's go wild with our imaginations. Let's suppose we had supernatural encounter with a mystical being that told us that one of these three men would win two Nattys in the next three years, if he came to Lexington. Would you dump the 14 loss guy for the Nattys?

Ok, I'll slide over to your dream world for just a few minutes.
Ricky, forget him, he was here once and left.  Also, that could have been my wife he had on the table.
Bruce, what has he ever won to prove he's worthy?
Brad, he did take what I'll call a mid major to the runner up spot twice.

Brad would be my pick if I were to make a change.

Now, I'm going back to the real world.

Thanks for playing. Brad would be my pick, as well. While I think Pope has done fine, I would dump the Mormon for the Methodist in a heartbeat.  Real world, though. We're stuck with the 14 loss guy who avoids alcohol and caffeine. But... we'll have fun watching his mid majors and knowing that Coach Pope loves us and understands our sensibilities and sensitivities.

Agree, I think Pope has done fine with his mid major portal players.  I'll give him into next year to see what he's made of before I start looking.  Time for a beer and cigarette.  I know it's 5 o'clock some where.

[jetpilot]

I don't want any of them.  If any of these guys really wanted to be in Lexington, they would've been here.  There was an opening about a year ago.  UK just signed a contract with Pope, honor it.

It's a hypothetical. Just pretend one of them called and said he met the woman of his dreams, who lives in Lexington and won't move from here. He wants to spend the rest of his life here and wants to coach and win championships. Hell, let's go wild with our imaginations. Let's suppose we had supernatural encounter with a mystical being that told us that one of these three men would win two Nattys in the next three years, if he came to Lexington. Would you dump the 14 loss guy for the Nattys?

Ok, I'll slide over to your dream world for just a few minutes.
Ricky, forget him, he was here once and left.  Also, that could have been my wife he had on the table.
Bruce, what has he ever won to prove he's worthy?
Brad, he did take what I'll call a mid major to the runner up spot twice.

Brad would be my pick if I were to make a change.

Now, I'm going back to the real world.

Thanks for playing. Brad would be my pick, as well. While I think Pope has done fine, I would dump the Mormon for the Methodist in a heartbeat.  Real world, though. We're stuck with the 14 loss guy who avoids alcohol and caffeine. But... we'll have fun watching his mid majors and knowing that Coach Pope loves us and understands our sensibilities and sensitivities.

Cuckoo and you have no clue if Pope will have 15 losses or 0 next year.

[jetpilot]

Dumb thread by the same guy who was furious people wanted Cal gone after sucking for years. I'm thrilled he's gone. People with sense don't project how many losses Pope will have the rest of his career in his first year here, especially with all the injuries. Moreno and J Johnson and many others on the way.

I was not furious people wanted Cal gone. I don't get furious about basketball. I get furious over mistreatment of animals , children , the poor,  and the elderly.  Basketball is not important. Why can't you understand that simple fact?

It's just a hypothetical that's not gonna happen. Just an exercise. If Rick called wanting a five -year encore , do you , at least,  entertain his plan or do  you make fun of his "15 seconds of shame" ?

You are either delusional or lying again. Impossible to tell with you.

[Old School Hound]

Dumb thread by the same guy who was furious people wanted Cal gone after sucking for years. I'm thrilled he's gone. People with sense don't project how many losses Pope will have the rest of his career in his first year here, especially with all the injuries. Moreno and J Johnson and many others on the way.

I was not furious people wanted Cal gone. I don't get furious about basketball. I get furious over mistreatment of animals , children , the poor,  and the elderly.  Basketball is not important. Why can't you understand that simple fact?

It's just a hypothetical that's not gonna happen. Just an exercise. If Rick called wanting a five -year encore , do you , at least,  entertain his plan or do  you make fun of his "15 seconds of shame" ?

You are either delusional or lying again. Impossible to tell with you.

Says the dude who wanted a Baptist preacher over a Hall of Famer. Separation of basketball and religion, buddy. I'm glad the SS teacher's wife hated us and told hubby,  no way.  Should be no theism in BBall, on the court or in locker room.

[Van Hagar]

Then quit bringing up Pope is a Mormon in ever comment about him! No damn body cares! Can we ever just discuss games and strategies and the like without everything being so personal? I like you OSH, but I really don’t like that style of commentary.

[King Kong]

Okay, Bluegrass Rivals. Let's play a game(I promise, I'm not the SAW guy), a hypothetical game concerning UK basketball. Pretend you are Mitch, not the old one in the wheelchair who looks like a turtle but the one who is the AD at UK.

Our Cats are likely gonna finish with somewhere in the neighborhood of 13 or 14 losses and  land somewhere in the middle to lower tier of the SEC. Might  win a game or two in the NCAAT, but could be an early exit. Looking ahead to next season and with what is likely to be here, another double digit loss season, possibly another 13 or 14 L season appears to be on the table, at least.

If your pretend AD phone on the UK campus rings and either of these three men are on the other end saying they want to come to Lexington and win multiple championships, are you interested in hearing them out?

1. Bruce Pearl--- one of the best in the game , at the present time. Yes, a he's a slimy, grotesque, snake of a man but, MAKE NO MISTAKE, he WOULD win championships in Lexington, and he would do it quickly.

2. Rick Pitino--- the little Italian Stallion says to you that he will commit the next five years of his life to winning multiple titles at UK. And you KNOW he can do it!!! Like Pearl, he will bring some of the best basketball talent to Lexington and , like Pearl, he WILL coach them up. Rick Pitino, Act 2 would be the hottest ticket in town for five years.  , if However, if you should visit his favorite LEX restaurant after Rick has been there, be careful wiping your mouth with those napkins. You never know where they've been.

3. Brad Stevens --- there have been rumors about the President of Basketball Operation of the Boston Celtics coming back to college. Just recently there was a rumor, now squashed, that he was interested in the IU job.  Let's pretend that the only job that is the apple of Brad's eye is located in Lexington, KY. Suppose he calls and badly wants to be the coach of YOUR UK Wildcats. This cat took Butler... yes, Butler, to two straight NCAA title games. You KNOW he would win multiple titles in Lexington .


By all indications, Mark P. is a great guy, loves KY, understands how KY fans feel about their basketball. He seems to "get it."  His teams play a fun style of ball. You can pretty much count on his team being entertaining. But, you might also be able to count on mid-level recruits and double digit loss seasons. KY's Latter Day head man has never finished very particularly high in his conference, and that pattern has a good chance of continuing this season at UK. He also has never known what it's like to taste the sweet fruits of victory in a NCAAT game. You might have to get used to a sweet fruit -free diet while Mark is here.

I like Mark. I think he's done an admirable job this season with a collection of some okay, but not great, basketball talent. His teams play a fun, entertaining style of ball. I'm okay with 14 losses a year if the team entertains me and makes the four hours of my time I give them a week worth my while. I've been able to enjoy several UK NCAA titles. I'm  here for the journey now... the fun, the entertainment, even watching BBN meltdowns is kinda fun.  Kinda the same reasons I'm here on BGR. It's as much about about fun and entertainment as it is about titles .

  With that said, I've always had a man crush on the coaching savant up at Boston, Mr. Stevens. That would be enticing. Also, Rick Pitino, Part II, are you kidding?! That would be a blast.  And Bruce Pearl, he'd be the Toast of Lexington after back-to-back titles . The only downside is we'd get to see his nasty naked belly painted in blue. That, alone, should gather multiple NCAA infractions,  something Bruce Almighty knows a lot about.

So, let me ask you, gurus, if either of these men called you begging for a chance to come to Lexington, and all but promising multiple titles, do you take them seriously and send Mark on a mission back to Salt Lake?

If you decided to hire one of these three to replace Mark, when one would you go with? Or would you just flat turn down all of these three  coaching superheroes, I mean, superegos... ????

What say you???

Pick me! Pick me OSH! I love playing games.  Shoot,  having fun is the main reason I'm here 

I gotta start off by saying,  it's not that far of a stretch to talk to any of those guys on the phone.  I've been having a weekly phone conversation with Coach Pope, since about October now. 

With that being said,  I gotta give Coach Pope a shout out on here now.  I told him I would when I briefly spoke with him today.  So hello Coach Pope! He'll see that when he logs back on here.  I told him Ole Kong was going around all the UK sports threads,  trying to keep people pumped up about the Cat's basketball.  You know what Coach Pope said about that,  he said,  Kong Ole Buddy you better be getting people pumped up,  that's what we're endorsing and paying you for! It's a pretty good gig,  talking about the Cat's,  being like a online cheerleader,  and getting paid for it.

Remember we're just playing around here 

Out of the three coaches mentioned,  Brad would be my pick as well.  What he done while at Butler was amazing.  

Last year before Pope was hired,  those 3 names come up alot for the UK coaching job.  Idk if we reached out to any of them or not,  I can't remember.  In all honesty,  I'd call Pitino first.  Not for HC but to see if he'd be one of Popes assistant's.  I mentioned this a little in another thread.  He's got a good thing going at St John's right now.  Plus would Pitino try to override Pope if he was on the staff.  Idk if it'd work out,  be kinda cool if it did. 

In all honesty I was kinda pulling for Billy D to have interest in the job last year.  He didn't for I believe the second time now. Idk if we ever offer him again if the job does open up sometime in the future. 

I'm happy with Pope here.  I like the energy he brings along with his basketball IQ. He knows what it's like wearing the uniform and representing Big Blue Nation.  He gets us and has always been one of us.  I believe stuff like that carries over to the team and fanbase. 


So in all honesty,  I'd thank all 3 coaches for their interest and wish them the best elsewhere.  We're happy with what we got 

[Cactus Jack]

I'll play along since it's a hypothetical.

I'd want to know why Brad Stevens would leave his President of Basketball Ops role with the Celtics, and why Kentucky (instead of another NBA job, a place he has more ties to, or a more exotic destination), but if we're dreaming and he passes the background check/due diligence, then yea, him.

If any of them would be guaranteed to win two titles in the next five years, I'd be on board. Not that I think Pope isn't capable of winning a national championship, just that two titles in five years is a pretty big deal to any program.

Without assuming which teams win the three of five that we don't, a 10th Kentucky title leaves us one behind UCLA's 11 and puts some distance between North Carolina (6), UConn (6), Duke (5), and Kansas (4). It looks like Hurley will be very selective about leaving UConn, and he's probably got at least one more in him before he goes.

Two more also gives tons of weight to Kentucky's argument that their dominance is the most sustained-- most schools won the majority of their titles in the same era while ours are more spread out. Under your assumption, at least six but possibly seven of the Cats' ten would come in different decades. That's a pretty big deal too.

If we're assuming two championships in five years, "which could would you still refuse?" may be a better question.

[plantmanky]

If Im the AD and entertaining the phone call, I am also typing up my resignation letter, I hired the guy we have, its year one, not year 4 or 5. Im responsible, if hes not the guy, I need to go.


Wont happen, Mitches job isnt to bring championships or wins to UK, its to bring in $$$$$$$$$, period. He does that hand over fist, they wont fire him.

[rookie57]

I’m staying with Pope

[-STAT-]

If we lived in a perfect world, Pitino would've never left Kentucky and we'd have shattered UCLA's championship record. But nearly $8 mil a year from Boston and I would've left too even tho it didn't work out.

Now, hypothetically speaking in today's climate? I'd take Pitino in a New York minute (no joke or pun). If we could get him as part of the 5-year plan as OSH mentioned, I'd love to see a package deal and get Pope as his top assistant and be the predecessor for when Pitino retires. I guess hypotheticals are always fun to talk about, but I would love to see something like that happen.