In order to lead the Wildcats, c went to one of their own. On Friday morning, Mark Pope, a former player and head coach at Brigham Young University most recently, was hired to coach men’s basketball. Pope has spent the last nine seasons as the head coach of the school. He captained the team that won the national championship in 1996. Pope had a 187-108 record while at Utah Valley and BYU, and his teams had won 20 games or more in six of the previous seven years. Under Pope, the Cougars made the move to the Big 12 Conference and were successful, defeating Kansas, Iowa State, Baylor, and Kansas.
“Mark Pope not only brings a love of the University of Kentucky and a complete understanding of what our program means to the people of our state, but also an impressive record in nine years as a head coach,” a statement from Barnhart said. “Mark was a well-liked and esteemed teammate throughout his time as captain of the 1996 championship squad. He is widely recognized as an innovator in the country as a head coach. His teams play aggressive defense and have a distinctive, dynamic uptempo offense. He is a person of integrity and a skilled recruiter with connections throughout the world.
Since John Calipari stepped down after 15 seasons to take a similar post at Arkansas, Barnhart has conducted a brief search that included Baylor coach Scott Drew and Connecticut coach Danny Hurley. Both coaches turned down overtures on Wednesday. The search shifted to Pope on Wednesday night and a deal was in place by Thursday morning. Pope embraces the return to coach his alma mater.
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