By [ad_1]
-
Myron Medcalf, ESPN Employees Author
Days after John Calipari left city, Mark Pope stood on a podium in entrance of a sold-out crowd at Rupp Enviornment on Sunday.
Throughout his official introduction, Kentucky’s new coach, who signed a five-year deal for $5.5 million per season, mentioned he is conscious of the expectations across the program.
“I perceive the task,” Pope mentioned. “We’re right here to win banners. As we undergo this journey, we’re right here to win banners in Nashville [at the SEC tournament] since you guys end up in Nashville like no person else and that issues. And our job right here and our task is right here to win banners within the Ultimate 4, nationwide championships. That is our job.”
Pope’s arrival marked the newest step in a stunning sequence of occasions that has modified the SEC and males’s school basketball. Three days in the past, Calipari was launched as the top coach at Arkansas following a 15-year tenure that included the 2012 nationwide title. Calipari determined to go away the Wildcats after a collection of lackluster postseason finishes and hypothesis about his future.
Kentucky, extensively thought-about one of many prime jobs within the sport, had reportedly pursued elite candidates, equivalent to UConn’s Dan Hurley, Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan, Baylor’s Scott Drew and Alabama head coach Nate Oats. After the college did not land a few of its most coveted candidates, Pope — a member of Kentucky’s 1996 nationwide title group — emerged as athletic director Mitch Barnhart’s decide.
Pope, who has beforehand coached at each Utah Valley and BYU, advised the 1000’s who gathered for a information convention Sunday that the leaders at his earlier stops all the time understood his ardour for Kentucky, the place he averaged 7.9 PPG and 5.7 RPG from 1994 to 1996 following his switch from Washington. He then performed six years within the NBA.
“They know my coronary heart bleeds blue Kentucky,” Pope mentioned. “And [Barnhart] knew that. Perhaps, he was a bit of cautious calling me as a result of he knew I used to be going to say, ‘Sure,’ earlier than he ever completed the query.”
There have been followers exterior Rupp Enviornment hours previous to Sunday’s introduction, a speedy turnaround for a fan base that appeared initially skeptical of the rent earlier than embracing the transfer. Pope succeeds a coach who had failed to succeed in the second weekend of the NCAA event since 2019 and had suffered two first-round exits over the previous three years.
Earlier than he spoke, Pope held the 1996 nationwide championship trophy as he walked onto the courtroom in a bus that featured former gamers, together with members of the 1996 nationwide title group. He then handed the trophy to Derek Anderson, who was one of many stars of that championship squad.
The 6-foot-10 former middle mentioned he did not must persuade his household to make the transfer to Lexington. His spouse and 4 daughters had been all supportive, he mentioned, as soon as it was clear Kentucky had made him the main target of its search.
Pope has amassed a 187-108 report in his teaching profession however he has not received a convention title, a convention event championship or an NCAA event sport. Beneath Calipari, Kentucky routinely attracted first-round picks. Pope mentioned he’s at present recruiting the gamers on the present group, members of Calipari’s recruiting class who’ve decommitted and gamers within the switch portal as he assembles his first roster.
“We’ll discover guys that match right here, the best way we play and perceive what a present it’s to play on the College of Kentucky,” he mentioned.
At one level, Pope mentioned coaches are “shepherds” and the digicam panned towards former Kentucky star Jeff Sheppard, Pope’s school roommate and the daddy of Reed Sheppard, the Kentucky standout and NBA prospect. However he did not point out him instantly.
Nonetheless, Pope mentioned he solely needs gamers at Kentucky who will respect this system’s historical past and excel in his system. Final 12 months, greater than 50% of BYU’s photographs had been 3-point makes an attempt, and the Cougars had been additionally top-60 in adjusted defensive effectivity.
“At BYU, we had the second-most 3-pointers in school basketball,” Pope mentioned. “However at Kentucky, we do not are available second. My group final 12 months had the fourth-most assists within the nation and at Kentucky, we share all the pieces. We’ll be absurdly aggressive on offense. We’ll change it up and preserve folks on their heels on protection.”
Towards the top of the occasion, Pope mentioned he welcomed the lofty requirements as a result of he knew they would not change, despite the fact that he isn’t as skilled as a number of the prime coaches who’ve come earlier than him at Kentucky.
Pope mentioned he’ll flip to his mentors, equivalent to St. John’s head coach Rick Pitino who led Kentucky’s 1996 nationwide title squad, as he navigates the challenges forward whereas he makes an attempt to fulfill the excessive requirements of a faculty that has eight nationwide championships.
“We’re not ducking it,” he mentioned “That’s the task.”
