Kentucky needs to hire a new basketball coach for the first time since 2009, and now, a member of its 1996 national championship team has emerged as leading a candidate to take the spot.
The Wildcats are “targeting” BYU coach Mark Pope as their next head coach and a deal is expected to happen soon, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported.
This came after CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein reported earlier on Thursday that Pope could replace John Calipari as the Wildcats’ next head coach.
Pope, who had previously coached at Utah Valley for four seasons, played two years at Kentucky after transferring from Washington.
In his senior year, the Wildcats won the national championship as Pope averaged 7.6 points and 5.2 rebounds that season.
He took over the head coaching job at BYU in 2019, leading the team to the first round of March Madness twice, most recently this year and posting a 110-52 records over five seasons.
Kentucky has found it surprisingly hard to find a new head basketball coach.
UConn’s Dan Hurley, Alabama’s Nate Oats and former Villanova head coach turned CBS college basketball analyst Jay Wright all publicly passed on the job.
Earlier Thursday, Baylor head coach Scott Drew confirmed on X that he would be staying in Waco.
Calipari left Kentucky for Arkansas after 15 seasons at the helm of the Wildcats.
The team won one national championship (2012) and made three other Final Four appearances during his tenure.
But Kentucky hasn’t made a Final Four appearance since 2015, and after three lackluster tournament runs in a row, Calipari bolted Lexington.
Calipari signed a five-year contract with the Razorbacks with a base salary of $7 million per year.
According to The Athletic, the deal could be worth up to $60 million over seven seasons.
He had been making $8.5 million per year at Kentucky.
