Mark Pope reflects on when he first wanted to be the Kentucky coach

Mark Pope wasn’t always going to be a basketball coach. Once he decided to make that career choice, though, Kentucky was always the job that was the apex on that path.

Pope spoke about wanting the Wildcats’ head coaching job during the first edition of his local radio show on Monday. He started by explaining why he, a Rhodes Scholar and medical student at Columbia University, was best off to step away from the profession in favor of returning to the hardwood.

“I think I actually made this comment. I love talking about this,” Pope prefaced as he laughed. “The truth is is that, when I dropped out of medical school, the entire medical community rejoiced. Survival rates multiplied exponentially. That was probably my greatest gift to the healthcare profession.”

That decision led Pope back to the basketball court at several jobs over the past 15 years. It included assistant roles at Georgia, Wake Forest, and BYU before becoming a head coach at Utah Valley and, most recently, at BYU.

However, the opening of the gig at Kentucky was a whole new ball game for him. It was a seat that John Calipari had filled for a decade and a half. It was also one that the program was quickly considering new options for.

Still, once the coaching search got to Pope, it became the realization of an aspiration for him to return to his alma mater and take, in his opinion, the best job in college basketball.

“I think, my whole life after that, the unimaginable dream of someday being able to be associated with a staff at the University of Kentucky? I mean it is the ultimate in college basketball,” said Pope. “This is the best job. This is the best school. It’s the best team. It’s the best fanbase. It is the pinnacle of college basketball. It also is at the core of everything in my being, my whole heart.”

Pope played for the Wildcats back from 1993 through 1996 under Rick Pitino. That included his senior season where he was a captain on The Untouchables, a team that won the national title in ’96.

Becoming a coach at Kentucky, let alone the head coach, was something that was beyond belief at times for Pope, which the initial fan reaction to his hire evidenced. Still, it’s now very much his reality as the new leader of the Wildcats and the Big Blue Nation.

“It seemed like something that would be unapproachable – yet here we are together,” smiled Pope.