Kentucky releases financial details of Mark Pope contract

The contract details for the Kentucky Wildcats‘ new head basketball coach Mark Pope have been released by Kentucky.

It’s a five-year deal, during which he’ll earn $27.5 million. That’s about $5.5 million per year over the course of his contract, with his first-year salary set at $5 million. Pope’s salary will increase by $250,000 per season throughout the duration of the deal.

Officially, the deal started on April 12, 2024, and will end on March 31, 2029.

The buyout for Mark Pope’s deal is set at 75 percent of the amount remaining on the deal if he’s fired without cause. Pope can also choose to opt out of the deal. If Mitch Barnhart is still at Kentucky when he leaves, Kentucky would owe him 33 percent. If Barnhart is gone, Kentucky would owe him 20 percent.

On top of the salary that Mark Pope is set to earn at Kentucky, his deal with the schools is also laced with incentives. That notably includes the contract automatically extending by one year every season that Kentucky makes it to the Sweet Sixteen under Pope. That also comes with a $250,000 bonus.

Beyond that, Mark Pope would receive $50,000 for winning the SEC Tournament, $100,000 for winning the SEC regular season, $250,000 for reaching the Final Four, and $500,000 for winning the national title. On top of that Pope is going to get 20 “prime, lower-level” tickets for men’s basketball games, 10 tickets for each away and postseason game, eight tickets for every home football game, and four tickets for every home women’s basketball game.

Importantly, NCAA Tournament incentives can’t be stacked under the contract. He will also get 30 in-flight hours of private aircraft use every year of the contract.

Mark Pope says he was called to hang banners at Kentucky

The goal at Kentucky is to win national championships and succeed in March. Mark Pope, being a former Wildcat himself, knows that. He also believes he’s the right person to hang the next championship banner in Lexington.

“Like, I do believe that the most satisfying thing, the thing that’s required here and is more important than anything else is representing Big Blue Nation and hanging banners. That’s what we’ve been called to do,” Pope said.

“We’re going to kind of hit all those pieces to get to number nine as quickly as we possibly can.”