Mitch Barnhart breaks down timeline of Mark Pope hire

One day before the Final Four got underway in Phoenix, all seemed normal at Kentucky. Although there were previous questions, John Calipari was still the Wildcats’ head coach and getting ready for Year 16 in Lexington after another early exit in the NCAA Tournament.

By Sunday night, things changed dramatically. News broke of Calipari’s pending departure for Arkansas, meaning Mitch Barnhart found himself needing to kickstart a search for his replacement. It all unfolded quickly, but Barnhart said UK was ready for such a scenario with at least a quick list of people to speak with about next steps.

“The processes are complicated in all these things and they move rapidly,” Barnhart told Matt Jones on KSR Friday morning. “Obviously, on Saturday night, we didn’t anticipate being in this kind of a search this week. So obviously, you start on Monday, when you get news that things are moving. You’re prepared, in terms of things that people you might want to talk to and conversations you might want to have.”

Some big names came up in connection with the Kentucky job – many of which publicly said no. From Jay Wright to Nate Oats to Scott Drew and Dan Hurley, Big Blue Nation saw some of the big fish choose to swim away from arguably the highest-profile job in college basketball.

When looking at a list of candidates, though, Barnhart said it wasn’t necessarily a long list of names. There are a few factors in play, but the pressure of the job is one of them.

“At the end of the day, I think people have this notion that the pool is massively big, and it’s really more like a puddle of names because the folks that would, could, want to do a job like the University of Kentucky is smaller than you would surmise,” Barnhart said. “So you get to that and you begin the process of working your way through availabilities and people that you want. And you’ve got a lot of big personalities involved in these things, and that includes not only the coaches, but the representatives, as well.

“So you work you way through that. And then, obviously, you’ve got the media and the public piece of that. So a lot of moving pieces.”

Mitch Barnhart: Mark Pope understands Kentucky ‘at a really, really high level’

As the list of names – at least, publicly – appeared to dry up, Mitch Barnhart eventually spoke with BYU head coach Mark Pope. A familiar face in Lexington, he was a captain on the 1996 national championship team under Rick Pitino, and even got a public vote of support from his former coach.

Barnhart said things went well with Pope and his wife, Lee Anne, and he saw someone who could handle the tall task of being the head coach at Kentucky. After all, he knows what success looks like in that uniform. That decision became official Friday.

“We vetted a few – not a few, several folks – and walked through it and got to a spot where we had a really good conversation with Mark Pope,” Barnhart said. “Which we’ve known Mark for years from the times that he’s been back around our campus. He and Lee Anne, we had a chance to visit with Lee Anne. She was in Houston, so we had an opportunity to bring her into the conversation. Really enjoyed the opportunity to spend more time with them. Felt like he had the energy and the passion and understands this place at a really, really high level.

“There’s not a lot of people that can say they captained a national championship team in any sport, and he did that for the University of Kentucky. And he brings an amazing passion and energy for this place. He’s got the skillset that goes with it, in terms of the offense and style of ball that he plays and things that he does and the relationships that he has here.”

Kentucky will introduce Pope as its next head coach in a press conference Sunday after he arrives in town Saturday. When that happens, Barnhart expects fans to see someone full of energy with a passion for UK.

“Once Mark gets here … people will get to see him and see his heartbeat for Kentucky,” Barnhart said. “He’s one of ours, and that means a lot to all of us and to the players that played here and to people who saw what he did as he represented us as a student-athlete. He’ll do that and more as a coach.”