Kentucky needs to hire a new basketball coach for the first time since 2009, and now a member of the 1996 national championship team has emerged as the top candidate to take over.
The Wildcats are “targeting” BYU coach Mark Pope as their next head coach, and a deal is expected to be finalized soon. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reports..
This was in response to comments from CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. reported early Thursday Pope is considered to be the Wildcats’ next head coach, replacing John Calipari.
Pope coached at Utah Valley for four seasons and played two years at Kentucky after transferring from Washington.
As a senior, Pope averaged 7.6 points and 5.2 rebounds that season as the Wildcats won the national championship.
He took over the head coaching job at BYU in 2019 and led the team to the first round of March Madness twice, most recently this year, posting a 110-52 record in five seasons.
Kentucky has found finding a new head basketball coach surprisingly difficult.
UW’s Dan Hurley, Alabama’s Nate Oats and former Villanova head coach turned CBS college basketball analyst Jay Wright all publicly resigned from their positions.
Earlier Thursday, Baylor head coach Scott Drew confirmed to ‘X’ that he will remain in Waco.
Calipari left Kentucky for Arkansas after 15 seasons at the helm of the Wildcats.
The team won one national championship (2012) and made three other Final Four appearances during his tenure.
But Kentucky hasn’t reached the Final Four since 2015, and Calipari beat Lexington after three consecutive lackluster tournament tournaments.
Calipari signed a five-year contract with the Razorbacks with a base salary of $7 million.
according to The AthleticThis contract could be worth up to $60 million over seven seasons.
He was making $8.5 million a year in Kentucky.
