Kentucky formally announces Mark Pope as next men's basketball coach
Mark Pope is not the name that anyone expected at Kentucky in their coaching search, even as it emerged on Thursday. It’s a name that they’ll need to familiarize themselves with again, though, with him now officially set to be the next head coach of the Wildcats.
Kentucky made the announcement of Pope as the next leader of the program on Friday. He will take over for John Calipari and become the 23rd head coach in the history of the Wildcats.
Kentucky had high-profile names to consider following the departure of Calipari for Arkansas. Baylor’s Scott Drew and UConn’s Dan Hurley were right at the top of the list. However, both refused the job in some way or another on Thursday. That shifted the focus to Billy Donovan, who’s currently with the Chicago Bulls. It also turned attention to another tier of college coaches that would have interested those in the bluegrass.
Instead, AD Mitch Barnhart stunned many with the emergence of Pope as a candidate and, now, with his hiring of him to take over the team. He will do so on a reported five-year deal worth $5.5 million per year.
Pope arrives after a nine-year career at a pair of schools out in Utah. He got his first head-coaching opportunity at Utah Valley for four years before spending the last five at BYU. He went 77-56 (.579) with the Wolverines and is now 110-52 (.679) with the Cougars. That bring his overall record up to 187-108 (.634).
Pope also held an assistant job at BYU from 2011 to 2015 and another as an assistant at Wake Forest. His first collegiate role was as Director of Basketball Operations at Georgia in 2009.
As those in Lexington know, Pope is well-known from his time as a player for Kentucky back in the 90s. He came in after two seasons at Washington and sat for a year as a redshirt due to his transfer.
From there, he played a pair of seasons for the Wildcats in ’95 and ’96 under his head coach in Rick Pitino. In those years, he appeared in 69 games, including 14 starts. At center, he averaged 7.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in total while shooting 49.7%. Those efforts as a senior helped Kentucky to their sixth national title in 1996.
With all that said, Pope’s coaching resumé wasn’t what many anticipated would be under consideration. It at least wasn’t expected to be pondered, let alone decided on, this early on in the search. None of his nine teams have won any form of conference title in the WAC, WCC, or Big 12. He has also never won a game in the NCAA Tournament in just two appearances. For reference, he has coached in five more games in the CBI and one more in the NIT than he has in the bracket in March Madness.
Recruiting is also a question mark in regards to Pope. Over five classes at BYU, he only had one class finish inside the Top-50 in On3’s Industry Basketball Team Recruiting Rankings. Essentially all of them were on the range of three-star talents with a few four-star level prospects. That’s a stark drop-off from what the program has been used to over the past decade and a half.
To say that the hiring of Pope is a bit of shocker to some would be an understatement, even with his connection to the program as an alumni. Still, it’s a reality that the Wildcats will have to settle in to with him formally announced as the next head coach at Kentucky.