Mark Pope is back in Lexington and is officially the new Kentucky men’s basketball coach, the school announced on Friday.
Pope, 51, inked a five-year deal to lead the Wildcats. He had been patrolling the sidelines with the BYU Cougars since 2019.
“Mark Pope not only brings an impressive record in nine years as a head coach, but also a love of the University of Kentucky and a complete understanding of what our program means to the people of our state,” Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said in a statement. “As a captain on the ‘96 championship team, Mark was a beloved and respected teammate. As a head coach, he is highly regarded nationally as an innovator. His teams run a unique and dynamic up-tempo offense and they get after it on defense. He is a strong recruiter with international ties and a person of integrity.
“He fully embraces our high expectations and standards and I know that as our fans get reacquainted with Mark, they will be eager to join him on what promises to be an exciting ride.”
CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander stated that Pope will earn $5.5 million per season, before incentives kick in.
Pope played two seasons at Kentucky from 1994-96 under Hall of Fame Coach Rick Pitino, on a team that was dubbed ‘The Untouchables’ because nine players were drafted from that team to the NBA. They won a national title in 1996, and now joins Joe B. Hall as the only coaches to go on to coach the men’s team after playing for the program. That is a huge plus on Pope’s résumé as he takes over a blue blood.
His up and down history as a coach makes the hire quite a shock and eyepopping.
Pope has worked as a head coach since 2015 at BYU and Utah Valley. With the Cougars, he has compiled a 110-52 record in five seasons, with a pair of trips to the NCAA tournament, ‘Big Dance’. His teams failed to win a game in both appearances, getting upset as a No. 6 seed in the first round of both.
Kentucky has not fared much better, advancing out of the first round of the NCAA tournament only once since 2019 after a surge of dominance during John Calipari’s first decade at the helm in Lexington.
Embed from Getty ImagesIt was a turbulent road to get to Pope for Kentucky. At least four current and former head coaches said thanks but no thanks at the opportunity to take over the job following Calipari’s departure to Arkansas. Those four were UConn’s Dan Hurley, who just won his third championship at the university Monday night, Alabama’s Nate Oats, who made it all the way to this year’s Final Four, Baylor’s Scott Drew, who captured a title in 2021 and former Villanova coach Jay Wright.
If there are any Kentucky fans or boosters who are uneasy about Pope’s hire, perhaps Pitino’s ringing endorsement will persuade them.
The former Kentucky head coach, who is currently at St. John’s University, released a video Friday after Pope was announced as UK’s new coach and spoke highly of his former player.
“Mark Pope, offensively, no one does it better,” Pitino said. “The way his teams move, the way his teams shoot the 3, the ball movement, the player movement is outstanding. What you don’t realize is it took Jay Wright 11 years to finally get an NCAA win. [Former Florida head coach and current Chicago Bulls coach] Billy Donovan was at Marshall for two years, didn’t have an NCAA appearance. He went on to greatness. Mark Pope will go on to greatness. You can put it down.”
Pope’s first and most difficult challenge at Kentucky will be attempting to keep intact a top-five recruiting class. Calipari had signed the No. 2 class in the nation according to Rivals and the five-player group included three five-star recruits. If Pope can convince those recruits to stay at Kentucky, he will be off to an enormous head start.
