In his first year replacing John Calipari, Mark Pope immediately ended Cal’s infuriating five-year Sweet 16 drought. Then, he entered Year 2 with the Cats ranked as a top-10 team in the country, but things went so wrong that after an ugly second-round loss to Iowa State, 82-63, on Sunday, much of Big Blue Nation is ready to move on from their former national champion forward.Â
There are major obstacles to Kentucky firing Pope, most notably an expensive buyout and an athletic director heading into retirement. But, even with all the injuries, this season just wasn’t good enough, and with the enticing options that Kentucky could potentially replace Pope with, a shake-up could be coming.Â
READ: What is Mark Pope’s buyout? BBN is ready to move on after an early exit
He’s not quite Curt Cignetti, but Mark Byington left James Madison and immediately turned another perennial bottom-feeder into a real threat. Through his two years at Vanderbilt, Byington has gone 47-22 and ended a seven-year NCAA Tournament drought by making back-to-back trips to the Big Dance.Â
Byington is 1-2 in March Madness after a heartbreaking loss to Nebraska on Saturday night, but that’s still 100 percent more wins than Pope had when he left BYU to take the job. Byington empowers his guards to be decision-makers in a relatively up-tempo offensive attack, and in sophomore Tyler Tanner, he could bring one of the country’s best with him to Lexington.Â
Two years ago, Scott Drew was reportedly the top candidate for Barnhart and Kentucky, but he turned down the Cats to stay at Baylor. So, why would it be any different this time if Kentucky moved on from Pope? Well, three years ago, Drew was two years removed from a national championship and just led the Bears to a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Now, that title is five years in the rearview, and Drew’s Bears missed the Big Dance with a 16-16 record.Â
While the title technically came in the NIL and Transfer Portal era, as revenue-sharing has been introduced and the new age of college basketball has calcified, it looks as though Baylor has been left behind. I’d be willing to bet that’s more of an administration issue than it is a problem with the guy who led Baylor from the duldrums to the mountaintop over a 20-year build.Â
Maybe Drew is ready for another challenge at a program much better equipped to compete with the sport’s biggest spenders.Â
What about the guy who just ended Mark Pope’s second season leading his alma mater, and did it without his best player? As Pope admitted before their Round of 32 matchup, Otzelberger builds defensive juggernauts that force turnovers and keep their opponents out of the paint. Crucially, though, Otzelberger has also added a high-powered offensive attack this year, and if Joshua Jefferson can get back healthy for the Sweet 16, the Cyclones look like a serious challenger to top-seeded Michigan in the Midwest Region.Â
Otzelberger is doing more with less at Iowa State, a school that just halted renovations on its arena because of a massive financial deficit in the athletic department budget. Even if he’s comfortable in Ames, you can’t convince me that his ceiling would be much higher in Lexington.