[-STAT-]

Well, we are officially in a new era of Kentucky Basketball.

Time will obviously tell if this will work or not. It will be either a tremendous hire, or an epic fail. There will be no in between with it.

It will be great to have someone who played, understands the tradition, and re-create a culture that has been sorely missed for years. The knock is definitely the experience, that he hasn't proven that he can coach at a big time level. well this is the biggest of big time right here, he's in the pressure cooker now. At least he had the vantage point of seeing Pitino go through it everyday, and can definitely lean on him for any sort of guidance.

He will have the passion, energy, dedication and commitment to be successful. The main thing will be if he can recruit, how well he can do in the portal, but most importantly the staff he puts together, and player development, with NIL being the factor it is in the sport now, that will be a huge motivation for players, the more you develop? The more money you can earn. Seen reports where alum & boosters are funneling in plenty of NIL money now, so Pope will have plenty of resources to work with for recruiting. Will facilities get upgraded now?

I am definitely going to support the hire, I sure hope that it works out!