A lot of former UK teammates turned out for Mark Pope's introductory press conference. (Vicky Graff Photo)
It was no surprise that so many of Mark Pope’s former teammates showed up at his introductory press conference that turned into a pep rally with 20,000 fans at Rupp Arena. However, a lot of other former Wildcats also were there to support the former Wildcat.
Pope’s former UK teammate, Cameron Mills, said that was “not a thing against Cal” but more a sign of support for Pope.
“When you play for a coach there is a bond created or when you play with a guy there is an even stronger bond,” Mills said. “This is the first time a former Kentucky player has been offered the job, much less taken the job (actually former UK coach Joe Hall always played for the Cats).
“We will definitely be welcomed back by Pope but we were never pushed away by (John) Calipari. He just had a closer bond, as he should have, with his players just like Tubby (Smith) and (Rick) Pitino did. I do not think Calipari put us to the side as former players. He was just closer with his players.
“Pope reached out to all the former players because he is a former player. Mark understands having former players around means something special to the players to where they do not feel disconnected from the program. Think about the stories Jeff Sheppard could tell Pope’s players.”
17 Responses
The fraud decimated this program with his NBA agency.
Thankfully, that portion of the nightmare is officially over, but the damage the fraud inflicted on this program will take years to repair.
As we were all taught for decades, there is NO "I" in TEAM, but there are two "I’s" in calIparI !!!!!!
His ego was too big for Rupp Arena, and it pulled this program to the ground.
Kentucky was in shambles when Pitino took over. It was declining when Calipari took over. The program is not decimated contrary to the belief of haters like you. It did not take them years to turn things around. It won’t take Pope "years" to put his plan in place. He wasn’t the right man for the job if it does. The Truth that nobody wants to here is kids now wants to know what can a program do for them not what can they do for a program. If you don’t believe me ask Nick Saban.
Cal did a lot of good at UK. Won a lot of games. Put together a lot of very good teams. The problems for the fans came when NIL and the Transfer Portal came about. Cal’s goal of putting teenagers into the NBA never changed, but his goal and the direction of college basketball did not mesh together in fielding championship teams. I don’t care for Cal and I’m sure that doesn’t bother him, but I do appreciate the fact that he had a goal for himself and he never varied from it. The problem is that his goal did not include winning championships of any kind, as his goal was to sit in the Green Room with teenagers.
Now Cal faces another problem. If he continues with his pattern from UK, he will most likely yield the same results and will have fans getting disgruntled very quickly. If he changes to field the kind of teams that Hurley has been doing, then the fans here will be saying they were right and questioning as to why Cal couldn’t change while he was here.
It’s always the same thing… anytime I would go out with a girl who at some point started to vent about their ex, I knew it was either that they still loved him and were angry that he left or was so insecure and vulnerable she needed to spin things in a way that she felt could justify her pushing him away. Sometimes both… So my question to TheProfessor is which are you?
Yes, the Sutton years did not end well. However, to compare the state of the program then vs now misses a huge point.
When Pitino arrived, he had a core group of Kentucky committed players to immediately build a team around, and even with the likes of Pelphrey, Woods, Farmer, Feldhaus, Hanson, and Brassow. It still took Pitino 2 seasons to demonstrate that UK would be back, and in the 3rd year, the team fell one shot short of a final four trip, which would not occur until later.
This fraud left the program in much worse condition, with virtually no returning players from his "players first" group of PETS, which has never been equivalent to UK first.
Dream on with your excuses, but this program has been dismantled over the last 15 years by this fraud.
You can spin it anyway you want. Even the "Son of Kentucky" was a one and done. He was never counted as a "PET". If given the same chance, Perry will be gone after next year. I wonder if the Whiners like you had anything do with Everyone leaving? I wonder if it’s going to lead to issues getting players now and in the future? UK First is no longer going to resonate with players today.
Don’t seem to be any issues getting players now.
Your Pig Daddy has the puppy mill started back up in Arkansas. He’s so stupid. He hasn’t learned anything.
Cal did a lot of good and he’ll prove his ability at Arkansas and Pope is no where near the coach of Cal and Pitino and he’ll have some success but not near what Cal and Pitino and UK fans like are the main problem for y’all have no clue and like a Chihuahua on the front porch when the big dawgs are in the yard and you just stand and bark but it amounts to nothing
The problem is The King hasn’t had enough Dogs lately.
Reed
Oscar
The Kings 9-16 team had Isaiah Jackson.
I loved watching him.
We had a brand new team every year under Calipari, how is this any different.? At least now we might start having some consistency in the roster from year to year instead of spending the first half of the season learning who our team is.
This site is full of people in Comment section that made the last 5 yrs what it was don’t kid yourself we are two things Nationally revered but widely hated by all BBN that doesn’t live in State anymore. These same lovers and I’m putting myself in this company since I’m waisting this 3 min I’ll never get back to say this No Cal apologist don’t need to be it was time for him to Go and he knew more then anyone he wasn’t wanted and I’m sure felt betrayed by making this the premier program in all of NCAA which had lost its luster. The ones of you that will boo when Ark gets all the pub and exposure all the nationally televised games that let’s be honest without him they wouldn’t be close even of they spend most of the season in top 25. Also quick to forget the winning he did which was unprecedented and had never done in his first 10yrs. We awful fucking spoiled here and entitled to think 5* give two shits about the Jersey its become a business and its sad but don’t anyone act like you weren’t pounding your chest and talking shit to all UL fans amd Any other SEC or regional school that was the pedestal Cal put us on We took 2 steps back to take 3 forward and honestly I only care about beating Ark and UL this season but you put the hands of this program in Mitch’s hands he brought in a guy that would die and at his dream job So now he can control from behind the scenes like he has already. Your not hearing that on here or KSR OR WHATEVER BS site claims to be insiders and know what’s going on in Craft well they Will but only if the over lord Mitch allows it. We traded one dictator for another I promise ya that… GoodLuck to Pope he still has 50% of the fan base to win over and I know he will he’s got a destructive level on 1 side of the floor built currently If he’s able to land Hays out of the Draft that he’s familiar with with a number 1 or 2 to spread his methods We will win and we will win quick the sooner we keep Cal out of our mouths the sooner we move on as a united fan base and we can’t be stopped Maybe Rupp will be loud again and standing fans and BBM will be an event again and We can bring the next generation Up only knowing the Jersey of UK until they want to follow that guy to the Pros ot Not… Cheers Go Big Blue
John Calipari is nothing more than a used car salesman, I’ve seen better Xs and Os on a tic tack toe board, he won on pure talent with the one and dones but as soon as other schools caught on to it he got exposed, give me one example where he out coached anyone, you can’t, yes he caught lightning in a bottle in 12 with a once in a lifetime team but what about the 3 times he got exposed and lost titles that anyone else would have coached to glory, Bo Ryan, Kevin Ollie, Bruce Pearl all three handed him his ass!!!!
I can easily give you 2 examples this past season where King CALcified got smoked on coaching.
Home game against Florida. We’re up 3 with 10 seconds or less on the clock. My grandmother knows you foul them so they can’t shoot a 3 to tie the game. Guess what happened? They shot a 3 and sent it into overtime and won the game. On his post game show the Grifter said "We couldn’t foul them because they are a great rebounding team"
We had 3 7footers on the bench!!!
Home game against Gonzaga. We’re up with 10 seconds or less on the clock. Kings buddy Mark Few has his players foul us. We go to the free throw line and miss
They come down and beat us
2 of the record setting 3 game home Rupp Arena losing streak.
I never understood why Cal didn’t just coach the way he did at UMass. Camby was his only All-American. The rest of Cals guys were Tubby Smith type, solid, dependable with little glitter. Also something must be done about the non-conference schedule. All the high profile games got farmed out to Chicago or Vega. Louisville, High Point, Evansville and Longwood have gone a long way towards creating an apathetic atmosphere. We need high profile games at Rupp as the new SEC is gonna at best suppress any conference rivalries. I for one still think of Arkansas and South Carolina as misfits. I will support Pope if he wins a dozen games a year for the next dozen years. College sports as we know it is gone.
Read this to the end please.
I am Louisville Red to my core!! I never have anything good or positive to say about your team, your school and certainly none of you!! As it should be between the two of us! Alas I find myself in a strange place today and I humbly must admit something whether you care or not so hear it is! The best thing to happen to u of k bb was that lowlife johnny skip to squeal like a pig U. For free no less! You’ve already upgraded w/ Mark Pope in my opinion and I say that honestly. Going thru the fiasco that my team has lately, looking for a new HC ourselves I realized that there just aren’t that many WoW coaches out there that I think either of us were like yeah, that’s the one,to be honest. Bill Self? A handful of NBA guys? The list was short. Pope was a National champion player, who played a big role in every game, for a brilliant coach and to top it all he was a Classy kid, hell, I’m writing this should tell what I think! He bleeds blue to his core and he’s not been a bad coach so far in his career which is a hard find these days! We were fortunate enough to get a young motivated coach that wasn’t at the top of anyone’s list ourselves, and felt lucky we didn’t get the 4 HCs everybody had in front of him! They were all lame and boring, no wow, no excitement whatsoever! This State demands the best when it comes to Thoroughbreds, Whiskey and most of all Basketball!! Which brings me back to this,we both nailed it with these two,if for nothing more than the love and determination to not only win but play for the Front of the Jersey!! Coaches forget that it’s there responsibility to teach these kids not only how to play BB, but also things like of community, camaraderie, loyalty and a sense of worth you can’t put a price on! So with that being said, if you made it thru all that, we couldn’t ask for a classier guy to start owning in our Rivalry
GO CARDS!!!
Excellent post!
Card fan I think you might bleed a little blue .lol.. As for Pope he’ll do just fine if people will let him do what he’s hired to do. And that is coach the team he has and work on bringing some banners back to Rupp. As for him not being able to coach like some clown said. That’s ludicrous, he can coach circles around Cal who was the greatest recruiter but not a very good coach come game time.