Kentucky fans weren’t exactly thrilled to hear that Mark Pope will be their new head coach. Rick Pitino, however, loves this move for the Wildcats.
Pitino coached Pope at Kentucky for three years. They won a national championship together in 1996.
In a video that he released on social media, Pitino explained why he’s all in on Kentucky hiring Pope. He also dismissed the idea that Pope won’t be a good coach in Lexington because he doesn’t have an NCAA Tournament win under his belt.
“Mark Pope, offensively, no one does it better. The way his teams move, the way his teams shoot the 3, the ball movement, the player movement is outstanding,” Pitino said. “What you don’t realize is that it took Jay Wright 11 years to finally get an NCAA win. Billy Donovan was at Marshall for years and didn’t have an NCAA Tournament appearance. He went on to greatness. Mark Pope will go on to greatness – you can put it down.”
Pitino continued “Nobody epitomizes the name Kentucky on the front of the jersey more than Mark Pope.”
The full video from Pitino is over two minutes long. It’s very clear that he’s a big believer in Pope.
— Rick Pitino (@RealPitino) April 12, 2024
Pope won 110 games in five seasons at BYU. The program went 23-11 this past season, its first year in the Big 12.
If Pope is going to have success at Kentucky, he’ll need to recruit well. It’ll be interesting to see how he fares next season.