{"id":293806,"date":"2025-10-11T05:02:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T05:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/293806\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T05:02:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T05:02:09","slug":"is-mark-pope-a-bozo-history-tells-us-banners-come-quickly-for-kentucky-coaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/293806\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Mark Pope a Bozo? History Tells Us Banners Come Quickly for Kentucky Coaches"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s been a busy week for the Kentucky basketball program. Media Day, Pro Day, and the ensuing Big Blue Madness have served as the unofficial start to the season. While quotes are flying left and right, one in particular stood out. <\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\u201cSince UK can do things no other school can financially, he would have to be a complete bozo to not win one (title) soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That quote came from a nameless coach as a part\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbssports.com\/college-basketball\/news\/candid-coaches-which-college-basketball-coach-will-be-next-to-win-their-first-ncaa-tournament-title\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">of a preseason CBS Sports series<\/a> where Matt Norlander uses anonymity to get a true baseline on how college basketball coaches feel about their peers. This week\u2019s question was simple. \u201cWhich college basketball coach will be the next to win their first NCAA Tournament title?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I think everyone around Big Blue Nation will tell you that <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/rivals\/coach\/mark-pope-132332\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mark Pope<\/a><\/strong> is not a bozo. Most will probably say that he\u2019ll win a National Championship soon, but how soon? That will determine if he actually is a bozo. Let me explain.<\/p>\n<p>Kentucky Coaches in the Final Four <\/p>\n<p><strong>Joe B. Hall<\/strong><br \/>First Final Four: Year 3 (1975)<br \/>First National Championship: Year 6 (1978)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eddie Sutton<\/strong><br \/>Zero Final Fours<\/p>\n<p><strong>Rick Pitino<\/strong>*<br \/>First Final Four: Year 2 (1993)<br \/>First National Championship: Year 5 (1996)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Tubby Smith<\/strong><br \/>First Final Four: Year 1 (1998)<br \/>First National Championship: Year 1 (1998)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Billy Gillispie<\/strong><br \/>Zero Final Fours<\/p>\n<p><strong>John Calipari<\/strong><br \/>First Final Four: Year 2 (2011)<br \/>First National Championship: Year 3 (2012)<\/p>\n<p>Past Coaches Set Expectations<\/p>\n<p>Every quality Kentucky basketball coach made it to a Final Four by year three and won a title by year six. The one exception was Rick Pitino, who inherited a program that had a three-year postseason ban. He got to a Final Four with Mashburn and Travis Ford in his fifth season, but it was only the second year the Cats were eligible to compete in the NCAA Tournament.  <\/p>\n<p>Even though the anonymous coach was insulting, he\u2019s got a point. Eddie Sutton didn\u2019t make it to a Final Four because his program got caught paying players. Not smart. Would anyone disagree that Billy Gillispie is a bozo? I don\u2019t think so. <\/p>\n<p>If Mark Pope is not a bozo, Kentucky fans should expect to see the Wildcats in the Final Four over the next two seasons and win a National Title in the next five years. <\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.on3.com\/sites\/kentucky-wildcats\/join\/?plan=annual\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Join KSR Plus! With a KSR Plus membership, you get access to bonus content and KSBoard, KSR\u2019s message board, to chat with fellow Cats fans and get exclusive scoop.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been a busy week for the Kentucky basketball program. Media Day, Pro Day, and the ensuing Big&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":293807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1339,1317,1337,1338,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-293806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-basketball","11":"tag-ncaabasketball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115353783170880832","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}