Brad Hall: HALL THINGS CONSIDERED: UK coaching search showed us how much can change in a week

May 5—If you're a fan of University of Kentucky basketball, or just a sports fan in general, then you recently saw the difference a week can make as well as the difference a day can make.

Back on April 7th, I was watching WrestleMania when I started to see texts and Tweets about Kentucky's John Calipari reportedly in talks to become the new head coach at Arkansas.

Then as the night went on, the story gained more and more traction and it became more and more apparent that Calipari was indeed planning to bolt from the Big Blue Nation.

So throughout the rest of the night and all day Monday, us fans immediately started talking about who the next coach would be.

The popular choices included names such as Jay Wright, Danny Hurley, Scott Drew, Billy Donovan, Nate Oats and more.

The problem, though, was Calipari himself never made it official and was seemingly delaying the announcement to UK's administration. This was a hindrance to the athletic director Mitch Barnhart as he could not technically reach out to candidates until he got official word from Calipari.

Finally, on Tuesday, it was announced that Calipari was leaving Kentucky as he released a heartfelt video saying goodbye to the fans.

On Wednesday, it was also made official that he was indeed taking the Arkansas job as the school announced they had hired him.

After this news, the coaching search got kicked into high gear as stories, reports and rumors were swirling around all over the internet.

This led to a Wednesday and Thursday that Kentucky Wildcat fans won't soon forget.

We first heard that Oats had taken his name out of the hat and was staying put at Alabama. Then Wright announced he was not interested in returning to coaching at this time.

So after those rejections, all eyes shifted to Drew, Hurley and Donovan.

Drew seemed to be the most likely hire due to circumstances surrounding the other two coaches.

Hurley had just won a national championship that week and was in the middle of celebrating with the fans. Thus, you wouldn't expect he'd want to ruin all of that fun by telling UConn goodbye.

Donovan was still tied up coaching the Chicago Bulls and would be for at least another week to 10 days.

It appeared as though UK was in contact with Drew about the job. Fans and media even started tracking an airplane that was flying from Drew's hometown of Waco, Texas on its way to Lexington. But instead of Drew being on the plane, it later got reported that it was some members of Drew's family who wanted to check out the city of Lexington before a decision was made.

In the meantime, Drew went on social media to post a picture of himself at a Mexican restaurant in the Waco area. Many believe he was trying to draw attention away from that flight so that his family could peacefully look around town.

This, of course, led UK fans to figuring out which restaurant Drew was at, and even calling the restaurant in hopes of speaking with the potential new coach. Fans even gave that restaurant several positive reviews, just to be nice. Reports were that the manager had fun with all of that and loved the attention his establishment was receiving.

The next morning, word got out that Drew was turning down the offer to be Kentucky's coach and would remain at Baylor. He said he had spent Wednesday night praying about it, and felt he needed to stay put for now.

So after that, UK put all of their chips in on Hurley sometime later that day. He was reportedly offered around $11-12 million a year, which would have made him the highest paid coach in college basketball, by far.

It wasn't nearly as much of a circus for this offer, though, as Hurley turned it down soon after.

From there, it looked like we might have to wait it out and see what Donovan would say. Or perhaps look at some other backup candidates such as Bruce Pearl, Shaka Smart or Chris Beard.

However, the athletic director caught us all off guard as signs started pointing to former Wildcat Mark Pope becoming Kentucky's new coach.

There had been a few rumblings here and there that he was maybe in the mix but no one really took it seriously.

But as we got later into the night, it became apparent that Pope was going to be the guy.

This led to quite a bit of outrage and dumbfoundedness as fans were trying to wrap their heads around this. How was Kentucky going from two of the biggest names in basketball, down to a coach who had never really won anything on the big stage? Why were they going after him so quickly when they probably could've waited on Donovan's response first? Why were they not even considering some of the other top names? Why was the biggest basketball program in the nation choosing to take a risk?

These were all questions and concerns everyone had right before we all turned in for the night.

On Friday, though, it seemed like fans were starting to warm up to the decision a little bit more, or at least accept it a little bit more.

Maybe he wasn't a big name in the coaching world yet, but he was a Wildcat as well as a Wildcat fan like all of us, and had succeeded at the smaller programs that he'd coached at.

Not to mention, reports were swirling around that some of the old boosters had returned and were ready to offer around $4 million in NIL money for the players.

So while the decision on Thursday night had a zero approval rating from the fans, it was a little bit higher as Friday went along. Barnhart even went on the popular Kentucky Sports Radio show to discuss the hire, to confirm that NIL figure, and even announced there would be a press conference on Sunday at Rupp Arena for everyone to attend.

By Saturday, a good majority of the fanbase had finally accepted everything and were ready to give Pope their support. Some were still on the fence, but most of the fans realized it would be better off giving him our support than to be sour about it.

By Sunday, though, that zero approval rating had seemingly turned into a 100-percent approval rating as the press conference was a smashing success.

The Kentucky fans completely filled up Rupp Arena, not for a game, but for a press conference. It was one of the neatest things I had ever seen. You could tell there was an excited buzz all throughout before the event even started.

Then as Pope made his way out, it became an incredible scene.

He entered the arena on a big bus just like his 1996 team did when they were celebrating their championship. The bus was filled with UK personalities, boosters and former players who all came out to show their support. Then Pope emerged from the bus at the end to a huge ovation.

After that, he knocked it out of the park with his words and charisma in front of the 23,000+ members of the Big Blue Nation who had packed the stands.

He told old stories and got everyone hyped up for the new era of Kentucky basketball.

It all felt like a big breath of fresh air, and felt like the fanbase was united once again.

There was no bickering over whether Calipari should stay or go, and no debating whether Pope should've been his replacement.

After that press conference, and after those few days, everyone was all in.

I know I have been very longwinded with this column but honestly, that's basically my point. Look at how much happened and how much changed in just a week's time.

John Calipari was our coach, then he was not our coach, then he was Arkansas's coach, then we went after Scott Drew, then he turned us down, then we went after Danny Hurley, then he turned us down, then we hired Mark Pope, then we all got angry, and then we all got excited.

Furthermore, look how much happened and changed in just the course of 24 hours during some of those days.

A big excuse for many of us is that we don't have enough time to do the things God calls us to do. Between work and school and household chores, we convince ourselves there are more pressing concerns than a mission the Lord wants to send us on.

But if so much can change with a basketball team in a week, and if so many hearts can change about a basketball coach in a couple days, don't you think God could also help us make a big impact in that same amount of time?

Just like Pope wasn't accepted at first, we might get rejected by the lost or face some other obstacle thrown our way. But if we keep at it, and if we continue to have faith, we might find that we'll have some great successes and get more and more folks on our side.

It might even happen sooner than you expect. We just have to get out there and try when the Lord calls us to.

Ephesians 5:15-17 says, "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is."

I know we all wish there was more time in the day, and we all wish that time would slow down sometimes.

But if we really understood what God has planned for us, and if we listen to what God has planned for us, we might find that we could use our time much more wisely and for a much greater good.