A big comparison for the new UK head coach.
The Kentucky Wildcats are entering a new era as Mark Pope takes over the men’s basketball program.
After a successful tenure at BYU, Pope is bringing his innovative offense to Lexington and the SEC. How good is it? Well, it helped the Cougars knock off Kansas in Lawrence and got Kelvin Sampson talking about the difficulty of preparing for it during their first season in the Big XII.
That thought has recently made the new UK Head Coach draw an interesting comparison to a former Kentucky Football coach… Hal Mumme.
Dennis Johnson, Jasper Johnson’s father and former UK football player, recently joined Jack Pilgrim of KSR on his podcast, Sources Say, and pointed to the comparison between Pope and Mumme.
“Just knowing his system of play, I think the style of play is going to fit Jasper. He kind of reminds me of a Hal Mumme of UK basketball,” Johnson said. “When Hal came in, we kind of had a system of play. Hal comes in and he’s going for it on 4th and 30. I think you’re going to see that out of Pope. He’s the energetic guy, he’s going to say, ‘Let’s let it fly, and if we don’t make it, get back and play defense. Get out in transition and run.’ I think he’s kind of got a Hal Mumme style of basketball.”
What a cool comparison for the BBN. Mumme is known for bringing the air raid offense to college football, as well as helping develop Tim Couch.
If Mark Pope’s offense and success can resemble what that offense brought to football, it could be a fun time in Lexington.
‘Like’ our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter for more UK news and views. Go Cats!