Saunders now in the portal! BYU needs to make a hire fast and it better be somebody who can connect to the players because the first challenge will be reeling guys like Hall & Saunders back in and keeping others from jumping ship.
I can’t imagine Pope would need anybody on the current BYU roster. He can get who he wants. Very few on the BYU roster would crack the Kentucky rotation. After leaving the Y I hope Pope isn’t actively trying to gut BYU’s roster and get them to Kentucky. That would be the ultimate betrayal. I say take your dream job and use that big personality to build a new roster at UK and leave BYU alone. That is my two cents. He did a good job making BYU competitive in the Big 12 and if he goes after current BYU players he will leave the program in far worse shape than when he took it over. When he took the BYU job he had a good core of returning players to work with and he added a few pieces his first year but Rose left him a solid foundation to build on. There may be nothing left for the new coach and that would be really sad to see.
Yep! Agree with you completely. These players should get on their knees and ask if they are doing the right thing at this time. Like they did when they chose BYU.
Thank you. What I said was BYU came back with a good offer to try to keep Pope. I did not say it was close to the $5.5m because I don’t know the specifics—I only know what I was told, which was that it was a “good offer.”
Lots of drama being thrown around about Pope, and I don’t understand it. UK was ALWAYS his dream job, because that’s the school he truly loves, AND they will give him the bank. If he TRULY loved BYU he would have gone there in the first place to play—which he did not do. So the guy gets offered his dream job plus instant generational wealth—he’d be nuts not to take it!
I think Saunders and Robinson are athletic enough to compete at UK. Hall is a tough kid and a good player, but we all saw SEVERAL PGs have career games this year because Hall couldn’t guard them. I don’t see him getting time at UK.
If we lose Saunders, Robinson, and Chandler, with Adams already gone, this could be an absolutely horrid team next year. Like 2-16 in conference type of bad.
You know nothing about Knell’s integrity or lack thereof and you don’t get wins with integrity. It can help in other areas but if BYU is banking on having a successful season in the Big 12 next year and they are relying on players like Knell, I think 2-16 is being generous.
He also brought back Jake Toolson, Harwood and Lowell from UVU. and was very instrumental in keeping Alex Barcello to stay at BYU.
you brought a point about being a BYU guy… as if that was the magic bullet to have them stay,
So here is a list of coaches at BYU that never played at BYU
Lavell Edwards - USU
Frank Arnold - Idaho State and coached UCLA.
Bronco Mendenhall - OSU
Dave Rose - Houston
Steve Clevland - Fresno community
The point is the only “BYU guy” has been Kalani Sitake.
To me, I would like a coach more like Ron McBride, I want to make the coaching position a “destination” spot.
Absolutely, needs to be a guy who views BYU as a place he will stay at and build a great program not as a stepping stone to something else. To the best of my knowledge only Stan Watts was a BYU guy his entire life and his last season was 1971-72 over 50 years ago. Rose is the only other guy whose entire head coaching career was at BYU other than maybe a few ancient guys that pre-dated Watts and they were all before my lifetime.
We knew Pope had his sights on Kentucky from the get go. We just didn’t expect it to happen this soon. Nobody thought Calipari would leave until he retired. My hope after this season was that Pope would build a great Program at BYU and by the time Calipari retired he would decide BYU was a place for him to stay at.
Maybe Pope buys into the conspiracy that Jim does and it isn’t about where he played basketball at all. But more where he thinks referees will not be anti-Kentucky. He was devastated after the loss. He knew he had great players coming in and a better team next year. Maybe he thinks he can do the same thing and win a national championship at Kentucky and not at BYU. If that’s the case, then maybe he’s seeing the job in the wrong light. I’m sure NIL is also something as well.
Just remember, we are venting. Just like after football season. By the way, Frank Arnold was chased out by the faculty complaints. One of my teachers who was in charge of the PE department explained what some things that were going on. Arnold was pressuring teachers to change grades and stuff like that.
The ones I am interested in is:
Quincy Lewis - Lehi High school coach. He coached with Rose at BYU and before that at Lone Peak where he won several state championships (Which include the BYU three (Mika, Haws, Emery) He just won the state title at Lehi. He also has a very good son that is in the league of Chandler.
Alex Jensen - Former assistant coach at U o fU under Majerus, former assist coach on the Utah Jazz under Jerry Sloan, and every coach since. From what the jazz players say, he is really good. Add to the fact that he is a card-carrying member. That is always a plus. This might be a stretch, because he is an NBA coach, but both he and his wife are from Utah and maybe she wants to settle down in one place for a while. If there is a chance, he would be my choice. He is that good.
Burgess - Former BYU assistant coach, as well currently at U of U. I think it was Cummand that said Burgess helped him and his game or may have been Childs. Can’t remember. But he seems to be helping the big guys develop at Utah.
Cummand - Assistant coach on the women’s team. former BYU player. Just not sure how good of a coach he is.
Wonder if Judkins would consider coming back for the men’s team? A thought anyways.
Judkins is too old. There’s a couple others but that is a good list. Not sure about Quincy. As far as lifers, there’s a couple in the WCC you may have forgotten about. I wonder if either one of them played at Gonzaga or St. Mary’s. It would be interesting to know the real reason Pope left. It wasn’t because he played at Kentucky. Leaving without a goodbye. Either he sees BYU like Jim does with the anti-Mormon stamp on our foreheads or someone said something and he felt he had to leave. You know, those fans with lots of money and big mouths.
Just a lot of speculation by you. He has not stated goodbye and thank you to the Rock or any of the fans. He left so fast. Probably a wave good by as he left the building. And no, you weren’t limiting anything to just those who played at BYU as this is about Pope.
Some of you absolutely kill me! “Not that good of coach”. Do you understand what BYU was predicted to be before the basketball season started. BYU absolutely exceeded expectations from everyone, by a wide margin. What criticism would be given in the private sector for an individual to change jobs for 3X their previous salary and throw in their dream job. Great coaches help average players to exceed their expectations. BYU has always been a team of 2 and 3 star players with an occasional 4 thrown in. Great coaches help them to become more than was expected of them. BYU, minus the money, is a good place to coach. Lots of great alumni, lots of great fan support, great facilities. Thank Coach Pope for building the program and wish him well at Kentucky and hire a coach that relates well with his players and is excited about coming to Provo. Players like Saunders, Hall, and Khalifa are waiting to see what happens, to make their decisions. No disloyalty, just looking at things they have every right to look at. Sometimes the absurdity that comes out of these posts is mind stretching
