Welcome to the University of Kentucky, Mark Pope.
Kentucky was turned down by both UConn head coach Dan Hurley and Baylor head coach Scott Drew.
This led to Kentucky hiring BYU head coach Mark Pope as the replacement for John Calipari who left to take the head coaching position at Arkansas.
Pope previously played for the Kentucky Wildcats from 1994 to 1996 and was a team captain on the 1996 National Championship team.
Following his college career at Kentucky, Pope was drafted in the second round of the 1996 NBA Draft by the Indiana Pacers.
He played in the NBA from 1997 to 2005 for the Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and Denver Nuggets.
Upon Pope’s hiring, video has now emerged of Pope revealing his “secret talent” which happens to be rapping “My Shot” from the musical “Hamilton.”
Pope prefaces the video by saying that he “hopes Lin-Manuel is watching” which references the “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda.
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Kentucky fans will be hoping that his not-so-secret talent is coaching basketball as the Wildcats haven’t made a Final Four appearance since 2015.
Pope previously coached Utah Valley from 2015 to 2019 and BYU from 2019 to 2024.
Pope’s BYU Cougars participated in their first season as a major conference team upon joining the Big 12.
Their 23-11 season ended in the first round of the NCAA Tournament as they were upset by 11th-seeded Duquesne.
