Report: Mark Pope, Kentucky add Baylor assistant Alvin Brooks III to staff

Kentucky coach Mark Pope reportedly added Baylor assistant coach Alvin Brooks III to the Wildcats’ staff, according to ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.

“Kentucky’s Mark Pope is adding Baylor assistant Alvin Brooks III to his staff, sources told ESPN,” Borzello wrote on Twitter. “Brooks has worked under Scott Drew in Waco since 2016, spent the previous four seasons at Kansas State.“

Brooks coached nearly a decade under Scott Drew at Baylor, helping the team win the 2021 National Championship. Prior to that, Brooks was an assistant at Kansas State from 2012-16.

Brooks was in the assistant coach role since 2004 where he had stops at Arkansas-Fort Smith, Midland, Bradley and Sam Houston State before going to a Power Five school.

While at Midland, he was a two-time NJCAA champion as an assistant coach.

A former point guard at Midland and Idaho State, Brooks played college basketball from 1998-2002 before beginning his coaching career.

Mark Pope hires Alvin Brooks, others at Kentucky

Along with former BYU assistant Cody Fueger, Pope is reportedly brought in former Georgia head coach Mark Fox and G-League Ignite head coach Jason Hart, per the Athletic’s Kyle Tucker.

Pope and Fueger spent five seasons together at BYU and Fueger was also on Pope’s staff at Utah Valley from 2015-19. Now, they will continue to work alongside each other as they take over a Kentucky team coming off of a first-round exit in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in the past three seasons.

Fueger and Pope helped direct BYU to a winning record in each of the past five seasons, reaching 20 or more wins four times in that span. The Cougars twice appeared in the NCAA Tournament, including this past season when they fell in the first round against Duquesne.