Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart is ready to run through a brick wall for new men’s basketball head coach Mark Pope.
Barnhart wants fans to get behind Pope like he has since he did a tremendous job at BYU and thinks he can lead Kentucky to a national title.
“Get behind this guy and let’s go win something together. Let’s go have the heartbeat of what’s on the front of that jersey, the right way. This guy can do it. We can go win championships and we will,” Barnhart said.
A lot of Kentucky fans weren’t happy when news of the hire leaked since he wasn’t the “sexy” option but sometimes the more “lowkey” option is better.
Pope coached BYU for the last five years and took the program to the NCAA Tournament twice, including this year. He finished his tenure with a 110-52 record.
Before that, he coached at Utah Valley for four seasons and was also a team captain of the 1995-96 Kentucky team that won an NCAA Championship. He finished that season averaging 7.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
He’ll now try and prove some doubters wrong as he takes over a Kentucky program that hasn’t gotten to a Sweet 16 since the 2018-19 season.