okie1

The U of L job was in such a great place when Payne took it...they could have had their pick of top coaches. Good thing Payne and Cal pulled that off!

Cal's message got stale and his last couple of teams underachieved in March...however, the guy is a top tier Coach and recruiter. I don't know how anyone can seriously argue that. Cal also did a great job of getting stars to play team ball for the most part. Cal tried the portal with Grady, Sestina, Big O, Frederick, Reeves, Mitchell ( I may be leaving some out)...I don't think that was lost on him... But it is apparrent now that BBN was ready for a change and behind the scenes, Cal had worn thin on a lot of folks.

Quiet on this one...One of the better 12th region jobs.

Cal is a master at the puppet strings...I wouldn't at all be suprised if Wagner and Flands decision day after the presser weren't somewhat intentional to take some air out of the ball. Pope needs a recruiting win soon!

I did not, but that makes sense. I don't even remember the dynamics of that whole situation (I guess I had already checked out). I just remember that was maybe the first year of the NIL stuff and UK basktball had a collective, and he was suposedly still getting paid.

Cal allowed him to stay on the bench and use up NIL money and UK resources.

Yesterday's press confernce just shows how much BBN had become disconnected with basketball program. Kudos to Mitch for realizing exactly what UK needed at this time. Pope's success will untimately come down to how he is able to construct his roster year and year out. His ability to Coach and communicate with a team are not concerns of mine.

I hope this is true, let's get a couple of these big games back to home and home series and bolster our Home schedule.

The Kentucky Effect!! UK makes the Coach, not the other way around!

Wow, I am not sure I would have ever expected this from Pitino!! Let's GO!

This is going to be a great hire! He will give UK fans everything they have been clamoring for the past 5 years.

I am raising my hand. He out coached Self and a few others this year!

I would rather give Greg Kampe $2.5 million a year and give him 10 million a year to get players?

AI?

That number makes sense...Craft was willing to buy Cal out...8.5 million university money, 32 milliion buyout money over 8 years.

You can't say Mitch ain't trying!

I don't know...maybe there was going to be an original 4 that UK targetted. There is no telling the amount of talk there is between folks in these situations.

So did Oates turn down KY by offering his statement?

I think it was time for a change for many reasons...however as all of this is playing out, I think history will show that Cal was the least slimy person in the room between he, the Crafts, Barnhart, Stoops and Jones.

What if Hurley said yes this morning and Mitch called Drew and removed the offer?

I will give him a pass...when you have been somewhere 20 years and that's home to you and your wife and kids, you have to have their support to make this type of move. Drew is an enigma in the coaching profession. He has made very few moves.

Was a red flag when he sent his family to Lex and he stayed in Wayco with a big booster.

I can't blame him...plane trackers and checking on me at lunch would give me reservations as well.

Deuce for a non UK fan, you sure are following this closely?

I don't know muvch about her...other than it was her plane:) Seriously Drew puts his family on a plane to come visit Lex (Which tells me his mind is made up), then goes and has lunch with a big booster in Waco (probably getting a sweeter pot there in case his family doesn't like the Lex trip). That's some pretty shrewd business negotiations if you asked me! All while getting his favorite Mexican restraunt some hype as well! You have to love big time Coaching searches in the social media days!