Cameron Mills Knows Mark Pope Won’t Change Who He Is

Mark Pope waved to Kentucky fans as he walked off the court after a UK win last season. (Vicky Graff Photo)

Despite injuries that dramatically changed lineup options for coach Mark Pope, Kentucky managed to beat eight top 15 teams last season, reached the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and even beat national champion Florida.

Cameron Mills, Pope’s teammate on UK’s 1996 national championship team, says what Kentucky fans saw this year is what they should expect going forward.

“I don’t mean wins and losses, I mean the way they play, the way he coaches. When it was announced that he was coming, the very first thing I did was think about, ‘All right, what’s the difference going to be?’ And I say this with no disrespect to Coach Cal, but what I knew was coming because of who Mark is was a culture change,” said Mills.

“Again, not saying it was a bad culture under Cal, I’m saying I knew a culture change was coming because Mark is going to be himself.”

Mills said even former Pope teammates thought it was “our boy coming back” and he would have plenty of time for them.

“I mean obviously he had a job to do, but he was so laser focused this year, clearly wanting to make sure that again, because he knows the expectations of this place, clearly wanting to have a good first year,” Mills, who does radio and video work for UK basketball, said. “I mean, he was all business.

“I’m not saying he wasn’t all business when he played. But at the same time, when you’re in your 20s and practice is over you go hang out with your boys and have fun. It wasn’t that way with Mark during the season.”

Mills said he really wasn’t sure how much Pope even slept during the season because he “worked his tail off” every day leaving nothing to chance.

“He was preparing his team to win games in the NCAA Tournament but at the same time he had to be recruiting the (transfer) portal,” Mills said. “The season played out exactly how I thought it would. I actually didn’t think we would be as good as we were but the culture change that I expected, it happened even more so.”

Mills said being around the team and watching and talking to players and coaches was a “different” atmosphere from previous years.

“His players are the best recruiting tools we have right now because they’re talking about what it meant to play for this guy, and someone like me can only talk about what it was like to play with this guy. I knew that was special, but I can’t imagine what it’s like, other than just watching practice, what it’s like to play for this guy.”

Pope signed autographs and interacted with fans after most games. He bought ice cream for fans who stayed for a radio show when he didn’t have time to sign autographs. He did every press conference and radio show himself. Pope found time to do numerous local and national radio shows.

Is there any way he can keep that up at that pace next year along with the work he puts into his team?

“I mean, he just will. That’s the culture I’m talking about in part. He just gets it, and he gets it in a way that only a former player could get it,” Mills said. “I know Coach (Joe B.) Hall was here as a player. So he understood it.

“But the thing I love about Mark is that he’s always ultra positive. He is ultra believing in you, right? But everything he’s done, from the ice cream to buying gas to get people to Milwaukee (for the NCAA Tournament), that’s not Mark placating or trying to butter up the fans. That’s just Mark and that is not going to change.”