O'Gara: Is Mark Pope to Kentucky underwhelming? Absolutely. But is he destined to fail? Absolutely not
It was an underwhelming text to send.
A few days ago, my brother and I again were discussing Kentucky’s options to replace John Calipari. He’s a UK fan who lives in Lexington and I, well, do this. Our exchange was on the heels of Calipari’s stunning move to Arkansas becoming official.
All of the names you’d expect to come up came up, along with a few others. Dan Hurley, Nate Oats, Scott Drew, Billy Donovan, etc. We mentioned Iowa State coach TJ Otzelberger, Illinois coach Brad Underwood and Bruce Pearl, though we both agreed it didn’t make as much sense to pursue the 64-year-old Auburn coach. The same was true for the polarizing, but ever-popular former UK coach Rick Pitino, who will turn 72 years old by the time the 2024-25 season begins.
Then came the underwhelming text I sent him.
“Mark Pope from BYU is an interesting one.”
In the days since that Tuesday afternoon text, other words have been used to describe Pope, many of which aren’t appropriate for this family-friendly website. The most appropriate one for Pope after Kentucky announced his hiring Friday to become its next basketball coach is obvious.
“Underwhelming.”
Welcome home, @CoachMarkPope!
Pope, a captain of the 1996 National Championship team, has returned to the @universityofky as the 23rd head coach of @KentuckyMBB!https://t.co/5tDLhxKdTQ
— Kentucky Athletics (@UKAthletics) April 12, 2024
It’s perfectly fair to call Pope an underwhelming hire. A search that some hoped would end with UK landing either the guy who just repeated (Hurley) or the other guy who repeated in the 21st century (Donovan) instead ended with a guy who has never won an NCAA Tournament … game. As a coach, anyway.
Yeah, that’s an incredibly underwhelming move by Kentucky AD Mitch Barnhart, especially given the second-to-none resources that are available in Lexington both from an NIL standpoint and a completed $310 million Rupp Arena renovation standpoint. To think that job went to Pope instead of waiting out Donovan’s NBA season or throwing a bunch of money at a more established coach like Underwood or Otzelberger is wild. Hence, the outrage to initial reports that he was the guy.
But dare I say, we should separate “underwhelming” and “destined to fail.”
Let’s be clear. If Pope isn’t a former UK captain who played under Pitino — his 1996 UK team actually beat Calipari’s UMass team in the Final Four en route to the national title — he doesn’t get that phone call. Honestly, Pope’s UK background might be the only thing standing in the way of this being a full Greg Schiano-Tennessee situation.
Barnhart might be public enemy No. 1 right now, but it doesn’t change the previous 3 weeks. Calipari admitted that things had run their course at UK. Barnhart somehow got to move on from a coach he wasn’t aligned with while avoiding the $33 million buyout. That’s a win.
It’s still a win because instead of getting top donors to foot that bill, they can instead focus their efforts on footing the bill to build Pope’s program. Despite what the internet might’ve told you the past 24 hours, there will be momentum to do just that.
This is confirmed now by another source with the caveat that it’s Two donors combination for an up front $4 million NIL pledge
This is a huge start https://t.co/CEiapuD7Aj
— Matt Jones (@KySportsRadio) April 12, 2024
Calipari claimed at his Arkansas introductory press conference that he had to take care of NIL himself at Kentucky. What he conveniently left out was that his damaged relationships with boosters caused that.
This era of recruiting is different from the 1-and-done era that Calipari ushered in. Pope will have to show he can do that at an elite level to win over his skeptics.
But let’s be honest. The best way to win over skeptics is by winning basketball games, no matter what that recruiting class ranking finishes at. Calipari signed the No. 1, No. 2, No. 6 and No. 1 classes in the 2020s, yet he had just 1 single NCAA Tournament victory to show for it. That’s demeanor. That’s scheme.
Pope can be an instant upgrade in those 2 areas. Basketball people will tell you that Pope has some Oats-like tendencies with the offense he runs. BYU was No. 2 in America with 32 3-point attempts per game. That was 2 more than Alabama. No, they didn’t necessarily operate with the Tide’s tempo, but the ideas were similar. Get 5 guys on the court who can shoot, pass and dribble. Seven of BYU’s 8 players who averaged 18 minutes shot at least 92 3-pointers in 2023-24.
All of that frustration about Calipari’s dated offense, which made significant improvements in 2023-24 but was still clearly ineffective when it counted, could fade with 1 season of Pope.
There’s another element to this that some on the outside might be overlooking. Calipari’s disconnect not only from the boosters but the fan base as a whole became a constant topic of conversation. The fact that he was reportedly surprised by the fan outrage after the Oakland debacle was telling.
Call me crazy, but a former UK captain from a national championship team might just have a better feel for how to navigate those waters than Calipari did.
That doesn’t mean Pope will be more successful, nor does it mean that his approval rating will ever peak at the levels that Calipari’s did in the mid-2010s. It could, however, mean that Pope could be better prepared to handle both success and failure in a place like Lexington.
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The bar for the hire itself might’ve been high, but it’s easy to forget how low the bar for Pope to exceed is. Let’s say he keeps a few UK starters on board for another season and the 2024-25 squad reaches the Sweet 16. That would mark the best UK season in 6 years.
So much of the angst in the past week came from UK’s desire to win this breakup. In the court of public opinion, Barnhart’s hire didn’t do that. Instead of making a post-Calipari splash, he opted for a pencil dive by hiring Pope (it’s ironic considering that Barnhart’s hiring of Calipari in 2009 was as splashy as it gets). But replacing Calipari was never going to be about winning the press conference, and fan support for this new era won’t come down to how well-known the candidate is, even if there’s a bit of confirmation bias that’ll show if Pope struggles out of the gate.
The UK job is demanding but simple — win basketball games when it counts or find somebody else who will. Barnhart staked his future on Pope doing that. Whether that decision was made because of how different Barnhart’s relationship with Pope figures to be compared to his relationship with Calipari is somewhat irrelevant.
It is indeed interesting that Barnhart opted for such an underwhelming route when all signs suggested that wouldn’t be the case. There’s nothing wrong with that being the takeaway.
Just don’t confuse being underwhelmed with being convinced that the path to success is blocked before Pope makes his return to Lexington.
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Will he be arriving to Lexington in a Pope Mobile?
Yes, indeed.
Mea Culpa? Or, Mea Maxima Culpa? Perhaps the LDS equivalent?
Love it!
No, but there will be white smoke coming from Rupp Arena on Sunday
I saw blue smoke from the Joe Craft Center.
As they say in nascar at the end of the race “ya got what ya got”. Im sure BBN will get behind Pope and give him a fair shot. he deserves that too. I expect he will do more, with less, initially, than Calipari and who knows, he may restore ky as a fixture in the late stages of the big dance. I wish him limited success:)
*unlimited. :)
Good thing y’all saved all that buyout money on Cal. You’ll need it in 2 years for this guy.
Good luck with 2024 Cal in 2 years.
Cal brought all his assistants that underachieved with roll the ball out and let our5’s win. No close game coaching at all. Good luck in close games and fun in Rupp when all the guys from the 96 NCAA Championship will be siting on the bench with Pope’s team next year.
I doubt that any of Cal’s assistants will follow him to Fayetteville. I sure hope Ulis and the others stay at UK.
Those ‘96 guys won’t be playing, or watching.
This guy is definitely way down the list of choices. Barnhart got a lot of “no thanks” before settling on Pope. I mean this guy has never won a NCAA tournament game! That’s who was hired?
Touche! LOL
Yes, this was an underwhelming hire… But for those who will say “we replaced a HOF coach in Cal with this?” let’s think about where the program was when Cal left. Like with any breakup, a lot of the dirty laundry has made it’s way to the public. Cal’s relationship with every aspect of Kentucky was broken. Reports of fighting within the team, boosters with closed checkbooks, a non-existent relationship with the university, and a tepid at best relationship with fans put the program in a no win place moving forward. It’s also hard to gauge Mark Pope’s potential coming from BYU or Utah whatever college- if his basketball IQ is anywhere near what his former coaches and teammates claim it to be, this situation will give him every opportunity to succeed at Kentucky. We already found out that playing extremely talented freshmen through March didn’t work. The shocking stat that there were no 5* players on a final four roster will tell you that college basketball is still about developing talent. Because the blue chip burger boys are leaving college ball before their full potential is ever close to realization compared to what we see on college basketball courts. As a fan, I’m ok to internalize the fact that Kentucky was snubbed by every top name they approached. If the AD sees potential in a kid who he knows bleeds as blue as any fan, then let’s roll with that. If I see improvement on effort- especially on defense and rebounding next year, I’m good with that. The boosters have already begun flooding the NIL funds, so Kentucky will be able to sign a decent class of HS and transfers to make this work. Cal is gone- let’s move on and give Mark Pope a full chance to get this program back on track.
Yes, let’s do exactly that. The more I think about, the more I am pleased with the hire.
It’s taken a moment to get there for me too… But one of the things that I’m not sure has been mentioned is that I think if you’re going to go with a former player, getting somebody from that era was going to be important. Cal made Kentucky a “cool” program with lots of Instagram and star power, but that hype was all about individuals. There was a time under Rick and Tubby where the program was most important. And I get every sense when reading about this hire that that is where this coach’s head is at. That will go a long way towards mending fences and getting things in the right direction. I won’t miss Drake appearance and LaBron showing up at practice. But I 100% expect Pope to forge relationships with Cal’s former players. Cal didn’t have good relationships (or any relationships) with former players and that never sat very well with me…
I think most of Mark’s former teammates, if not all, will be there tomorrow to welcome him back home. I would love it if Rick Pitino showed up and cut that NIL check that he said he would (if we needed it). That would mend a LOT of fences in old relationships. I think they may already be discussing a game with St. John’s.
Kentucky will be fine. they’ll still get 5* recruits and be right up there.
It was time for Cal to leave. Like he said, “Kentucky needs another voice” in the program.
I’m also under no illusion that Cal will be hoisting a natty in Fayettville.
But I do think he will do better than Muss. Muss peaked early but the last two years we were under .500 in the SEC.
For Arkansas fans: You’re going to get a Cal with a fresh start. If he’s learned anything in the last 5-6 years and uses that knowledge on how to build a better roster, it will pay dividends. For every McDonalds All American, you get one year. In Lexington, he was in a never ending cycle of replacing talented youngsters with other talented youngsters. I would not be surprised at all to see Cal take the Hogs to the next level. He brings excitement and star power where he goes. He just has to be humble enough to understand where he needs to change- and this could be what he needed to get it done.
Till the battle is won…
Mitch should be fired for this hire. He promised a corvette and delivered a chevette. Nothing against Pope, just feeling he is in over his head with this job. UK is not BYU.
Mitch just might in the end. And Mark knows exactly what it is.
The guy sure did under-deliver! I get that some fans think he “could” do well and want to give him a shot. But, what shocks me is that UK is giving someone a shot and not bringing in a proven winner. This hire is a roll of the dice, one can only speculate what will happen. Just doesn’t seem like a safe blue-blood move…. I’d be nervous as a UK fan, very nervous.
Nervous = stage fright…not a bad thing in most cases. He will have something to prove.
Harsh take on the hire of an alumni who did good things on the court.
Pope is not Hurley, a foul-mouthed jackass. Pope is not Oats, excusing players involved in first-degree murders (who by the way was a complete non-entity just four years ago). Pope is going to do something that has not been seen in a decade – try to win post-season games.
He has already got 4 million pledged to the NIL from two donors. No doubt, two of the ones that Cal wasn’t speaking to and had stopped supporting the basketball team.
Cats will be fine they have a ton of NIL money and resources to help pope and to get the recruits he needs. Congratulations to Mark Pope and wish u great success on the big stage of your Alma mater! This hire was sort of like UNC and Duke all past players of their schools. Will this work for KY that is yet to be determined!
Cal got pretty stagnant. I don’t know that Billy D would have been up for dealing with NIL. Bryce Drew would have been the best real possibility. Can’t blame him for staying. Hurley leaving UConn wasn’t happening. Nate Oats has some bad baggage. Pope loves KY, is smart and open-minded, and has the energy to deal with the current climate of college athletic s. He’ll get more out of players than Cal did and that UK money might make up for what he lacks in recruiting experience. It might not work out, but it might work really well. Being willing lose the press conference to be a willing program isn’t a bad thing. I guess we will wait and see.
Since 1930 every coach who’s stayed at UK longer than four years has won a national championship. UK won in 2012 not because of coach Cal, but in spite of him. It was clear to most people who closely watch the program that Cal was never going to win another at UK. Burned far to many bridges in his 15 years here.
Meh. Kentucky is Kentucky, and they’ll be fine. Pope may do great, or he may not meet the Wildcats’ understandably high expectations. But he isn’t a terrible hire and will win plenty of games. If he fails, we’ll know very soon, and he’ll likely leave the program in fine shape for the next coach.
What happened to that “reported list of candidates” that included Dan Hurley, Scott Drew, Billy Donovan, Bruce Pearl, Nate Oats and Sean Miller?
Did they all say no?