Rick Barnes shares opinion on Kentucky's transition from Coach Cal to Mark Pope

Rick Barnes and John Calipari have been lifelong coaching friends, first meeting in 1975 while working together at a basketball camp at the University of Pittsburgh. Nearly five decades later, they’re still kicking atop the sport as legendary coaches and friendly foes in the SEC — albeit with a new twist. They’re no longer leading the bitter rivalry between Kentucky and Tennessee, where Barnes finished with an 11-10 final record against Calipari wearing orange and blue.

The only records that stand moving forward are the all-time head-to-head (13-12 in favor of Barnes) and the 0-0 clean slate to be settled in Coach Cal’s SEC debut as a Razorback when Arkansas heads to Knoxville to take on Tennessee on January 4.

Quite the transition for everyone in the basketball world, let alone for one of Calipari’s closest friends.

“Well, he and I hadn’t really talked about it before he actually made that move. We go back a long time,” Barnes told KSR at SEC Media Day. “… We’ve had a dear friendship since that time. He’ll do great. Just like wherever he’s gone, he’s built a winner. He’s one of the great coaches of all time, and he will make it even tougher than it’s ever been to play at Arkansas.”

It may not be the rivalry matchup it once was, but as long as Coach Cal is happy, he’s happy. The winning will take care of itself, Barnes says, just as it has at every stop for the Hall of Famer.

“I’m happy for him because I think he’s happy, and what he did at Kentucky was really unbelievable if you look back on it in his time there,” he added. “But what he did at Memphis, UMass, everywhere he’s been, he’s a winner, and he’ll continue to do that.”

That’s just the first part of the equation. Tennessee was, is, and always will be Kentucky’s biggest rival in the SEC, no matter who is leading the two programs. This next era of the matchup will feature Mark Pope coaching against Barnes, another home-and-home coming your way this season starting in Knoxville on Jan. 28, then in Lexington on Feb. 11. A third could then follow in the SEC Tournament.

What does he know about Pope as he begins his first season as the head coach of the Wildcats?

“Well, I think you’ve got someone that knows what he’s into at Kentucky, what it’s about, being there, being a former player,” Barnes told KSR. “I’ve been around Mark on the road, and I can just tell you, wonderful person.”

He loves and respects Coach Cal, obviously, but Barnes felt it was important for Pope to build his own identity and culture in Lexington rather than recreate what worked well for his predecessor. That includes taking down Calipari’s NBA player posters from the Joe Craft Center while leaving up the program’s eight national championship banners, among other personal touches.

“He’s going to — you look at his teams, he won where he had been, and I think that he quickly has put his mark on the program in terms of maybe just walking into the facilities and changing what was there,” Barnes said. “It could be a totally different — you can send messages like that, what you want it to be. I’m sure all that’s different than it used to be, I would think. I don’t know, but I would think that.”

Above all else, Mark Pope is unapologetically himself and understands the pulse of Big Blue Nation better than just about anyone. He gets it. That’s why Barnes believes he’s going to make it in Lexington.

“I think he’s very comfortable in who he is, and I think he’s also lived in that system,” he told KSR. “In terms of the Blue Nation, he’s been a part of it, he understands it, and he I’m sure will do a fine job there.”