So much for a big name.
A whirlwind of a four-day coaching search reportedly wrapped up on Thursday night for the Kentucky Wildcats. Former Wildcat Mark Pope is the choice for Mitch Barnhart, who struck out with a few top candidates this week.
Pope will now take over for John Calipari, who bolted for Arkansas on Sunday night.
Sources: Kentucky is targeting BYU coach Mark Pope to be the school’s next coach. A deal is expected to come together in the near future. pic.twitter.com/xpCnGk34a9
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) April 12, 2024
Kentucky’s search began with Baylor’s Scott Drew, but he opted to stay with the Bears earlier this week. The Wildcats reportedly made a run at Dan Hurley with a massive offer, but Hurley unsurprisingly stayed put with his budding dynasty at UConn.
You heard a lot about Billy Donovan this week, but nothing seemed to materialize there. At one point you thought Kentucky might wait to see what happens following the NBA Playoffs, but those timelines clearly didn’t’ align. Names like Shaka Smart, Rick Pitino and Bruce Pearl never got past the rumor phase.
Down the list they went, and Barnhart settled decided to wrap things up with his decision to hire Pope on Thursday night. Big Blue Nation didn’t take the news well, as you can imagine.
Pope is 51 years old and was a member of Kentucky’s 1996 National Championship team. He’s gone 110-52 in five seasons with BYU, coming over from a stint at Utah Valley.
Pope has yet to win a game in the NCAA Tournament as a head coach.
If Kentucky was ever going to have their version of a ‘Schiano Sunday,’ this was their opportunity. It definitely had that feel on the message boards on Thursday night.
It’s a five-year deal with $5.5 million for Pope, who now has quite the task ahead of him in Lexington. The fanbase is already out on the hire, and he steps into the same pressure cooker that forced Calipari to Fayetteville last weekend.
It could always work out and we could all be wrong, but this certainly feels like Pope is being set up for failure from the jump.