Pope Knows Pitino Played Huge Role in Calling Him Back to Coaching

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Mark Pope and Rick Pitino (UK Athletics Photo)

Not once during Mark Pope’s playing career at Kentucky did he mention wanting to be a coach.

Most media members who covered the team saw Pope as an engaging, intelligent player who would no doubt be a success in whatever he chose to do once his playing career ended. I don’t think any of us who interacted with him were surprised when Pope enrolled in medical school.

However, I do remember being surprised when he left medical school at Columbia University where he was a Rhodes Scholar candidate to take an entry level job on Mark Fox’s coaching staff at Georgia.

I did stories both with Fox and Pope while the current UK coach was working at Georgia and it was clear Pope was in love with coaching.

“When I was here at Kentucky, there was no way in the world I was ever going to become a coach. Never,” Pope said during his call-in radio show this week. “I think that my teammates all probably were occupying a little bit of the same head space. I think what happens a lot on teams with great culture and players that got to play for one of the greatest coaches ever.

“More than half of us have jumped into coaching in one way or another, and several guys are still coaching at the college level or affiliated with organizations at the professional level. I think, to me, that’s an incredible attribute to coach Pitino.”

Pope said while Pitino never stopped pushing his players and demanding excellence, he had an amazing impact on all his players.

“You realize it more every single day that goes on what a special experience it was. It didn’t take me long,” Pope said. “I kind of played for a long time and then went in another direction, but my heart was always calling me back to hoops.

“I think there’s a good chance that had I not come to Kentucky, I never would have coached.”

Still, Pope could never have envisioned when he joined the Georgia staff in 2009 that 15 years later he would be the head coach at Kentucky. Pope said on his radio show that he could not pick a favorite part of being the UK coach.

“I think it’s the best job in all of basketball. I don’t think there’s any job that comes close,” Pope said. “It’s not the easiest job, it’s a hard job, but it’s the best job.

“The thing that makes it the best job is the people that I get to be around. It’s these players that kind of filter themselves out. We get really special players here.

“It’s BBN, it’s this fan base …  for 100 different reasons, there’s some type of generational relationship between people in this community and Kentucky basketball that means a lot, and we get to share it all together. And it’s the best part. It’s the best part of the culture. I love it. We’re really blessed to be here.”

2 Responses

  1. Coach Pope GETS KY BBALL. He GETS what the job IS, what it means, and he gets what KY BBALL means to the fan base and to the state. And he embraces that. And he is one of BBN’s own. Its the perfect marriage. And all those things are all KY fans wanted back after CAL destroyed all of that. In my opinion, CAL spit in the face of this state and this program with his actions and behaviors his last 5 years here. His first 5 years here he embraced alot of that stuff too–thats why the change in him the last 5 years was so clear and so obvious to me–but it seemed like I couldn’t get alot of other people to see that. If u recall, CAL in his first 5 years here used to call KY "The Commonwealth’s team". Somebody tell me the last time u remember him saying something like that about KY. I cant remember–i just know that I don’t ever remember hearing it since after his first 5 years. The man changed–period–he came to see the UK fan base and BBN as a burden and something that I think really bothered him for some reason–like something he almost resented. I think that could only be the result of the fact that he went political on everything, and that was his undoing. He no longer saw and viewed this job in the same lens that he did his first 5 years. And the results speak for themselves—remember, since the last SEC Tournament championship in 2018 and signing the lifetime contract that off-season, KY won a total of TWO SEC TOURNAMENT GAMES, AND FOUR NCAA TOURNAMENT GAMES, from 2019 to 2024. And out of those SIX TOTAL TOURNAMENT WINS, FOUR OF THEM came in the 2019 season alone. ONE SEC TOURNAMENT WIN AND ONE NCAA TOURNAMENT WIN IN THE FINAL 4 SEASONS AS KY COACH. Its a resume that would make Tubby Smith look like Rick Pitino. And it’s one NO OTHER COACH IN HISTORY would survive. And actually, the last 4 seasons as a whole were the program historical lows–so those 4 yrs were actually a worse body of work than Gillispie’s two years. KY fans are just grateful to have a coach who loves KY as much as they do, and who genuinely cares about the success of the program. Its KENTUCKY FIRST!!! NOT CAL-FIRST. And right now, this season u could kind of say is on the brink after this latest loss in Nashville—but even if Mark Pope loses every other game we play the rest of the year, he ABSOLUTELY CANNOT LOSE ON SAT FEB 1ST. SUPERBOWL SATURDAY. ITS OUR SEC SUPERBOWL this season. For me, that game against ARK is bigger this season than the UofL game. Its honestly more important, at least this year. Thank GOD it’s at home–but we must take advantage of that. And the crowd has to bring it. No sitting down on your hands. We need to make Rupp Arena the loudest and most difficult place to play in in the country, even if its just for one day—make it next SAT FEB 1st. In my opinion, aside from the DUKE game this year, it will be the most important game Mark Pope will have coached in thus far at his time at KY. And GAMEDAY was supposed to be there,but surprise, surprise, they renigned, and are going to DUKE/UNC. But I really believe that the decision has to do with their feelings about CAL and KY: they HATE KY, and they LOVE CAL–because CAL is ESTABLISHMENT, and he’s a sell-out the same way that they are. And as much as I could care less what all those talking heads have to say, I guarantee they made this change because CAL’s season at ARK is going south, and they didn’t want to have to get up there and talk about CAL and his struggles, and they didn’t want to talk about the fractured relationship between CAL and the UK fan base! ESPN is a bunch of cowards! Especially that crew of Seth Greenberg, Jay Williams, and Rece Davis. Jay Williams is a MAJOR KY HATER–he would probably wish somebody dead at KY–some of the things I have heard out of him the last year or two–he is just honestly pure filth. And u know it’s bad when the network who THRIVES on drama and stories turns down what is honestly THE COLLEGE BBALL STORY OF THE YEAR. IDC if both teams were 1-16 coming into the matchup–it would still be THE BIGGEST STORY IN COLLEGE BBALL. That just confirms how sick and ate up they are about KY and CAL—they lost a massive amt of money on that deal–they would have pulled in the ratings hosting GAMEDAY at Rupp for that one. But GAMEDAY or no GAMEDAY, we gotta come ready to play and take care of business. Unfortunately, Mark Pope, nor this team, nor us as a fanbase would ever live that down–and it would effectively ruin this season–and we just cannot allow that to happen.

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