For the record, I think the jury is still out on Pope. I never expected him to come in and light the world on fire immediately the way Calipari did, but he does encapsulate the culture and program pride that Kentucky fans finally longed for the longer the transient Calipari model wore thin on them. He's going to get a few years to prove himself and build the program his way, but his ultimate fate will be decided in the NCAAT, where he has never won a game, yet, in his coaching career spanning 9 years.
That being said, Saturday afternoon (prior to the UK-Ark game), I had a friend of mine who is a big UK fan approach me with the idea that he didn't understand how Pope wasn't the obvious frontrunner for COY given the circumstances he took over. 96 hours later, and that take has not aged well. Of course, I disagreed even before the consecutive losses, but also because rebuilding is so much easier, now. This person tried to argue that he had to replace the whole team...yada yada yada. I said why not Mark Byington, then? He replaced all 13 players at Vandy and beat UK and has a better record. I said why not Dennis Gates? He went 0-18 in the SEC last year, and is currently 17-4, 6-2 and ranked 15th in the nation. Then the goalposts shifted to the amount of pressure there is to win at UK compared to other places. Of course, I refuted by noting that pressure to win exists everywhere and isn't a factor taken into consideration in COY voting.
