Mark Pope, BBN helped bring Jayden Quaintance back to Kentucky -- "where we're supposed to be"

Haminn Quaintance tried meeting with Mark Pope not once, but twice after he took the head coaching job at Kentucky. His son, Jayden, had already signed with the Wildcats under John Calipari and the hope was that they could pick up where the previous staff left off with the five-star forward sticking with the original plan of Lexington being his college basketball home.

That plan didn’t work out, obviously — understandable for both sides. Pope had a full roster to build from top to bottom with no proof of concept at the time coaching at Kentucky, but no risk of a rebuild year allowed taking the position. He needed to get old in a hurry, using those NIL dollars to load up on experience in the portal in hopes of creating the highest floor possible to win games now. Quaintance, being the youngest player in college basketball — still 16 at the time of the coaching change and 17 entering the season — didn’t necessarily fit into those plans, even as a top-five recruit in the country. There is something to be said about Pope needing to start fresh with his own guys as he looked to establish his own culture, too.

For Quaintance, he deserved his own blue-chip recruitment, as well, reopening things and landing at Arizona State for his debut season of college basketball. The 6-9 forward lived up to the hype, too, averaging 9.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 1.5 assists per contest en route to Big 12 All-Freshman Team and Big 12 All-Defensive Team accolades.

After both sides got their feet wet in 2024-25, they found each other again in the transfer portal — this time seeing a fit, Quaintance putting pen to paper with the Wildcats for a second (and final) time.

“We feel excited, man. We’re really excited to just get there and get the process started,” Haminn Quaintance told KSR this week. “We’re excited about this staff and this team, being where we’re supposed to be.”

It’s a full-circle moment overall, but Pope and the high-profile transfer’s father had one of their own early in the week. After missing each other twice last offseason due to scheduling issues, Quaintance finally got the Kentucky head coach down to their home in Sarasota, FL for a visit — their first in-person meeting after countless conversations in back-to-back springs.

Face to face, they got to talk through Pope’s plan for his son. That starts right away with Quaintance making the move to Lexington in the coming weeks to begin his time as a Wildcat, but more specifically, get a head start on treatment as he makes his way back from surgery to repair the torn ACL he suffered back in February.

That’s priority No. 1 as the prized transfer inches closer toward his target goal of being ready for the season opener next season in blue and white.

“He said he wanted to come down and I wanted him to come down and visit Sarasota, so I got him down there. We talked about getting Jayden to Kentucky and getting him situated, his living,” Quaintance told KSR . “We talked about the trainer, Brandon (Wells), changing over from who we’re working with here (in Arizona) and getting started because we don’t want a lapse. We don’t want a lapse in treatment because our trainers and doctors here are really, really good, so we want to move fast and get the transition right to UK.”

His main takeaway? Pope is downright giddy to coach his son when he is able to take the floor again.

They’re not wasting time, though, the 6-9 forward doing plenty more than watching from the bench as summer workouts begin and he moves through the stages of his individual recovery. While he can’t run and jump, he will be able to shoot.

And he’s going to be asked to do plenty of it as a Wildcat. Might as well improve there in the meantime, right?

“We’re talking every day, he’s really excited. Pope is really excited, man. He’s excited to get to work,” he said. “We talked about the shooting stuff we’ll be working on — he’s just got a plan and we went over his plan. Even stuff before he gets back (from injury), he feels that’s a good thing because we can really work on Jayden’s shooting before he can start workouts.

“As soon as he can start, we’ve got a detailed plan. That was one of the things I liked about him. A lot of people can just say stuff, but Pope has a detailed plan all the way through and I really liked that.”

Pope’s vision helped push him to Lexington, the Kentucky head coach checking all of the boxes and answering all of the questions Quaintance had regarding his son’s future. An underrated aspect of his recruitment, though? Big Blue Nation and the community feel they had already experienced the first go-round.

As a previous signee, Quaintance had already been to campus several times and felt a standing ovation at Rupp Arena. They know the fanbase and the love they have to share, both in person and all over social media.

Pope and BBN were things no one else had to offer.

“After a couple phone calls (I knew). I check on some stuff, I have an idea — people just say stuff and you can tell if it’s gonna work or not. I checked some stuff and checked his temperature to see how he really felt,” Quaintance told KSR. “It was all Pope and I knew it, I felt it. To me, we were already in the Kentucky community. I know we didn’t go there before, but Jayden went there for games and already got a lot of love from the fanbase before.

“It’s just — we haven’t been as deep with anybody else as we were with Kentucky. Talking to Pope, it just made sense. I liked him more than the other coaches, just to be completely honest.”

A former three-time all-conference player himself with stints at Jacksonville and Kent State — the 6-8 forward earned MAC Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2008 — Haminn Quaintance appreciates that Pope has been there and done that as a title-winning big man himself. It’s hands-on experience you can’t find just anywhere.

That moved the needle, too.

“He also was a big, so he played the position at a high level, you know? It just made sense. One of my concerns here (at Arizona State) was that they didn’t have anyone on staff that played the position,” he continued. “We played basically the same position — he’s a little bit bigger than I was, but we’re similar — so we could relate on a lot of basketball stuff. I could get what he was saying and he could see where I was coming from.”

The Kentucky signee’s father checks in regularly just to chat and catch up, continuing to build a relationship with Pope as they prepare for the 2025-26 season together. He called early Thursday morning and Pope was already going a mile a minute, up and moving when most are just getting started with their day.

That’s another trait the Big 12 All-Defensive Team member shares with his new head coach, why his dad feels they’re a perfect match together.

No one will be outworking the folks in Lexington this season as they push toward their championship dreams.

“I hope that he gets what he works for, because he’s going to work hard. I want him to win the SEC, win the tournament. He’s going to work, and from how he works, I know he’s going to get everything he wants,” Quaintance said of his son and what he hopes he’s able to accomplish next season as a Wildcat. “I know the staff is working — I called Pope early this morning, and he was already up working. Everybody is working and I know Jayden is going to be working. I just really like that.

“They’re all going to work and they’re going to get what they deserve. It’d be cool to see him go there and get a national championship, get an SEC championship. Those are our goals, and everything comes along with that — putting in the work and having a successful season. I know he’s going to put in the work to do those things because that’s all he cares about.”

His message to BBN as they (finally) get this journey started together in Lexington — just a year later than we all expected when he signed the first time around out of high school?

This all matters. You matter.

“Thanks for your support and welcoming him back,” he told KSR. “We notice it and it means something. Coming there before and it not working out the first time, the community recruits you. It’s not just the coaches. That does matter, we notice. We see it.”