LEXINGTON, Ky. — Initially off Kentucky’s radar as a target to become the next head coach for its men’s basketball program, Mark Pope is now entrusted with maintaining the gold standard of the blue-blood Wildcats.
He already did that as a player.
Kentucky hired the 51-year-old Pope away from Brigham Young University, bringing home a captain of the Wildcats’ 1996 national championship team to succeed John Calipari, who stepped down Tuesday and was introduced as the head coach at Arkansas — a fellow Southeastern Conference program — the very next day.
The Wildcats announced their hire in a release Friday morning but did not provide any contract details. Pope’s formal introduction as the program’s 23rd head coach is set for Sunday afternoon in a news conference at Rupp Arena.
Calipari is the active wins leader in NCAA Division I men’s basketball and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2015. During his 15 years in Lexington, he led the Wildcats to their eighth NCAA tournament title in 2012 among a quartet of Final Four appearances in his tenure, but Kentucky hasn’t reached the national semifinals since going 38-1 in 2015.