Report: Mark Pope hire was 'not an impromptu decision' for Mitch Barnhart, Kentucky

News of Kentucky’s reported decision to hire Mark Pope as its next head coach sent shockwaves across Lexington and the college basketball world as a whole. The expectation was Mitch Barnhart and the Wildcats would go big-game hunting and perhaps wait for Billy Donovan’s season to end in the NBA, which added to the surprise.

According to CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander, though, Barnhart didn’t hire Pope out of the blue. The BYU head coach became a candidate in the last few days and it was not an “impromptu decision.”

Pope and Kentucky previously scheduled a meeting for Thursday in case some of the higher-profile candidates “fell through” in the search following John Calipari’s departure. A national championship-winning player at Kentucky under Rick Pitino, multiple reports said the expectation is a deal could come together soon for him to take over at his alma mater.

In fact, Pitino voiced his support for Pope to get the role before the news broke.

“I love Mark Pope and his family and he would be an unbelievable choice,” Pitino told NJ.com’s Adam Zagoria.

As for what happened with Donovan, The Athletic’s Kyle Tucker later said the school reached out after initial reports said there was no contact. Norlander later added the biggest issue on Kentucky’s side was the fact the school would have to wait for the Bulls’ season to end.

More on Kentucky’s coaching search

Scott Drew and Dan Hurley were two of the earliest names to come up as UK started to look for Calipari’s replacement. That was after former Villanova coach Jay Wright gave a “firm no” and Alabama’s Nate Oats announced he was staying in Tuscaloosa despite the rumors.

Thursday, things went to a new level. Drew announced he prayed on the decision and ultimately chose to stay at Baylor, where he’s called home since 2005. Shortly after that, news broke that Hurley was preparing to say no to UK no matter what the offer was.

According to KSR’s Matt Jones, Donovan appeared likely to be the next call. Less than an hour after the Bulls defeated the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, though, the Pope news broke.

Pope is no stranger to Kentucky fans, of course. After starting his playing career at Washington, he was on the 1996 team that won the national championship. He then became a second-round pick in the NBA Draft and played professionally for nine years, and he turned to coaching as an assistant at Georgia in 2006.

BYU is coming off a 23-11 overall record this past season, including a 10-8 mark in its first Big 12 season. All told, the Cougars have a 110-52 record since Pope took over the program in 2019.