The coaching search for Kentucky moved quickly after the departure of John Calipari. Over the course of a few days, a handful of top candidates were in line with connections to the Wildcats. However, the surprising hire at the time then came down with the choice of BYU’s Mark Pope.
During an interview on ‘College Hoops Today’ on Monday, Pope discussed his experience in that process, including the involvement of Baylor’s Scott Drew. While he was appreciative to have his name involved in the search, most of the candidates believed, much like the fanbases did at a point, that Drew, the one-time national title winner with 446 career wins in Waco, was going to be the selection.
“Everything was quick. You know, I think Kentucky had done some reaching out to a bunch of people, myself included. Of course, that was beyond my wildest dreams to have a chance to come back and coach here,” Pope said to CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. “Then I think things really heated up with Scott, which they should. I mean Scott is one of the best coaches in all of college basketball – is a proven quantity, just came off a national championship, and is a special human being also. He has also been incredibly gracious to me. Like, I consider him a good friend.”
From there, though, the steps turned elsewhere. In the morning on March 11th, Drew decided to stay with the Bears. That then led to a shift toward UConn’s Dan Hurley, regardless of how unlikely it was that he’d accept. With both of them turning the Wildcats down on Thursday, other options, including Pope, had begun to pop up by the night. Even so, that didn’t last long with them quickly deciding on Pope. They’d finalized a deal by that night and he became official by that next day on Friday.
Pope remembered that span being just as hectic for him, especially considering essentially none of his family was present when it all started to take place.
“At that point, we kind of were just like, ‘Hey, you know, it was fun to kind of imagine it for a couple hours but we’ve got to get back to work,'” Pope said. “So, man, on Wednesday night, maybe, the unthinkable started to kind of, like, float around that maybe Scott was not going to take this job, maybe. Then, Thursday morning, I got a text confirming a Zoom call on Thursday afternoon.”
“Lee Anne, my wife, was actually out of town. She was visiting with a family member who was going through some health struggles. My girls were scattered all over. So it was just me and my youngest daughter, Shay. I got a text that the Zoom was on. I was just like, ‘Shay, you know, maybe we need to jump back on this bandwagon. Maybe things are going to change,'” said Pope. “Certainly, by that evening, everything had changed and we were rolling ahead at full speed.”
Coaching searches can get crazy, specifically when it comes to ones that are high-profile like one for Kentucky Basketball. That’s how Pope recalled it too as part of it and as the eventual pick by the Wildcats.
“It’s part of the exhilarating part of the coaching carousel and that circus,” said Pope. “Certainly, this is the ultimate dream scenario for us.”
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