Mark Pope

Mark Edward Pope (born September 11, 1972) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team.

As a player, Pope played power forward and small forward. He was Pac-10 Freshman of the Year with the Washington Huskies and then transferred to Kentucky, where he served as a team captain of the Wildcats' 1996 NCAA national championship team. After college, Pope spent almost a decade playing professionally in the U.S. and internationally.

Pope has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level. Immediately prior to taking the helm at his alma mater, he was head coach of the BYU Cougars of the Big 12 Conference.

Playing career
Pope played at Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington. In college, he played two years for the Washington Huskies, and earned Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors in 1992 after setting a freshman single-season school record with 8.1 rebounds per game. After two seasons with the Huskies, Pope transferred to the Kentucky Wildcats. After sitting out the 1993–94 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Pope appeared in every game for the Wildcats over the next two seasons, winning two SEC championships. Pope was also a team captain on the 1995–96 Wildcats team that won an NCAA national championship, averaging 7.6 points in 20.3 minutes per game.

Following his college career, Pope was a second-round pick for the Indiana Pacers in the 1996 NBA draft. Pope played six seasons in the NBA for the Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and Denver Nuggets. His playing career ended in 2005.

Early coaching jobs
In 2006, Pope enrolled in medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. In 2009, he left medical school and joined Mark Fox's coaching staff at the University of Georgia as director of basketball operations for the 2009–10 season. Fox was an assistant coach when both were at Washington. The following season (2010–11), Pope moved to Wake Forest to serve as an assistant under Jeff Bzdelik.

From 2011 to 2015, Pope was an assistant under Dave Rose at BYU. In four years, Pope helped the Cougars to four straight 20-win seasons and four straight postseason appearances, including three NCAA Tournament bids and a trip to the semifinals of the 2013 NIT.

In 2015, Pope was hired as head coach of the men's basketball team at Utah Valley University (UVU). In four years at UVU (2015-19), Pope’s teams made improvements each season, going from 12 wins in 2015-16 to 25 victories in 2018-19. He also led the Wolverines to three-straight postseason appearances (2017, 2018, 2019) and back-to-back 20-win seasons (2017-18, 2018-19).

BYU
On April 10, 2019, Pope was hired to replace Dave Rose as BYU's 19th men's basketball head coach, after Rose's retirement. In his first season, Pope led the Cougars to a 24-8 record, the most wins for a first-year coach in program history. He became just the second first-year BYU coach to lead his team into the top 25 and the first to end his debut season ranked. The Cougars entered the top 25 as No. 23 in the AP Poll on Feb. 17 and jumped to as high as No. 14. In league play, Pope guided the Cougars to a record of 13-3, second in the West Coast Conference (WCC). The 13 wins – which included a 91-78 victory over No. 2 Gonzaga in the Marriott Center – were a tie for the most by BYU during their time in the WCC. Gonzaga was the highest-ranked team BYU has defeated in the history of the Marriott Center. The Cougars finished the regular season on a nine-game win streak, the team's longest win streak in WCC play. BYU boasted one of the most efficient offenses in the nation in 2019-20, evidenced by top 5 national rankings in several statistical categories. The team was projected to be a lock for an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, which would have been their first berth since 2015. However, the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled the tournament and prematurely ended the successful season. BYU ended the season at No. 18 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

Pope's early success with the Cougars continued in 2020-21. BYU finished 10-3 in WCC play. The team reached the finals of the WCC Tournament, losing to Gonzaga, 88-78, in the championship. The team received an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015. They were defeated in the first round by UCLA, 73-62. On January 20, 2022, BYU defeated San Diego 79-71, which marked Pope's 60th career win at BYU and made him the fastest BYU head coach ever to reach that benchmark. The win also gave the Cougars a 16-4 record for the season, which was Pope's best start through 20 games as head coach. Pope and the Cougars went 24–11 in 2021–22 and ended their season in the quarterfinals of the NIT. During 2022–23, BYU failed to reach 20 wins for the first time in Pope's tenure as head coach, going 19–15 overall and 7–9 in-conference for the Cougars' final season as a member of the WCC. The Cougars failed to reach the postseason for the first time since 2019.

On July 1, 2023, BYU became a member of the Big 12 Conference, with Pope coaching the Cougars in their first-ever season as part of a major conference in 2023–24. BYU posted a 22–9 regular season record and a 10–8 record in Big 12 play during the 2023-24 season. The Cougars advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament, where they were defeated by Texas Tech. They received a bid to the NCAA Tournament as a 6-seed and lost to Duquesne in the Round of 64.

Kentucky
On April 12, 2024, Pope was hired to become the 23rd men's basketball head coach at Kentucky.

Personal life
Pope and his wife, Lee Anne, a former assistant to talk show host David Letterman, have four daughters. Lee Anne is the daughter of the late Lynn Archibald, who was the head basketball coach at the University of Utah from 1983 to 1989 and was an assistant at BYU in the 1990s. Pope is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

NBA
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