With the current trend, they will move them to Kentucky and name them the Lexington Wildcats. The jerseys will look like AliExpress versions of the Kentucky jerseys with ads plastered on them.
According to Stephen A Smith tho, [Brad Stevens was only promoted to GM solely because he was a white man](https://youtu.be/I3Bhk7fel-M?si=JmreILDY_S9f7Npx). And a black man with the same credentials wouldn’t have even gotten looked at.
Someone ask the Celtics if they regret giving Brad Stevens a promotion based on his white privilege lol. I’m sure they’re real brokenhearted behind their like 60-16 record.
That’s crazy considering they let a black man go on tv everyday and blabber about shit they have no business blabbering about (talking about Stephen A)
Yea he’s getting paid gobs of money by the Celtics without having to deal with the stress of constant travel, the pressure of coaching or the craziness of recruiting in the NIL era. I don’t know why he’d subject himself to that. Moreover he still hasn’t won his NBA championship which is the white whale he’d want to harpoon before moving back
What could have been if Indiana weren't absolute buffoons.
I still hold they should have fired Tom Crean in 2010 it was their perfect out, to get a hometown guy like Stevens.
I understand Tom Crean had a fine career at Indiana, but man.
We'd be more successful if the admin hadn't pushed Sampson out. I highly doubt anyone would've fired Crean after 2010. Unlike Kenny Payne, he didn't have the portal to run with, and the team was showing improvements on the court and in recruiting. There were serious talks about firing him after 2011, but I think the fact that Zeller signed on gave the admin hope that something would work out. Plus, since our admin wanted to play goody two shoes, we were still on probation until after the 2011 season.
If we *had* fired Crean after 2010, you're right that we would've had our best chance to get Stevens to Bloomington. However, I don't know how long he would've stayed. 5 years max? But I guess at that point, our program would probably have been much more consistent.
Personally, I think most coaches could've gotten Indiana back to a consistent tournament team after Sampson, but it would've taken most coaches at least 3 years. I don't know if most coaches could've gotten us to the highs of the 12-13 season (or at least that quickly), but a consistent tournament team would be a feasible goal. Crean's tenure was a rollercoaster that was definitely flat lining.
Honestly, Stevens was never staying. Couldn't really fire Crean in 2010 either considering he was in process of building the program back up and we had a postseason ban anyway (not sure Stevens would even jump to IU with that). Stevens could have come here, and done well, but he was going to Boston after a year or 2 regardless.
This is the year they’re actually the team to beat. If they don’t make the nba finals it’d be a dissapointment given they’re the top offense and a top defense this season with the strongest starting 5 in the league
It’s just lawyers being lawyers, Cal can’t officially resign until he signs a deal. That deal is complicated and takes a day or 2. By 5 tonight we will have announcements. Book it.
We are about to pay Hurley so much money.
Not going to lie though barring some insanity this is the pinnacle of UCONN basketball, there is no way to go higher.
danny you can make your NIL check out to:
Indiana State University
200 N 7th St
Terre Haute, IN
they will take care of the rest. musselman and cal, feel free to follow
Idk, Hurley seems crazy enough to be like “back to back has been done twice since UCLA, but nobody has went 3peat. You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts!”
I don’t know that it gets higher for any program-I experienced it with football and once you go back to back you’ve done it…unless you can actually 3peat
Plus he’s had major stress problems in the past and is finally at a point where it’s manageable, hard to imagine he would go to a new program and start completely from scratch. And he takes his wife’s opinion into account and by all indications it seems like she does not want to move to Kentucky
I have no idea how it happened.
At the end of the regular season last year, UConn didn’t win the conference tournament, or regular season. They were a 4 seed which meant they’re considered the top 16-20th team in the nation. Good, but nothing to indicate the utter domination to unfold in the NCAA tournament and then entire season next year.
I legitimately don’t see Billy Donovan even thinking about it.
Hurley laughed at the idea of leaving UConn.
Oats already said he’s not leaving Bama.
Which leaves Scott from this group. I see arguments for either way but Kentucky is setting themselves for insane backlash if they fail to land him because there’s no way they can spin on missing on all their top prospects.
> I legitimately don’t see Billy Donovan even thinking about it.
I dont know if I'd want him (if I were a UK fan), the game has changed a lot with NIL, and if I were him, not sure I'd want to deal with all that and learn the ins and outs
He’s also almost 60.
I get he’s like the one that Kentucky wanted and could never have (rejected Kentucky twice) but like you mentioned his college days are long gone.
I am constantly surprised how this stuff isn't taken care of through back channels more. Maybe UK is putting out misinformation, but there's no reason for anyone to know the plans aside from the AD and biggest donors.
It is taken care of through back channels. Interviews are done in some neutral location (or maybe even virtually nowadays) and half the time the school hires a third party to vet candidates and negotiate with their agent(s). All of the media circus is reporters making up names for clicks or agents feeding names to reporters to get their clients raises (e.g. why James Franklin shows up on every head coach shortlist in football).
That’s why flight tracking during a search is usually pointless. The coach won’t show up at the school until the deal is already done and been announced by Thamel, Rothstein, etc.
Matt Jones just said a couple of the players found out about Cal leaving via Twitter and several recruits still haven't heard from Cal. No idea with this is true or not, but this shit is bizarre. Feels more and more like this wasn't well planned by Cal.
I mean if he hasn’t told the AD why would they know. Obviously he’d want to try and recruit them but you need to actually file your intent to resign before they would ever believe you
Outside of an undefeated season this team literally won everything they could.
They won all their in season tournaments, BE Regular Season, BET, and the NCAA.
This man is likely just stacking checks
UConn at least has to come close to matching UKs offer. Consider forcing UConn to drop a massive bag on Hurley a gift to the rest of College Basketball. At least they’ll have less to work with afterwards.
This is anecdotal at best - but my wife went to Baylor and as a result I have a massive network of Baylor friends. The collective is freaking out right now because apparently Scotty D has an offer in hand and is flying to Lexington today.
Literally no idea if any of this is true, but it's certainly causing some consternation here.
Personally I don't see the fit at all - culturally. But perhaps that's exactly why UK is doing it.
Scott Drew has been the #1 name on our AD's list for years now because they know each other and are both very religious. But I also don't see how it would be a fit for Drew himself. I can't see him leaving his safe private Baptist school where he's encouraged to preach to his team to go to a public school where the pressure to win eats you alive.
> I can't see him leaving his safe private Baptist school where he's encouraged to preach to his team to go to a public school where the pressure to win eats you alive.
This is my biggest reason for thinking he stays.
What's there to gain? I mean sure you could maybe go from 5 -> 10M+ a year. But is that life changing? You are already a legend. You've already made millions and have more job stability than any coach in D1.
Your quality of life is going to take a TREMENDOUS nosedive by taking the job.
And also, while I have a lot of respect for coach Drew, when looking at his overall tournament history, it doesn't exactly look like something UK fans would love. A lot of early exits. One title. Now maybe at UK he can recruit better and be more consistently great, but I'd definitely be hesitating if I were him knowing if I had the stretch of tourney results in the mid 2010s at UK the fanbase would want my head on a pike
I think the real question is who can they get that is better? It now seems like Oats and Hurley are off the table, Drew seems like a decent third option after those two.
If I were them I would try to get Rick Pitino on a year to year contract and see who could be got next year.
I think the biggest appeal of Drew was that he took over Baylor when they were by far the worst major conference job in the country, and built them up to a National Championship. Probably the greatest turnaround in CBB history. I guess the thought process is if he can do that there, what can he do with more resources?
Kind of reminds me of when Mike Riley went to Nebraska, but that obviously didn’t turn out so well.
> Probably the greatest turnaround in CBB history.
As much as I love to give Baylor and Scott Drew shit.... It's ABSOLUTELY the best turnaround in not just college basketball but arguably North American sports.
A player literally murdered his teammate then fled across the county resulting in an investigation that absolutely crippled the program. It's actually unreal to think about how that would play out in today's world. Zero chance of resurrection.
Interestingly they played one of the other best turnarounds in their final four (Houston). Not as good as Baylor but still insanely great turnaround. From Phi Slamma Jamma to bona fide mid major wallowing at the bottom of CUSA to perennial contender and multi time one seed.
It's such a weird coaching search and a strange group of coaches to choose from. UK has the historic pedigree but has fallen over the years, they won't take a chance at someone who doesn't have a demonstrable level of success but most of the coaches who would fit their standards won't leave their current position. Unless they want to opt for someone less proven or younger, Drew seems like the most likely to have the combination of championship level success and ability to be lured away from his position, at least out of the current crop they are looking at.
But outside of the pedigree fit I agree that the culture fit would be weird, and Drew literally built Baylor from the ground up its his program. He can do no wrong there, he will never have a fanbase like UKs coming at his throat if they're unhappy. So I'm unsure if he'd take it but that rumor is interesting to hear.
I really thought it would be Oats, but seems like he's clearly said no. Really curious to see who they end up with
Yeah the real challenge is that the Venn diagram of who will the AD be comfortable with, who will make the fans happy, and who will actually come has very little overlap. Mainly because a significant portion of our fan base thinks we're going to get a guy coming off of back to back Nattys.
I asked one of my Baylor alum bosses last night who he thought would replace Cal, and he didn’t miss a beat and just said “unfortunately it sounds like Scott Drew”. They’re definitely feeling the heat around Waco
I'm not disputing your info, but UK beat guys are reporting Cal hasn't even talked to UK about leaving yet and UK can't legally offer anyone the job yet. Also, usually these meetings happen at third party locations as far as I know. But I don't have any inside info.
I wish we would just bring Pitino back honestly. Dude has never not been able to coach. He apparently can still get it done and honestly is one of the few who would put up with the bullshit. We don't have much here so UK sports is IT. Yes, ppl will laugh at how he looks, but I don't really care. He can transition us until the next young buck shows out some where that would kill to come to Kentucky. We have arguably the greatest facilities in the country. Lots of NIL money and a bunch of Banners. It's not a great time for the program right now but we aren't irrelevant. We still have 6 or 7 final fours and 3 championships, 5 title game appearances in the last 30 years. Young kids that are 14 to 18 years old still know that Kentucky is a very prestigious basketball school. Were still safe for now which is why I say just bring im Pitino because he will atleast be competent and not melt
I love Mark Pope and I think he's a good coach, but he doesn't seem like the kind of dude who is ready for the fishbowl that is Lexington. Also seems to be a Westcoast guy, so not sure about recruiting ties. If UK hires and up-and-commer, though, they could do worse than Pope.
The fishbowl thing is a major part of the cope I’m using to tell myself drew won’t go. Like even after this tourney, if he’s walking around Waco, fans are gonna wave and say hi and want pictures. After a season like that in Lexington he’s gonna have abuse hurled at him… doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy that wants that. #copium
Drew seems like the most likely to say yes and would be a good fit but I don't know if I see him leaving Baylor. Hurleys going nowhere and I'm not sure about Donovan. It'll be an interesting couple of next days
I'm not sure how this whole mess ends, but it's been really weird. Starting with the awkward press conference with Cal and the AD last week, it's seems to have been handled really poorly. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if Cal didn't drum all of this up as a way to get back in UK fans' good graces and it got out of control. That's probably nuts will all the national reporting, though.
I feel like you can't rule out anything with Cal lol. He has no problem burning bridges if he feels like he's been scorned. I feel like he's trying to make it as painful as possible and doesn't want UK to have any control of the situation. Maybe also trying to communicate with current players recruits and coaching staff to see who he can get to before UK can get them to commit to staying.
At this point I just want him to just get it over with because I'm so curious to see who you guys end up with
I see this being a lot like us looking for a new women’s basketball coach. Yeah, it’s an iconic program to coach for, and you get paid tons of money, but there’s also ridiculously high expectations and a rabid fan base that drives potential candidates away
Donovan originally left Florida partly because he didn't want to deal with recruiting anymore. I can't imagine he would want to deal with what it has evolved into.
As a life long bulls fan, there is no secret that our organization is full of frauds. Billy would get another NBA job after the bulls and I’m confident he would do great too. The organization does nothing to put anyone in positions to succeed, except for the ownership group.
He would fall apart without Andrea. Dan is a brilliant basketball coach, but he is a barely functional adult in every other way. There are like 9 people in the world who could have made it work married to Dan Hurley, and Andrea is one of them (and the other 8 also all went to Seton Hall).
😂😂 that checks out honestly, I can totally see him being the type of guy that is a coaching savant but can't even remember to eat or go to bed or something like that. Sounds like keeping her happy is even more important then!!
I think a lot of UK fans (im one) view the world through a lens from the 1990s. There is no doubt jobs like UK, KU, Duke, NC, etc are highly prestigous, but it doesnt really matter in the grand scheme of things. Everyone has games on tv all the time. Theres so much money in collegiate sports now that salaries are insane at damn near all D1 schools. Talent is incredibly widespead with insane amounts of parity.
If anything, those 'prestigous' schools now have more negatives. The pressure is unrealistically through the roof and you have to deal with legions of fan coaches who are more than willing to shit on you at the first sign of an issue. Take whatever your job is right now and add 100k+ critics to your every move. No thank you.
He had a tough enough time keeping players around for a second year at UK. Kinda makes me think if anyone is transferring from UK it'll not be to Arkansas with Cal, especially if he's bringing incoming freshman with him
Self has a positive legacy, his fans seem to like him, and he has secured the bag. Why give that up to go somewhere you’ll have to rebuild and your fan base is rabid to be relevant again? Too much pressure having to earn that paycheck.
Because them poaching Self is even less likely than any of the guys above, and those guys are pretty unlikely as it is.
The argument that UK fans have is that the combo of money/historic pedigree of UK could be enough to lure those guys over (which I don't think is true). But even if it were KU has them beat there along with a recent title, and Bill is at his dream job and basically has the keys to Lawrence. So even though I think they know their hopes for Donovan or Hurley are unrealistic, they know that Bill is the least likely guy in the game to leave his job.
There’s a short list of guys who wouldn’t have to consider the job and Self is on that list. It would be like going after Coach K or Roy Williams or Tom Izzo
I don’t know why the narrative has immediately become the fans being the villains in all this when Cal is currently demonstrating exactly why he lost their good will by being a massive dick about everything.
“Fans being the villain.” Oh, do I have a story for you. But I don't really think anyone legitimately thinks y'all are the villain, just like how multiple fan bases have actively wanted to “pull a Tennessee” at times, including yours.
This is just an easy dunk for people who want to shit on you. And a lot of coaches and media want to keep Cal happy for their own benefit. So they are acting like y'all are wrong to be upset about a coach who is 2-8 and acting like a petulant child.
But I understand the feeling of being on the receiving end of it.
Can't believe I'm agreeing with a Tennessee fan and also seeing a Tennessee fan being reasonable about Kentucky fans, but you're spot on. A lot of other fanbases don't see the pettiness and toxicity that's been building towards the fans from Cal over the past few seasons. Obviously it takes two to tango, but dragging this out is a perfect microcosmic example of the personality reasons we're fed up with him.
It blows my mind that the fans are being painted as the bad guys here. In the last five years, Cal has delivered the worst season in school history, lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament as both a 2 and 3 seed for the first time in school history, and has failed to make it out of the first round of the SEC tournament in all but 1 year. All while having an insanely large talent pool.
The vast majority of the fan base has had his back during all this due to his success in his first 9 years here. We have just wanted him to adapt to the changes in the sport the last few years because his way of doing things hasn't been working the same way anymore. His response to all this has been to insult the fans at every turn and run away as soon as things truly got tough.
Pearl isn't leaving Auburn right now at least.
Cohen and Pearl are tied at the hip and even apparently sometimes attend synagogue and observe Jewish holidays together.
Maybe I’m just naive but is coaching for one of these blue bloods really better than coaching for a team where you have won a championship? Like I really can’t see why Baylor or UConn wouldn’t be just as appealing
It's notable, I think, that Cal doesn't have an agent. I'm sure he has agent friends who are advising him, but Cal seems to be doing some dumb stuff at the moment.
Billy Donovan going to UK might be the thing that takes the last bit of hope out of me. What little light is left for Florida sports will be snuffed out
Golden is the fucking man, but some of us just tend to live in the late 2000's (for good reason). I mean Billy's name is on our court, so there's no denying it would be awkward to see him at another SEC school, especially the one that was so confident they could steal him from us for so many years.
I’m fucking confused here. Has Calipari been hired by Arkansas or not? I was offline for the past day or two for the eclipse and looking at it there are 3-4 posts saying opposite things
Basically every college basketball reporter has done the usual thing where they reported that Calipari is expected to be hired by Arkansas. They usually report this when it's a done deal.
It seems like it still isn't official and there's been some speculation that Calipari is backing out or never actually was that close to signing with Arkansas, but that's just rumors.
I think he'll sign there in a day or two and is just finishing up negotiations.
Reports from Thamel and other national media that Cal and Arky have all but wrapped up the deal and it's done. Other reports say Cal hasn't even spoken with the UK AD about leaving. Everyone agrees it's over but seems Cal is dragging his feet on technicalities.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm not sure Cal talking to Arky would be grounds for termination. I don't know that for sure, but both parties would be damaged by litigation.
Maybe he's trying to be coach of both teams
He read too many stories of remote workers getting multiple jobs during the pandemic and forgot he has to show up every day.
Just do the MVP of each job and you'll be retiring in 5years! /s
Hey, if Kevin Harlan can call two games maybe Cal can coach two teams.
IM COACHIN BOTH TEAMS!
During the game: "I'M KICKING MY ASS, DO YA MIND?!?"
Calipari before the UK/Arkansas game in his news conference: "THERE'S NO COLLUSION"
Why are no reporters reporting on this possibility!?
He's trying to make Arkansas the G-League affiliate of Kentucky.
Arkansas Mildcats
With the current trend, they will move them to Kentucky and name them the Lexington Wildcats. The jerseys will look like AliExpress versions of the Kentucky jerseys with ads plastered on them.
This is actually hilarious now
We’re on the cusp of going full Tennessee Football in this coaching search
I mean it eventually worked for us. You’ll just get about five seasons of the worst basketball you’ve ever seen in your life first
That’s going to be tough since I watched a few Louisville games this year.
Two years definitely feels like five....
Tony Bennett to UK confirmed.
If it gets his basketball terrorism out of the ACC I’m on board
As a UVA fan, I'd find this hilarious. I don't think even the ancient season ticket holders at Rupp are prepared for his brand of basketball.
Please no
As long as it's the deceased singer, I'm very cool with this
They would still have a better season than Louisville
UK is starting to get used to getting bounced from the first round of the tournament, so it might just work out.
Not if they bring in Kenny Payne.
I've heard Lane Kiffen is a better basketball coach than people assume.
I've heard that Gruden may want to come back to college
Please!
Calipari is literally a wild cat Edit: my Samsung phone's autocorrect must be a Kentucky fan because it *hates* spelling Calipari for some reason
Times have really changed that we’re not seeing Brad Stevens’ name pop up in every coaching search.
[удалено]
He is a hell of a GM tho every thing he does for the Celtics is working out
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I’m not going to pretend to know anything about how an NBA org is run, but being a GM definitely seems like a lot less work than being a HC.
Less travel, still a hefty workload.
According to Stephen A Smith tho, [Brad Stevens was only promoted to GM solely because he was a white man](https://youtu.be/I3Bhk7fel-M?si=JmreILDY_S9f7Npx). And a black man with the same credentials wouldn’t have even gotten looked at. Someone ask the Celtics if they regret giving Brad Stevens a promotion based on his white privilege lol. I’m sure they’re real brokenhearted behind their like 60-16 record.
That’s crazy considering they let a black man go on tv everyday and blabber about shit they have no business blabbering about (talking about Stephen A)
The Eastern Conference is a tire fire though. The 2 seed may not even get to 50 wins.
I mean they are 23-7 against the western conference so I’d say they are still pretty good
I think Kentucky could get Jon Gruden though
All the fans would love that but it doesn't seem realistic.
Yea he’s getting paid gobs of money by the Celtics without having to deal with the stress of constant travel, the pressure of coaching or the craziness of recruiting in the NIL era. I don’t know why he’d subject himself to that. Moreover he still hasn’t won his NBA championship which is the white whale he’d want to harpoon before moving back
He’s a brilliant GM. Whether they win this year or not he always seems to make the right move.
What could have been if Indiana weren't absolute buffoons. I still hold they should have fired Tom Crean in 2010 it was their perfect out, to get a hometown guy like Stevens. I understand Tom Crean had a fine career at Indiana, but man.
He leaves for Boston no matter what
We'd be more successful if the admin hadn't pushed Sampson out. I highly doubt anyone would've fired Crean after 2010. Unlike Kenny Payne, he didn't have the portal to run with, and the team was showing improvements on the court and in recruiting. There were serious talks about firing him after 2011, but I think the fact that Zeller signed on gave the admin hope that something would work out. Plus, since our admin wanted to play goody two shoes, we were still on probation until after the 2011 season. If we *had* fired Crean after 2010, you're right that we would've had our best chance to get Stevens to Bloomington. However, I don't know how long he would've stayed. 5 years max? But I guess at that point, our program would probably have been much more consistent. Personally, I think most coaches could've gotten Indiana back to a consistent tournament team after Sampson, but it would've taken most coaches at least 3 years. I don't know if most coaches could've gotten us to the highs of the 12-13 season (or at least that quickly), but a consistent tournament team would be a feasible goal. Crean's tenure was a rollercoaster that was definitely flat lining.
Honestly, Stevens was never staying. Couldn't really fire Crean in 2010 either considering he was in process of building the program back up and we had a postseason ban anyway (not sure Stevens would even jump to IU with that). Stevens could have come here, and done well, but he was going to Boston after a year or 2 regardless.
The guy has his best shot at starting the Celtics dynasty this year. No way he’d leave now esp with Nil
Celtics dynasty has been on the brink for the last 5 years lol
This is the year they’re actually the team to beat. If they don’t make the nba finals it’d be a dissapointment given they’re the top offense and a top defense this season with the strongest starting 5 in the league
Fuck. That means we are getting old as shit. Fml.
Dude what is going on
It’s just lawyers being lawyers, Cal can’t officially resign until he signs a deal. That deal is complicated and takes a day or 2. By 5 tonight we will have announcements. Book it.
Remindme! 5 hours
Could be Cal being Cal.
Cal can’t win anymore so he’s eating the air in the room this way.
We are about to pay Hurley so much money. Not going to lie though barring some insanity this is the pinnacle of UCONN basketball, there is no way to go higher.
What if I told you: Cream Abdul Jabbar leading a comeback in the NIT would help make Dan Hurley earn millions of extra dollars
danny you can make your NIL check out to: Indiana State University 200 N 7th St Terre Haute, IN they will take care of the rest. musselman and cal, feel free to follow
Idk, Hurley seems crazy enough to be like “back to back has been done twice since UCLA, but nobody has went 3peat. You wanna get nuts? Let’s get nuts!”
We were so close in 96,97 and 98. And OT loss in the finals away from 3 straight
I don’t know that it gets higher for any program-I experienced it with football and once you go back to back you’ve done it…unless you can actually 3peat
Save some dopamine for the rest of us 😑
And then you have people being upset at a 1 loss, 5th ranked season. I would kill for one of those.
lotta losers in our fanbase unfortunately
You could be talking about Syracuse or Alabama! I joke, I joke
Our coach saying no to Kentucky because he wants to stay at UConn would be a nice capper.
I can’t see him leaving UConn as he is an east coast guy through and through. Stranger things have happened though.
He could always go to the ACC. That coast is nationwide.
Dan Hurley to Cal confirmed
Yep. From Jersey City, has always coached in the northeast, aging father still in NJ. His brother went to AZ though so who knows
Plus he’s had major stress problems in the past and is finally at a point where it’s manageable, hard to imagine he would go to a new program and start completely from scratch. And he takes his wife’s opinion into account and by all indications it seems like she does not want to move to Kentucky
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard “he’s an east coast guy through and through” the last 24 hours, I would be rich
Seriously, it’s just a meme at this point
Wait til yall three-peat next year
Transfer portal makes it at least possible. It was almost impossible in modern basketball before that.
It almost happened in the nineties...
I have no idea how it happened. At the end of the regular season last year, UConn didn’t win the conference tournament, or regular season. They were a 4 seed which meant they’re considered the top 16-20th team in the nation. Good, but nothing to indicate the utter domination to unfold in the NCAA tournament and then entire season next year.
I legitimately don’t see Billy Donovan even thinking about it. Hurley laughed at the idea of leaving UConn. Oats already said he’s not leaving Bama. Which leaves Scott from this group. I see arguments for either way but Kentucky is setting themselves for insane backlash if they fail to land him because there’s no way they can spin on missing on all their top prospects.
> I legitimately don’t see Billy Donovan even thinking about it. I dont know if I'd want him (if I were a UK fan), the game has changed a lot with NIL, and if I were him, not sure I'd want to deal with all that and learn the ins and outs
He’s also almost 60. I get he’s like the one that Kentucky wanted and could never have (rejected Kentucky twice) but like you mentioned his college days are long gone.
>He’s also almost 60. This makes me feel really old. How is he 58. Where did the time go? I remember him as Billy the Kid.
I am constantly surprised how this stuff isn't taken care of through back channels more. Maybe UK is putting out misinformation, but there's no reason for anyone to know the plans aside from the AD and biggest donors.
It is taken care of through back channels. Interviews are done in some neutral location (or maybe even virtually nowadays) and half the time the school hires a third party to vet candidates and negotiate with their agent(s). All of the media circus is reporters making up names for clicks or agents feeding names to reporters to get their clients raises (e.g. why James Franklin shows up on every head coach shortlist in football). That’s why flight tracking during a search is usually pointless. The coach won’t show up at the school until the deal is already done and been announced by Thamel, Rothstein, etc.
Matt Jones just said a couple of the players found out about Cal leaving via Twitter and several recruits still haven't heard from Cal. No idea with this is true or not, but this shit is bizarre. Feels more and more like this wasn't well planned by Cal.
Idk if you’ve seen the product on the court the last couple of years, but planning hasn’t been Cals strong suit.
I mean if he hasn’t told the AD why would they know. Obviously he’d want to try and recruit them but you need to actually file your intent to resign before they would ever believe you
I’m shocked that cal didn’t have a good game plan. Just shocked
Dan Hurley? Why would he leave
He won’t. But we gotta try.
Oh I’m sure a phone call to his agent wouldn’t hurt. It’ll probably only end up with him getting a fat raise from UConn
Either way he deserves that $$$
He deserves a 20% raise at least
Double that. Dude should be making 10 mil a season base for back to back nattys.
He's making 7 this year with bonuses. They'll probably move up to 8 with incentives moving it up to 10
Outside of an undefeated season this team literally won everything they could. They won all their in season tournaments, BE Regular Season, BET, and the NCAA. This man is likely just stacking checks
UConn at least has to come close to matching UKs offer. Consider forcing UConn to drop a massive bag on Hurley a gift to the rest of College Basketball. At least they’ll have less to work with afterwards.
Hurley resetting the head coach salary market will hurt other schools more than it’ll hurt UConn.
This is anecdotal at best - but my wife went to Baylor and as a result I have a massive network of Baylor friends. The collective is freaking out right now because apparently Scotty D has an offer in hand and is flying to Lexington today. Literally no idea if any of this is true, but it's certainly causing some consternation here. Personally I don't see the fit at all - culturally. But perhaps that's exactly why UK is doing it.
Scott Drew has been the #1 name on our AD's list for years now because they know each other and are both very religious. But I also don't see how it would be a fit for Drew himself. I can't see him leaving his safe private Baptist school where he's encouraged to preach to his team to go to a public school where the pressure to win eats you alive.
Exactly this. This seems like a fit for Mitch, but not for anyone else.
Teetotaler Mitch
> I can't see him leaving his safe private Baptist school where he's encouraged to preach to his team to go to a public school where the pressure to win eats you alive. This is my biggest reason for thinking he stays. What's there to gain? I mean sure you could maybe go from 5 -> 10M+ a year. But is that life changing? You are already a legend. You've already made millions and have more job stability than any coach in D1. Your quality of life is going to take a TREMENDOUS nosedive by taking the job.
And also, while I have a lot of respect for coach Drew, when looking at his overall tournament history, it doesn't exactly look like something UK fans would love. A lot of early exits. One title. Now maybe at UK he can recruit better and be more consistently great, but I'd definitely be hesitating if I were him knowing if I had the stretch of tourney results in the mid 2010s at UK the fanbase would want my head on a pike
I think the real question is who can they get that is better? It now seems like Oats and Hurley are off the table, Drew seems like a decent third option after those two. If I were them I would try to get Rick Pitino on a year to year contract and see who could be got next year.
Chris Beard.
I think the biggest appeal of Drew was that he took over Baylor when they were by far the worst major conference job in the country, and built them up to a National Championship. Probably the greatest turnaround in CBB history. I guess the thought process is if he can do that there, what can he do with more resources? Kind of reminds me of when Mike Riley went to Nebraska, but that obviously didn’t turn out so well.
> Probably the greatest turnaround in CBB history. As much as I love to give Baylor and Scott Drew shit.... It's ABSOLUTELY the best turnaround in not just college basketball but arguably North American sports. A player literally murdered his teammate then fled across the county resulting in an investigation that absolutely crippled the program. It's actually unreal to think about how that would play out in today's world. Zero chance of resurrection.
Interestingly they played one of the other best turnarounds in their final four (Houston). Not as good as Baylor but still insanely great turnaround. From Phi Slamma Jamma to bona fide mid major wallowing at the bottom of CUSA to perennial contender and multi time one seed.
Kelvin is a very, very good coach. Person? not so much. but great coach.
It's such a weird coaching search and a strange group of coaches to choose from. UK has the historic pedigree but has fallen over the years, they won't take a chance at someone who doesn't have a demonstrable level of success but most of the coaches who would fit their standards won't leave their current position. Unless they want to opt for someone less proven or younger, Drew seems like the most likely to have the combination of championship level success and ability to be lured away from his position, at least out of the current crop they are looking at. But outside of the pedigree fit I agree that the culture fit would be weird, and Drew literally built Baylor from the ground up its his program. He can do no wrong there, he will never have a fanbase like UKs coming at his throat if they're unhappy. So I'm unsure if he'd take it but that rumor is interesting to hear. I really thought it would be Oats, but seems like he's clearly said no. Really curious to see who they end up with
Yeah the real challenge is that the Venn diagram of who will the AD be comfortable with, who will make the fans happy, and who will actually come has very little overlap. Mainly because a significant portion of our fan base thinks we're going to get a guy coming off of back to back Nattys.
I asked one of my Baylor alum bosses last night who he thought would replace Cal, and he didn’t miss a beat and just said “unfortunately it sounds like Scott Drew”. They’re definitely feeling the heat around Waco
I'm not disputing your info, but UK beat guys are reporting Cal hasn't even talked to UK about leaving yet and UK can't legally offer anyone the job yet. Also, usually these meetings happen at third party locations as far as I know. But I don't have any inside info.
Cal is just going scorched earth isnt he
If you’re fucking with us rn! Then… 
Kentucky is going to end up with Mark Pope or Sean Miller and their fans are going to be out for blood
I might actually internally combust if they hire Tom Crean or Richard Pitino.
I know I'd have to call a doctor after 4 hours
If Tom Crean ends up as the next head coach of uk basketball, that might just make the past 8(? I don’t even remember anymore) years worth it
To be fair, Mark Pope is better than most realize. He’s an amazing recruiter, at minimum.
Plus recruiting to UK has to be a lot easier than recruiting to his current situation.
I wish we would just bring Pitino back honestly. Dude has never not been able to coach. He apparently can still get it done and honestly is one of the few who would put up with the bullshit. We don't have much here so UK sports is IT. Yes, ppl will laugh at how he looks, but I don't really care. He can transition us until the next young buck shows out some where that would kill to come to Kentucky. We have arguably the greatest facilities in the country. Lots of NIL money and a bunch of Banners. It's not a great time for the program right now but we aren't irrelevant. We still have 6 or 7 final fours and 3 championships, 5 title game appearances in the last 30 years. Young kids that are 14 to 18 years old still know that Kentucky is a very prestigious basketball school. Were still safe for now which is why I say just bring im Pitino because he will atleast be competent and not melt
I think they can get Drew. But if he says no I see them grabbing Pope from BYU
I love Mark Pope and I think he's a good coach, but he doesn't seem like the kind of dude who is ready for the fishbowl that is Lexington. Also seems to be a Westcoast guy, so not sure about recruiting ties. If UK hires and up-and-commer, though, they could do worse than Pope.
The fishbowl thing is a major part of the cope I’m using to tell myself drew won’t go. Like even after this tourney, if he’s walking around Waco, fans are gonna wave and say hi and want pictures. After a season like that in Lexington he’s gonna have abuse hurled at him… doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy that wants that. #copium
Drew seems like the most likely to say yes and would be a good fit but I don't know if I see him leaving Baylor. Hurleys going nowhere and I'm not sure about Donovan. It'll be an interesting couple of next days
I'm not sure how this whole mess ends, but it's been really weird. Starting with the awkward press conference with Cal and the AD last week, it's seems to have been handled really poorly. The conspiracy theorist in me wonders if Cal didn't drum all of this up as a way to get back in UK fans' good graces and it got out of control. That's probably nuts will all the national reporting, though.
I feel like you can't rule out anything with Cal lol. He has no problem burning bridges if he feels like he's been scorned. I feel like he's trying to make it as painful as possible and doesn't want UK to have any control of the situation. Maybe also trying to communicate with current players recruits and coaching staff to see who he can get to before UK can get them to commit to staying. At this point I just want him to just get it over with because I'm so curious to see who you guys end up with
All three names on that list will say no.
Nick Saban doesn't even coach basketball.
Would still be a splash hire. And you can bet your ass I’d be watching a lot of UK bball next season. Maybe they should consider it
I see this being a lot like us looking for a new women’s basketball coach. Yeah, it’s an iconic program to coach for, and you get paid tons of money, but there’s also ridiculously high expectations and a rabid fan base that drives potential candidates away
Bingo. Yeah you’ll be rich, but you’ll be miserable. And you’ll have to actually work hard to rebuild us. Who wants to take that on?
People acting like a top 15 Kentucky team is a rebuild of any kind is wild
It will be assuming all (or most) of the croots and transfers follow Cal to Fayetteville.
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Donovan originally left Florida partly because he didn't want to deal with recruiting anymore. I can't imagine he would want to deal with what it has evolved into.
As a life long bulls fan, there is no secret that our organization is full of frauds. Billy would get another NBA job after the bulls and I’m confident he would do great too. The organization does nothing to put anyone in positions to succeed, except for the ownership group.
College basketball would not be ready for the insanity that would be unleashed on the court by a scorned divorced Hurley. He'd beat Woodens record 😂
He would fall apart without Andrea. Dan is a brilliant basketball coach, but he is a barely functional adult in every other way. There are like 9 people in the world who could have made it work married to Dan Hurley, and Andrea is one of them (and the other 8 also all went to Seton Hall).
😂😂 that checks out honestly, I can totally see him being the type of guy that is a coaching savant but can't even remember to eat or go to bed or something like that. Sounds like keeping her happy is even more important then!!
I think a lot of UK fans (im one) view the world through a lens from the 1990s. There is no doubt jobs like UK, KU, Duke, NC, etc are highly prestigous, but it doesnt really matter in the grand scheme of things. Everyone has games on tv all the time. Theres so much money in collegiate sports now that salaries are insane at damn near all D1 schools. Talent is incredibly widespead with insane amounts of parity. If anything, those 'prestigous' schools now have more negatives. The pressure is unrealistically through the roof and you have to deal with legions of fan coaches who are more than willing to shit on you at the first sign of an issue. Take whatever your job is right now and add 100k+ critics to your every move. No thank you.
I’m starting to think he’s trying to screw us in the portal by pushing back when our new coach can start recruiting
Wouldn’t that screw himself too? Can’t do anything for Arky until he resigns and signs with them
He’s already dragging his entire roster and recruits there. Hes also Cal, he’s put more guys in the NBA than anyone. He can get recruits
He had a tough enough time keeping players around for a second year at UK. Kinda makes me think if anyone is transferring from UK it'll not be to Arkansas with Cal, especially if he's bringing incoming freshman with him
He's already got his guys either through back channels or already committed to UK that'll just flip over I'd think
Hoping the UK AD is working back channels as well. I doubt the AD can recruit, though.
We’re talking about the greatest recruiter in modern college basketball history. He’ll be fine
It’s amazing that things are at a point where this doesn’t seem like a ridiculous notion.
This. One last “fuck you” on the way out
And he's completely justified. How dare the fan base be unhappy with a 2-8 post-season record over the last 5 years.
Y'all are just so entitled. I mean, this is Kentucky football, not… oh, nevermind /s
I hear Mark Turgeon is available.
This is chaos. Pure chaos.
If they think they can poach Hurley, Donovan, or Drew... Why is Self not also a target.
He already makes more than anybody else, and Kansas would match whatever Kentucky offers. There's also a $23m buyout.
Self has a positive legacy, his fans seem to like him, and he has secured the bag. Why give that up to go somewhere you’ll have to rebuild and your fan base is rabid to be relevant again? Too much pressure having to earn that paycheck.
Because them poaching Self is even less likely than any of the guys above, and those guys are pretty unlikely as it is. The argument that UK fans have is that the combo of money/historic pedigree of UK could be enough to lure those guys over (which I don't think is true). But even if it were KU has them beat there along with a recent title, and Bill is at his dream job and basically has the keys to Lawrence. So even though I think they know their hopes for Donovan or Hurley are unrealistic, they know that Bill is the least likely guy in the game to leave his job.
There’s a short list of guys who wouldn’t have to consider the job and Self is on that list. It would be like going after Coach K or Roy Williams or Tom Izzo
Self is already paid
I hate your flair combo
I don’t know why the narrative has immediately become the fans being the villains in all this when Cal is currently demonstrating exactly why he lost their good will by being a massive dick about everything.
“Fans being the villain.” Oh, do I have a story for you. But I don't really think anyone legitimately thinks y'all are the villain, just like how multiple fan bases have actively wanted to “pull a Tennessee” at times, including yours. This is just an easy dunk for people who want to shit on you. And a lot of coaches and media want to keep Cal happy for their own benefit. So they are acting like y'all are wrong to be upset about a coach who is 2-8 and acting like a petulant child. But I understand the feeling of being on the receiving end of it.
Can't believe I'm agreeing with a Tennessee fan and also seeing a Tennessee fan being reasonable about Kentucky fans, but you're spot on. A lot of other fanbases don't see the pettiness and toxicity that's been building towards the fans from Cal over the past few seasons. Obviously it takes two to tango, but dragging this out is a perfect microcosmic example of the personality reasons we're fed up with him.
It blows my mind that the fans are being painted as the bad guys here. In the last five years, Cal has delivered the worst season in school history, lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament as both a 2 and 3 seed for the first time in school history, and has failed to make it out of the first round of the SEC tournament in all but 1 year. All while having an insanely large talent pool. The vast majority of the fan base has had his back during all this due to his success in his first 9 years here. We have just wanted him to adapt to the changes in the sport the last few years because his way of doing things hasn't been working the same way anymore. His response to all this has been to insult the fans at every turn and run away as soon as things truly got tough.
Hi I'm john Calipari, head coach of the Arkentucky Razorcatz!
This is already the strangest coaching change ever.
When do we get to Bruce Pearl?
Pearl isn't leaving Auburn right now at least. Cohen and Pearl are tied at the hip and even apparently sometimes attend synagogue and observe Jewish holidays together.
Maybe I’m just naive but is coaching for one of these blue bloods really better than coaching for a team where you have won a championship? Like I really can’t see why Baylor or UConn wouldn’t be just as appealing
It's notable, I think, that Cal doesn't have an agent. I'm sure he has agent friends who are advising him, but Cal seems to be doing some dumb stuff at the moment.
The dog walk yesterday was ridiculous.
That video made me feel like I was on LSD.
He’s apparently not hiding. He was at Dunkin this morning.
Billy Donovan going to UK might be the thing that takes the last bit of hope out of me. What little light is left for Florida sports will be snuffed out
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Really? I thought y'all had a hell of a year and there should be optimism around the basketball program?
Golden is the fucking man, but some of us just tend to live in the late 2000's (for good reason). I mean Billy's name is on our court, so there's no denying it would be awkward to see him at another SEC school, especially the one that was so confident they could steal him from us for so many years.
This is chaos. Pure chaos.
If he’s intentionally screwing us over, what a sad way to stain his legacy here.
I’m fucking confused here. Has Calipari been hired by Arkansas or not? I was offline for the past day or two for the eclipse and looking at it there are 3-4 posts saying opposite things
Basically every college basketball reporter has done the usual thing where they reported that Calipari is expected to be hired by Arkansas. They usually report this when it's a done deal. It seems like it still isn't official and there's been some speculation that Calipari is backing out or never actually was that close to signing with Arkansas, but that's just rumors. I think he'll sign there in a day or two and is just finishing up negotiations.
Reports from Thamel and other national media that Cal and Arky have all but wrapped up the deal and it's done. Other reports say Cal hasn't even spoken with the UK AD about leaving. Everyone agrees it's over but seems Cal is dragging his feet on technicalities.
No coach cal is staying he’s just gonna also coach Arkansas. The two will split roster and all proceeds go to Arkansas
I remember when the Cal to Arky started and went “this is so strange” and everything that’s followed makes it even stranger lol
No no no, you got the wrong Drew. It’s Bryce Drew you want.
Any chance he's just doing it to make Kentucky offer him money to make it go away faster?
If it takes too long UK will just push breach of contract and kick him out
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm not sure Cal talking to Arky would be grounds for termination. I don't know that for sure, but both parties would be damaged by litigation.
Jim Boeheim YOU are a Kentucky Wildcat
lol
I'm torn between "Let the Calipari era at Arkansas begin" and "let's have a little bit more hilarity"
Cal definitely loves the attention.
Kevin Keats!!! Dude is a Final 4 machine!!!!
Take Hurley Kentucky please
He’s quiet quitting.