Mark Pope pressed on who would play him in a movie about his life

A lot of people imagine living a life that leads to a movie being made about them. Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope isn’t most people, though, and doesn’t actually have anyone in mind to play him in a movie one day.

While speaking to Jon Rothstein, he was asked about what actor he’d want to have play him. However, Pope did what he could to avoid answering the question, making sure to show a little humility and not choose any true A-list talent for the role.

“I don’t know,” Pope said. “I’d feel sad for whoever that’d have to be, man. That would be a really discouraging — if you got plugged in my role, that would be — I don’t know.”

Given how tall Pope is, it would be difficult to find any actors who could play him without using too many camera tricks. That’s before you get into who may offer a passing resemblance to him. So, it’s likely a limited pool to choose from to begin with.

One thing Pope has had to this point is an interesting life. A Washington native, Pope stood out for the Washington Huskies before transferring to the Kentucky Wildcats and continuing his success on the court. That’s included being team captain for a national championship team with the Wildcats. He would go on to have a professional career before getting into coaching.

Now back at his alma mater, Pope is hoping to once again bring a national championship to Kentucky. If he can do that, there might even be a good story for Hollywood to go in and make a movie about his life.

Mark Pope admits Denzel Aberdeen was ‘terrifying to me’ during scouting process

Kentucky made a key add in the Transfer Portal this offseason, bringing in  Denzel Aberdeen. Now, with time to reflect, Mark Pope explained how that recruitment went and even admitted he had scared him during the scouting process.

“There was no evaluation. My evaluation came in the two weeks that we were trying to do like background prep and then prep for our game against Florida, which it was the first game of the SEC season. So I had some familiarity with their team, but as I dug more and more into the film, I was like, ‘This cat coming off the bench is terrifying to me.’ And he certainly proved it throughout the course of the season,” Pope said.

“The fun part of the research for us was actually getting to know him as a person. He’s special, special, special. He’s got a great joy about him. He’s got a passion and commitment. He is determined to continue his journey toward becoming a great basketball player. He’s proven with what he did in his four-guard rotation at Florida that he is a team-first guy. And it’s hard to have a breakout season after you just won a national championship, but he’s going to have a big time breakout season.”