Mark Pope is replacing John Calipari at Kentucky after the latter left for Arkansas.
Pope is agreeing to a five-year deal to coach Kentucky after spending the last five years at BYU.
Rick Pitino, who coached the school from 1989-97 and is now the coach at St. John’s, is a major fan of the hire.
“If Mark Pope becomes the head coach of the University of Kentucky, it would be a dream for me, as he was the captain of one of the best teams ever constructed at Kentucky,” Pitino told Adam Zagoria.
Pope played two seasons for Kentucky and was a team captain of the 1995-96 team that won an NCAA Championship. He finished that season averaging 7.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game.
He then got into coaching in 2015 with Utah Valley. He spent four seasons with the program before going to BYU for the 2019-20 season.
Pope then coached BYU for the next five seasons and led the program to the NCAA Tournament twice, including this year. He went 110-52 during his reign at BYU and has amassed a 187-108 record during his nine years as a head coach.