Jaxson Robinson taking on role of assistant coach during Kentucky's NCAA Tournament run

Jaxson Robinson was supposed to be one of the stars of Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament run. Instead, he’s on the sideline due to a wrist injury he suffered in practice in mid-February and re-aggravated at Oklahoma on Feb. 26, leading to season-ending surgery.

If you’re Robinson, it’d be easy to be bitter. He withdrew from the NBA Draft last summer to follow Mark Pope to Kentucky for one last college run. Now, he can only watch as his teammates try to take Kentucky to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2019.

Instead of pouting, Robinson is finding ways to make himself useful. Mark Pope said that he’s taken on the role of assistant coach on Kentucky’s sideline this postseason, another positive step in his journey on and off the court.

“It hurts me even to utter his name because I think about what could be happening right now,” Pope said on Saturday. “But what’s really exciting is probably something bigger. It’s actually probably better because Jaxson is becoming — he had already become a great basketball player. He’d already become a really resilient person. And now he’s taking on a leadership/coaching role on this team where he’s not just talking to our players, but he’s coming up and talking to me.”

Pope said that Robinson approached him during Kentucky’s SEC Tournament quarterfinal game vs. Alabama with an observation.

“It was two games ago, all of a sudden, I’m standing on the sideline and I got someone tapping me on the shoulder during live play and I turn around. He’s like, ‘Coach, you’re not seeing this right.’ He gave me a couple of pointers. “

It was a proud moment for Pope, who helped bring Robinson back from a very dark place when he transferred to BYU three years ago. Robinson started his college career at Texas A&M as a 17-year-old in 2020, the COVID season, and transferred to Arkansas the following year in hopes of a fresh start. Instead, his time in Fayetteville left him questioning his future in the sport. He re-entered the portal in 2022 and took a chance on Mark Pope and BYU. It paid off, with Pope slowly helping Robinson rediscover his love for the game and become a leader.

“Jaxson has a father,” Pope said. “He’s got a mom and dad and aunt, the greatest family in the world. But to be one of those people who gets to up close watch him grow as a man and as a leader, it actually means more than probably anything, and he’s doing that. And it’s incredible to watch.

“Like, he’s so different than the person he was three years ago. He’s different as a human being. Like, he’s different in how he sees the world. He’s different in how he takes in all this information and how he’s able to respond to it. It’s like the best thing ever.”

Robinson has been especially helpful for Kentucky’s younger players. Freshman forward Trent Noah, who hit a huge three in the first half vs. Troy, gave him a shoutout yesterday for how positive he’s been on the bench this postseason.

“It’s definitely been a growing-up experience for sure, but I think Coach Pope has made it really easy for us,” Noah said of being thrust into the spotlight sooner than expected due to injuries. “He’s always instilled us with confidence, even when things weren’t going well, even our players. Like, Jaxson yesterday was sitting on the bench, he would die to be out there playing with us, but he was super encouraging.”

“Guys like Collin [Chandler], Trent, Travis [Perry] have all been stepping up, playing huge minutes for us,” Robinson said in the locker room this weekend. “They’ve been huge. I’ve seen them put in the work all year. So it’s no surprise to me or any of the rest of my teammates. I think it’s really easy and Coach Pope is starting to really gain a lot of trust with them.”

Robinson said he will start rehab on April 17 and gradually increase his workload in hopes of being 100% right before or after the NBA Draft Combine in mid-May. Once his pro career wraps up, Pope thinks he has a future in coaching if he wants it.

“It was startling to have him come tap me on the shoulder, but like, it’s pretty cool,” Pope said. “The problem is, he was right, and then I’m like, man, he might be a better coach than me.”

For more on Jaxson Robinson’s journey, revisit the feature I wrote on him back in December.