Kentucky hires BYU’s Mark Pope as men’s basketball coach to replace John Calipari | Sports
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky has hired BYU’s Mark Pope as men’s basketball coach, bringing home a captain of the Wildcats’ 1996 national championship team to succeed John Calipari. The school announced the 51-year-old Pope’s hiring in a release Friday morning but did not mention any contract details. He will be introduced at a later date, the release said. Pope replaces Calipari, a Hall of Famer who took Kentucky to its eighth NCAA title in 2012 among four Final Four appearances in 15 years. Kentucky hasn’t returned there since going 38-1 in 2015. Calipari stepped down on Tuesday and was introduced as Arkansas coach the next day. Pope was 110-52 in five seasons with the Cougars and went 23-11 in their first season in the Big 12 Conference. BYU is also coming off a second NCAA Tournament appearance in four years under Pope. He was 77-56 before that in four seasons at Utah Valley and guided the Wolverines to consecutive runner-up finishes in the Western Athletic Conference his final two years. They reached the CBI quarterfinals both times. Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart cited Pope’s impressive 187-108 career record as a head coach and keen knowledge of the program’s meaning
