Mark Pope reached the 500-day mark in front of the Kentucky Wildcats, leaving positive impressions after his first season with his alma mater. Pope was signed to replace iconic coach John Calipari and led the team to a 24-12 record and an NCAA tournament berth.
It’s been 10 years since his head coaching journey began with Utah Valley, where he posted a 77-56 record in four seasons. Pope took over Brigham Young in 2019, leading them to a 110-53 record, which opened the doors to join the Wildcats.
Kentucky lost to the Tennessee Volunteers in the Sweet 16, ending a solid first season for Pope. The challenge should be harder now, and Pope is well aware that they need to aim higher.
Mark Pope reflects on his tenure with Kentucky
Discussing his first 500 days in front of the program on the “Eye On College Basketball” podcast with Matt Norlander, Pope admitted he couldn’t get the job done as he set a clear goal: winning.
Mark Pope the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats
“If I was going to grade myself, I’d grade myself a B or B-. Our job was to go win it. We didn’t get that done. I felt like we did a lot of things really, really well that I’m very proud of,” Pope said. “I felt like, as a head coach, I failed our team a little bit in terms of picking and choosing the places where we’re going to have a relentless standard where anything less than that is going to be successful.“
“One of our big keys going into this season is that we’re going to have a standard that we will refuse to accept anything less in some facets of the game that are controllable. I think we are going to do a much better job with that,” he added.
Kentucky has renewed expectations, and Pope is hungry to go further than last season.
