Report: Kentucky has interest in former Wildcats player for coaching job
Kentucky is looking to fill its coaching vacancy and has moved on after being turned down by Dan Hurley and Scott Drew. They apparently are considering one of their former players for the job.
CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported on Thursday that Mark Pope is a candidate for the Kentucky job.
Sources: BYU's Mark Pope is a candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Kentucky.
Pope was a member of the 1996 national title team in Lexington.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 11, 2024
Pope is the current BYU head coach and a former Kentucky player. The 51-year-old played at Kentucky from 1994-1996 and was part of the Wildcats’ championship team in 1996.
Pope played professionally from 1996-2005. He began his coaching career in 2009 as an assistant at Georgia. He was an assistant at BYU from 2011-2015 before leaving to take the Utah Valley head coaching job. He went 77-56 in four seasons at Utah Valley and led them to consecutive second-place finishes in the conference.
Pope has been at BYU for five seasons and has led them to the NCAA Tournament in two of four possible seasons. His 2020 team likely would have made the tournament had it been held.
