Recruiting at Kentucky 'just feels different' for Mark Pope compared to BYU

As the head coach at BYU from 2019-24, Mark Pope wasn’t able to recruit in the traditional sense. Religious and cultural restrictions prevented him from just bringing in any talented prospect on his staff’s Big Board. Now coaching at Kentucky, that is no longer the case.

While that doesn’t necessarily mean recruiting is any easier, it does mean he can go after a different tier of prospects — ones that he previously wouldn’t have been able to out in Utah.

“I got to coach at a great institution before this at BYU that had some significant filters in terms of the players that would fit in that program,” Pope told reporters on Tuesday. “And certainly, Kentucky has massive filters also because there’s just not that many players that are built to play here. They’ve got to be the best players in the country and they’ve got to want to take on the most amount of pressure and scrutiny of any players in the country. And they have the highest standard of any program in the country. So finding those pieces is different also. It’s kind of a nice mix.”

Since taking over the job in April, Pope wasted little time attacking the recruiting trail. He’s casting a wide net when it comes to the 2025 cycle, targeting the best of the best along with mid-level four-stars. Kentucky is no longer One-And-Done University, so not every recruit on the board has to be a Top 15 talent. Some still will be, but Pope is also looking to bring in multi-year, developmental pieces.

In just the last couple of months, we’ve seen him offer the likes of SF AJ Dybantsa (No. 1 overall by the On3 Industry Ranking), SF Darryn Peterson (No. 3 overall), PG Mikel Brown Jr. (No. 12), SF Nate Ament (No. 13), and PF Chris Cenac (No. 16). We’ve also seen him extend scholarships to the likes of PF Nikola Bundalo (No. 23), C Eric Reibe (No. 38), SG Braylon Mullins (No. 48), and PG Acaden Lewis (No. 51).

Pope is also emphasizing the in-state prospects, primarily SG Jasper Johnson (No. 10) and C Malachi Moreno (No. 32), both of whom visited campus last week.

From making international voyages to Buenos Aires (where a rental car with a stick shift gave him some worry) to quick trips across the border to Indianapolis, and seemingly everywhere in between, Pope is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to identifying possible future Wildcats. Sporting the Kentucky logo on his shirt only adds to his confidence.

“Every time that I get to walk into a building with UK on my chest, it just feels different recruiting,” Pope said. “I’m a way handsomer guy with UK on my chest. Man, it just comes out of my soul every time I get to introduce myself to a recruit and say ‘I’m Coach Pope, the head coach at the University of Kentucky.’ Like, I can’t — that just doesn’t roll off my tongue.

“It catches me every single time because I know what this job is, and I know how blessed we are to have a chance to be here affiliated with this incredible University.”

The next — and obviously most important — step is to land some commitments. That will come over time. Visits are being scheduled and more offers will be sent out in the coming weeks and months. But right now, he’s just happy to have made it out of Argentina without a crashed rental vehicle.

“Pulling out of the airport in Buenos Aires was shaky,” Pope joked. “There was a lot of start and stop and a lot of grinding, in the old way we used to talk about it. But I’m telling you, half the day in I felt like Mario Andretti rolling out there. It was unbelievable. I don’t know if there are any traffic laws in Buenos Aires but I’m sure I broke them all. It was fun. It was awesome.”

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