Mark Pope recalls meeting with John Calipari, Tubby Smith at Final Four before landing Kentucky job

The hiring process for collegiate head coaches always seems like a whirlwind, typically representing a fast-paced two to three days that are quite memorable for the leaders of new programs.

The process was no different for new Kentucky head basketball coach Mark Pope, who became the head man at his alma mater on Friday, April 12 following five seasons as BYU‘s head man. Introduced two days later to Big Blue Nation in front of a sold-out crowd at Rupp Arena in an introductory press conference that was truly one of a kind.

But before the rollercoaster ride of actions and emotions began for Pope, he actually had a unique interaction with two of his predecessors before knowing he’d become Kentucky’s head coach. Sharing the details of a meeting with John Calipari and Tubby Smith on the Paul Finebaum Show Monday.

“On Saturday morning at the Final Four, I walked into the lounge at the hotel and Cal and Tubby were sitting there talking,” Pope said. “Both of those coaches have been incredibly gracious to me throughout my career, I have so much love in my heart for both of them and so it was also fun to corner two of the great coaches to coach at the University of Kentucky, my alma mater.”

Pope spent three seasons at Kentucky as a player, serving as the team captain on the 1995–1996 Wildcats team that took home the NCAA Championship before eventually becoming a college head coach just like Calipari and Smith.

“So I literally walked up to them, sat down, and fan-boyed a picture with the three of us,” Pope said getting a laugh out of Finebaum. “And actually had a chance to talk to both of them and just share my gratitude for their stewardship at the University of Kentucky and my appreciation. That this was a job that very few people in the world understood how challenging it was and just told them how much I love them.”

The interaction was clearly meaningful for Pope, but would increase in significance when he would find himself in shoes they were once in a few days later. With news breaking the next day that Calipari would be leaving the Kentucky program for Arkansas followed by Pope becoming his replacement a few days later.

“And so 24 hours later, and I think honestly, the three of us were sitting there and not one of us, I’m guessing, had any concept of the possibility of what would ensue over the next 24 hours and 96 hours,” Pope said.

“But that moment will be really special for me because the tradition at Kentucky, it’s tying the generations together generation to generation that I think is one of the things that sets us apart,” Pope explained. “And certainly every single coach from from Cal, to Tubby, to Coach P (Rick Pitino), to Joe B. (Hall), and then every single player from all those generations and before is really the strength of this program.”

Pope now inherits a program with high expectations that he fully understands given his time spent in Lexington. Thankfully taking advice from those who came before with him that became unexpectedly more valuable immediately after it was given.