Mark Pope put $22 million on the line to build a championship team at Kentucky, which is reportedly the most money ever spent on a college basketball team. Now, getting Tyran Stokes, the best 2026 recruit in the country, would make that huge risk worth it. But looks like Kentucky is losing the fight for Stokes.

According to Chris Beasmore’s recent report on X: “Kansas has surged to the front in the race for the No. 1 overall player in the class of 2026, Tyran Stokes, according to Eric Bossi of 247Sports. Kentucky once looked like the clear favorite heading into the fall, but JMI-related complications have cooled that momentum.”

This change is a huge blow to Kentucky’s recruiting strategy because the Wildcats seemed to be the front-runners for the 6-foot-7, 230-pound forward from Louisville all through the fall of 2025.

The issue goes back to Kentucky’s $465 million deal with JMI Sports. JMI now runs Kentucky’s NIL collective and makes recruits sign restrictive agreements that give up their NIL rights. These terms are almost unheard of in college basketball. While other schools make it explicit how much money they will pay, the lack of a clear figure from Kentucky frustrates top prospects and their families.

This setback in recruiting comes at a bad time for Pope, as Kentucky’s 9–5 record and the 9th place in the SEC are nowhere near enough to justify the label of the most expensive college basketball team in the country. Landing Stokes would have given Kentucky’s $22 million investment the elite talent it needed to pay off, but Kansas’ rise to the top shows that Kentucky’s strict NIL structure is turning off the very prospects Pope’s spending was meant to attract.

And it is this very thing that has irked the fans.

Kentucky fans turn on Mark Pope after Tyran Stokes’ recruiting setback

Fans are furious with Pope and athletic director Mitch Barnhart for Kentucky’s poor performance on the court and disastrous recruiting failures, and they are calling for changes in leadership right away.

“Barnhart and Pope need to be fired. The JMI deal needs to be scrapped,” one fan declared. This was because Kentucky so far has no commits in the 2026 class, which happens to be the worst drought in the program’s history.

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Another fan said, “When college sports becomes more about the $ than the sport, team, etc., college sports as we used to know is over.”

Another comment points out Kentucky’s specific problems with top prospects: “Round of applause for @JMISports and @UKMitchBarnhar. It’s hard to fumble every single 5-star recruit, but they’re doing it.”

The Wildcats lost momentum with Stokes, who has a Nike NIL shoe deal that should help Nike schools like Kentucky and Oregon, to Kansas. This shows that the JMI agreement’s strict marketing terms have taken away natural advantages and slowed down negotiations that other programs finished with clear compensation offers.

And then there is Christian Collins. 247 Sports national analyst Travis Branham has removed his crystal ball prediction for Pope to land the 5-star power forward Collins. Back in November, he was touted to join, but much like Stokes, the momentum has stalled since. However, there is still hope as neither of the two has committed to any other program yet.

One user warned that Pope could be fired, writing, “If Mark Pope loses these guys to Kansas next year will likely be his last. New AD, back-to-back failures, and recruiting flops. Pope is a good guy, but it’s looking more and more like he’s in over his head.”

During the last season, the 53-year-old put up a record of 24-12 overall and 10-8 in the SEC and was tied for 6th place. Fast forward to the current season, and they are 0-1 in the SEC. And add all the recruiting noise to the mix, and the picture gets uglier.

However, despite all the noise, the head coach sounded calm on his weekly radio show. He said on Monday, “No, actually, not concerned about it. I think we’re in a great spot with some of the guys that we’re recruiting right now.”

Pope remains positive that Kentucky will also go into the spring with more flexibility, not only in terms of retaining current players but also recruiting the portal, where his program has thrived, signing back-to-back top-5 transfer classes.

Another fan asked about the program’s unprecedented recruiting failure, writing, “When is the last the Kentucky Men’s Basketball Program had 0 signees in January? When? Is this what yall wanted?”

This harsh criticism shows how unusual Kentucky’s current situation is. The program has never had a January without commitments in the modern recruiting era, so the 2026 class drought is a historic low point.

Do you think the program will be able to rise from this? Let us know in the comments.