PROVO, Ut. - Former Kentucky Wildcat Mark Pope is now a Cougar. BYU is officially introducing Pope as it's new head basketball coach this afternoon. The school confirmed his hring in a tweet.
Pope, 46, has been the head coach at Utah Valley University since 2015 but this is not his first go-round with BYU. From 2011-2015, Pope was an assistant to Coach Dave Rose, who retired on March 26.
While at Utah Valley, Pope compiled a record of 77-55 (.583) and made three straight appearances in the College Basketball Invitational. Pope takes over a program which has won at least 20 games for 13 seasons. Last year, the Cougars finished 19-13, missing the NCAA Tournament and the NIT for the first time since 2005.
Pope is a member of Kentucky's 1996 national championship team, which was coached by Rick Pitino. Just last month, his former coach expressed confidence in Pope's abilities by tweeting "With all of the job openings, someone should jump to hire Mark Pope...He has done a great job at Utah Valley. 5 star teacher, recruiter, and person. A superstar on the horizon.” After college, Pope played professionally for nine years in both the NBA and overseas.