Kentucky has reportedly found its new men’s basketball coach. And judging by the early responses, the Wildcats didn’t exactly hit a home run with this hire.
Reports emerged on Thursday night that Kentucky was close to hiring BYU coach Mark Pope.
There’s plenty to be excited about with Pope. He’s been a head coach for nine years, four at Utah Valley and five at BYU. In that time, he’s only suffered through one losing season and one .500 season — his first two seasons as a head coach. He has an overall record of 187-108. Furthermore, as a player, Pope was a captain on Kentucky’s 1995-96 team, which went 34-2, won a national championship and is regarded as one of the best teams in college basketball history.
Knowing his history, the hire was met with plenty of positive reactions.
Mark Pope is one of the most genuine, good people in college basketball.
What #BBN should know is, you’re getting an incredibly innovative coach — who has won and will continue to win.
I am THRILLED for @CoachMarkPope! https://t.co/F7JT75teum— Kevin Connors 💯 (@kevconnorsespn) April 12, 2024
Mark Pope is very smart…maybe the smartest dude to ever play here (for real). He has a great offense and he loves this place. Plus he was part of the greatest team in school history
Assuming this is finalized, I am going to pull for him as hard as I can. He deserves that
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) April 12, 2024
.@RobDauster's message for Kentucky fans:
"Buy into it. Maybe it'll take 2-3 years. But Mark Pope is the antithesis of a lot of the things that you grew tired of under Calipari. He's outperformed expectations and resources. He's one of your own. If it doesn't work, it doesn't… pic.twitter.com/7OMKXl6CgN
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) April 12, 2024
On the other hand, while Calipari certainly had his issues in Kentucky, he was a Hall of Fame coach. He’s being replaced by a coach who has never won an NCAA Tournament game and has only one year of experience coaching a team in a Power 5 conference. Given that, as well as some of the names that the Wildcats were tied to, Pope being Kentucky’s reported target drew plenty of skepticism.
Kentucky down bad https://t.co/zsjFONX0DJ
— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) April 12, 2024
Mark Pope might be great at Kentucky. (Any competent coach should be great at Kentucky.) But I explained a few hours ago on the @EyeOnCBBPodcast why I would've aggressively pursued Billy Donovan, and the idea that UK reportedly didn't at all is pretty wild. pic.twitter.com/TY06ANms2L
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) April 12, 2024
Live look at Big Blue Nation: pic.twitter.com/z9vd69e33d https://t.co/D15OL14dJw
— Eli Hershkovich (@EliHershkovich) April 12, 2024
Kentucky fans to Mark Pope tonight pic.twitter.com/4YIMuyWryp
— Hayden (@oldmaxhall) April 12, 2024
“They ran John Calipari out of town and thought they would replace him with Dan Hurley, Scott Drew, Billy Donovan or Nate Oats. But they settled for Mark Pope.” pic.twitter.com/gU3Y1NXEbm
— Dylan Holt (@DylanHolt_) April 12, 2024
#FireEverybody https://t.co/XUzfCDtiYy pic.twitter.com/lj0Bx4hHhI
— Message Board Geniuses (@BoardGeniuses) April 12, 2024
Splashy hires don’t always turn out to be great, just like under-the-radar hires aren’t always failures. Time will tell what kind of coach Kentucky will get with Pope. But he’s definitely got a lot of work ahead of him to quiet the doubters.
[Pete Thamel on Twitter/X]
