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WATCH: CBS Sports profiles Mark Pope for Kentucky's March Madness run

Zack Geogheganby: Zack Geoghegan03/22/25ZGeogheganKSR
Mark Pope - Mont Dawson, Kentucky Sports Radio
Mark Pope - Mont Dawson, Kentucky Sports Radio

If you aren’t a Mark Pope fan by now, you will be by the time you get to the bottom of this article.

For the 2025 NCAA Tournament, the folks over at CBS Sports have been taking a deeper look at several high-profile players and coaches participating in the Big Dance. In his first season coaching his alma mater, Pope was an easy choice to profile, as you’ll soon see why.

“I love the University of Kentucky, because it’s personal,” Pope said in the video below. “It’s not an adopted home. It’s my home.”

And that’s the theme of CBS Sports’ short video feature: how the Kentucky Wildcats altered Pope’s life forever. After leading the Wildcats to a national title in 1996 as a player, he’s back in Lexington to hopefully do the same as a coach one day. Step one was accomplished Friday night as UK beat Troy by 19 points in the first round.

“When it became a reality that I was going to be the head coach (at Kentucky), my first thought was this cannot be real,” Pope said. My experience here changed my DNA as a human being. Forever I will walk into the room different than I did before I came here, and that’s a gift.”

You’re gonna have some Ryan Lemond chilly bumps after you finish the video.

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2025-08-02