Mark Pope is back at his alma mater, and he has major shoes to fill.
Pope, who was a member of Kentucky’s 1996 national championship team, spent the last five seasons as head coach at BYU. Now, he’s returned to Lexington to take over for John Calipari.
While Calipari’s tenure at UK didn’t end on a high note, Pope is well aware of all the former coach achieved during his 15 seasons with the Wildcats.
As a result, he’s also cognizant of just how hard it will be to replace Calipari.
“Well there’s a saying in coaching, in all coaching, but especially in college basketball: ‘You never follow John Wooden,’” Pope said on SportsCenter Wednesday, via On3. “And so appreciative of everything John Calipari did. I’m a diehard Kentucky fan as well as former player and now head coach. And John revolutionized a lot of things in the way recruiting’s done and style of play in college basketball.”
Recruiting is something Calipari did better than pretty much everyone right down to his final days at Kentucky. Pope landed his first commitment this week in the form of Collin Chandler, the No. 33 overall recruit in the 2022 class who originally signed with BYU.
Chandler spent the last two years on a Mormon mission and is expected to enroll at Kentucky for the 2024-25 season.
Pope will need to be active in the coming weeks and months in order to fill out his inaugural roster.