"No longer"? Were you ever?
I'm not being negative toward you, just asking for a clarification. I don't remember you ever writing a positive post about Mark Pope. Of course, it's been nearly four years since he was named head coach, so you may have written one or two that I've forgotten.
I was skeptic of Pope from the get go. I wasn’t impressed with what he did while at BYU as an assistant. Yes, he had a good tenure at UVU, which made me think he’d be able to succeed at BYU. But I wasn’t sold. I thought BYU should have hired Madson (he was interviewed).
After Pope’s first season, I was onboard. Happy to retire my skepticism. Second season, eh…it was a rebuilding year, right? But Pope seems to be perpetually rebuilding. Yes, I know every team struggles with transfers but Pope has lost around 10 players in the last two seasons. And other than Toolson and Barcello, he really hasn’t brought in any transfers than have been better than the players he lost.
Yes, he has a core of recruits with potential, but honestly I have very little faith that those recruits will stick around to play for Pope. I mean, Lee had Pope officiate his wedding and then the next season Lee left Pope. That’s a complete 180.
His record, it’s good. Not great. He’ll get another 20-win season and most will nod their head approvingly, but we’ll more than likely see BYU lose in the first round of the WCC tournament or the semifinals. Then off to the NIT.
It’s all about expectations, I suppose. I expected better from BYU and Pope, especially in the WCC.
And no, I do not cheer for BYU to lose or take pleasure in Pope failing. I want to BYU win. I want Pope to prove me wrong, but so far he isn’t. What I want more is for BYU to compete and see them dancing in March on a regular basis. I don’t expect BYU to get there every year. I hope they do, but given our recruits and coaching, it’s not realistic. We really are a mid-major.Statistics: Posted by Gunk — Sat Jan 21, 2023 8:40 pm
]]>