A year ago at this time, Mark Pope’s seat was beginning to warm a little bit at BYU after the Cougars finished their final season in the West Coast Conference in a fifth-place tie with San Francisco and Pacific and failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year.
Now, he’s the head coach at Kentucky.
In the space of 12 months, the hyperbolic and ever-enthusiastic Pope went from having a mild case of the blues — by his standards — to one of the true blue bloods of college basketball.
A year ago at this time, Mark Pope’s seat was beginning to warm a little bit at BYU after the Cougars finished their final season in the West Coast Conference in a fifth-place tie with San Francisco and Pacific and failed to make the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight year.
Now, he’s the head coach at Kentucky.
In the space of 12 months, the hyperbolic and ever-enthusiastic Pope went from having a mild case of the blues — by his standards — to one of the true blue bloods of college basketball.
Well, the unthinkable has happened.
Everyone in Utah has always known that there were only a handful of jobs for which Pope would leave BYU, and Kentucky, his alma mater, was at the top of the list. BYU was a good fit for Pope; Kentucky will be an excellent one — at least that’s what Rick Pitino thinks.
That BYU has perhaps the most shallow coaching candidate pool in the country adds to the problem in Provo, especially if the school adheres to a long-standing practice that its head coaches be members of the faith that sponsors and supports the institution, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
