With Mark Pope and Will Stein helming the men’s basketball and football programs right now for Kentucky, things are arguably in as bright a spot as they have been in a long while. Both coaches are recruiting at a high level next to one another and, unlike the last two, aren’t slyly bickering about the university’s allegiance to either team. That’s always a plus!
But it wasn’t always this way in Lexington. In fact, at one point in the (not all that long ago) past, the blue and white had two of the worst coaches in either progam’s history employed at the exact same time. From 2007-2009, both Billy Gillispie and Joker Phillips were calling the shots for the Wildcats, to some extent.
That stretch was the short-lived tenure for the former at Rupp Arena, while the latter was still getting his bearings as an offensive coordinator before he’d eventually be given the head coaching gig in the absence of Rich Brooks…