Mark Pope hires former OVC head coach as Kentucky’s Director of Player Development
By Mark Kern
Published:
Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats are gearing up for the season, and the coach is ready to do whatever is necessary to help the team take that next step. That even includes bringing in more coaches to help out, as Pope announced that he was hiring former Tennessee Tech coach John Pelphrey to be the Director of Player Development.
Pelphrey played college basketball at Kentucky from 1987 to 1992, where he had an outstanding career. He finished his playing days with 1,257 points, while also adding 469 rebounds, 327 assists, 173 steals, and 51 blocks in 114 games.
After his playing days were over, he became a coach. He had stops as an assistant, working under some of the best coaches in college basketball history, including Eddie Sutton and Billy Donovan. He was also the head coach at South Alabama from 2002 to 2007, and at Arkansas from 2007 to 2011. Most recently, he was the head coach at Tennessee Tech from 2019 to 2026. He has a career record of 228-264.
This is a big year for Pope at Kentucky, and he is making sure he is as prepared as he can be. Pelphrey is absolutely beloved at Kentucky, and having a guy like that with the coaching experience he does is a smart move by Pope.
