Give Pope a chance

The unreasonable University of Kentucky basketball fanbase is showing its true colors once again.

Many UK fans are up in arms over the school’s athletic director, Mitch Barnhart, turning to former UK player Mark Pope to be its next head basketball coach. From the looks of many of the comments circulating on social media, one would surmise that Barnhart has hired a completely incompetent buffoon to lead its once proud program.

These folks put their ignorance on display time and time again with their kneejerk reactions, and they haven’t disappointed this time either. It is no wonder why there is so much hatred, or at the very least, eye-rolling, directed toward many Kentucky fans. A vociferous segment of the fanbase lends itself to criticism with its arrogance, impatience and unwillingness to accept reality.

I say this as a UK fan for my entire life, but it cannot be ignored that the lofty expectations held by many UK supporters are ludicrous.

Sorry to inform some of y’all out there, but the Wildcats are not going to go undefeated and win the national championship – or even make a trip to the Final Four – each and every season.

There are some Kentucky fans who actually believe that, making it yet another example of people who don’t closely follow college basketball.

There are several other college basketball programs who are now the equal of Kentucky, and a few that arguably have surpassed them. Some UK fans don’t appear to understand that there are a lot of other teams who want to win as well, and mistakenly believe the Cats should win every game by 30 points or more.

A lot of college hoops fans enjoy nothing more than seeing the Wildcats fail, and opponents always get fired up to beat Kentucky. That did not begin with the arrival of John Calipari either; that has always been the case, going back to the days of Adolph Rupp.

Undoubtedly many of you will disagree with my assessment, and you’re free to call me whatever you want, but here goes anyway:

UK is no longer the college basketball “gold standard,” despite what you may have heard from a former Kentucky coach. Yes, they’re still the winningest team in history and they were on top of the college hoops world in 2012, but they have fallen off that pedestal in the past several years. UK has failed to make a trip to the Final Four since the 2015 team’s heartbreaking loss to Wisconsin in the national semifinals.

There are several reasons why this has occurred, one being Calipari’s unwillingness to adapt and change. Since signing that so-called “lifetime” contract five years ago, the edge and drive he brought to Lexington 15 years ago seemed to dissipate. His stubbornness in making lineups and questionable decisions made during games had become major issues as well. There have also been several reports of a less than positive working environment within the program in the past five years, with Calipari becoming increasingly difficult to deal with by those near to the situation.

There will always be Calipari apologists; he did some great things for many folks in the Commonwealth in times of need, but as for being the UK basketball coach, the time had come for him to go. For those of you still loyal to him, maybe you’ll be interested in jumping on the Razorback bandwagon and becoming a fan of the Hogs.

College basketball is a completely different animal than it was a decade ago, and it could be argued it has changed even more rapidly in the past three or four years. The craziness that is called the transfer portal along with all of the NIL money being thrown around has changed everything. The most successful teams have become older, more experienced, and more physically imposing. I am not saying you can win titles without talent, but there has to be a balance of experience and talent, and building a successful roster has become a new art form for coaches.

One coach who has been a master of assembling a winning roster is Dan Hurley, who has led Connecticut to back-to-back national championships. Hurley accomplished the rare feat with a much different group this year, which is a testament to both his coaching and talent recognition skills. The Huskies also do an excellent job of developing the players they bring in.

Hurley’s success has not gone unnoticed by anyone in the college basketball world, and Kentucky fans were clamoring for the university to back up a Brink’s truck to his house and throw millions at him in the hope he would happily come to Lexington. Hurley never expressed any interest in the job and why should he? He has it made right where he is, and he’s a Northeast guy through and through.

Other names being floated out there after Calipari bolted for Arkansas were even more preposterous. A couple that immediately come to mind were Brad Stevens, the former Butler coach and current president of basketball operations for the Boston Celtics, and Jay Wright, who has stated repeatedly he’s happily retired from coaching and enjoying his new television career. They were nothing more than pipedreams, and anyone who thought they would be seriously interested was delusional.

Alabama’s Nate Oats took himself out of the running almost immediately, and Billy Donovan, the coach of the Chicago Bulls, was more of a case of wishful thinking among a segment of BBN than a realistic option. Donovan has been out of the college game for more than a decade and he will likely be an NBA coach for the rest of his career. Barnhart knew this, and wasn’t willing to wait for a Donovan decision – one that would’ve likely been thanks but no thanks — so he turned to Baylor coach Scott Drew, who gave the offer some thought before turning it down, saying that God wanted him at Baylor.

More names were floated about, including Rick Pitino, Bruce Pearl, Sean Miller, Chris Beard and Will Wade, but those five have one thing in common: baggage. Because of their past transgressions, it’s doubtful that Barnhart was the least bit interested in hiring any of them.

That led to the Kentucky AD’s second choice, and in this guy’s humble opinion, a solid pick.

Mark Pope isn’t the flashy high-profile coach many in BBN were hoping for, but he’s precisely what Barnhart was looking for. He could be described as the polar opposite of John Calipari, as well as Hurley, Pitino and Pearl, and that alone was appealing to Barnhart, who was never mistaken to be a pal of Cal.

There’s no question that Barnhart has stuck his neck out in hiring Pope, and he’s already drawing considerable opposition among his detractors on social media. If you look at some of the comments, you will see what I mean; most are laughable, while others go way over the line and are simply stupid. It’s doubtful that the UK athletic director cares one iota about the backlash, and he shouldn’t.

Barnhart knew from the outset of the search precisely who he was looking for, and he got the second choice on his short list after Drew turned him down.

“He is a strong recruiter with international ties and a person with integrity,” Barnhart said of Pope. “He fully embraces our high expectations and standards and I know that as our fans get reacquainted with Mark, they will be eager to join him on what promises to be an exciting ride.”

The 51-year-old Pope knows what he’s getting into as well, after playing at UK and being a captain on the 1996 national championship team. He is still a bit inexperienced as a head coach, but he has led a pair of Division I schools for nine years. He began at Utah Valley, where he went 77-56 in four seasons, and in five years at Brigham Young, Pope was 110-52 and 23-11 in BYU’s first season in the Big 12 Conference.

Pope played two seasons for the ultra-talented and Pitino-coached Wildcats, averaging 7.6 points in 20.3 minutes per game. He was a second-round pick for the Indiana Pacers in the 1996 NBA Draft, and also played for the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets, as well as overseas, during his playing career.

Pope may not be what many refer to as a slam dunk hire, but he could be exactly what Kentucky needs at this time. He is an excellent X’s and O’s coach and he will bring an exciting brand of offense to Lexington. Pope is known as an innovator and the only real question about his coaching acumen may reside on the defensive end of the court, which as even the most casual observer knows, is something this season’s Cats struggled with all season long.

Look for Pope to put together an excellent staff and hit the ground running on the recruiting front, with an emphasis on the portal. Another immediate goal will likely be an attempt to talk Reed Sheppard into returning for his sophomore season. Even though Sheppard is highly thought of by NBA scouts, there are aspects of his game that could use refining. The fact that his dad Jeff was Pope’s roommate at UK could sway him as well.

Pope may not be the perfect choice for getting Kentucky back into the national conversation as a title contender, and certainly not right off the bat. But he deserves a chance to prove himself before you start calling for Barnhart’s head on a platter.

Pope, who was considered to be a smart player on the court as well as an incredibly intelligent person, knows what will be expected and he will not wilt under the pressure from the vociferous fanbase.

“It’s the definition of blueblood program where hanging a banner is the expectation every year,” Pope said. “Equally as important, UK changed my life forever as a human being. The love and passion I have for this program, this university and the people of the Commonwealth goes to the depth of my soul.”

Pope will be undergoing a huge task as well in attempting to unite a divided fanbase, and the best way to accomplish that goal will be to win, win, and win some more.

One thing a large portion of the UK fanbase needs to do is show some patience, but I realize that is asking for the impossible.