Mark Pope became the head coach at Kentucky after a nine-year career at Utah Valley and BYU. However, he doesn’t feel like he’d have been able to take his dream job had it not been for his last season with the Cougars as a member of the Big 12.
Pope spoke about his last year in Provo and how it prepared him during ‘College Hoops Today’ on Monday. In his opinion, he wouldn’t have been prepared to be at Kentucky without that season in the Big 12. That’s because the standard for any coaching candidate in Lexington should be through the roof to him.
“No, no,” Pope told Jon Rothstein in regards to if he’d have been prepared enough or not.
“I’ve said this publicly a lot. The only coach that should be the head coach at the University of Kentucky is a coach that has already won five national championships,” said Pope. “I mean that’s the only person that’s probably prepared here.”
Over a near decade with the Wolverines and Cougars, Pope posted a record of 187-108 (.634). That included a 110-52 (.679) mark with rankings in the Top-25 in all but one season and a pair of appearances in the NCAA Tournament during his five years at BYU.
Pope’s last year leading the Cougars was his most significant, though. BYU entered the Big 12 last year along with three other new programs. They went 23-11 overall where they ranked as high as No. 12 in the nation during the year. That included being 10-8 in conference play with three Top-25 wins over competition in Iowa State, against Baylor, and at Kansas inside Allen Fieldhouse.
Pope is grateful for the time that he got to spend coaching at BYU. He also agrees in that they were years with experiences that readied him for this next step in his career.
“I do think – listen. I’ve been incredibly blessed to coach at BYU for the last five years,” said Pope. “It’s an extraordinary place. I’m telling you it was the blessing of a lifetime to be able to coach there.”
“It also – we learned so much. I mean, listen. Everybody that got to coach through COVID was stressed immeasurably and you get to learn. Then our transition from the WCC to the Big 12 was really a two-year project for us, which you and I have talked about a lot, and was massively important,” Pope explained. “It really stressed us, really forced us to grow, and kind of pushed us toward the edges of what’s happening in basketball right now.”
There’s a certain caliber of coach that a job like the one at Kentucky requires. Now, with Pope meeting that requirement, he’s going to take everything from his resumé to do the best job that he can in his time back at his alma mater.
“I’m going to need every single one of those experiences, every experience I had as an NBA player, and every experience I had as a player here at the University of Kentucky. Then a whole bunch of hope and prayer to do what’s required of this job,” said Pope.
“We’re really confident. We’re super humble and we’re super confident about moving forward,” said Pope. “Can’t wait to go.”
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