Rodney Terry and Porter Moser share expectations for Mark Pope after coaching against him in the Big 12

Mark Pope isn’t the only coach making the move from the Big 12 to the SEC this season. Rodney Terry and Porter Moser will be doing the same — and bringing their entire programs with them.

Texas and Oklahoma are set to make their debuts in the conference that just means more in 2024-25 with Kentucky set to take on both schools during league play. The Wildcats will head to Austin to take on the Longhorns on Saturday, Feb. 15, followed by a trip to Norman to take on the Sooners on Wednesday, Feb. 26. It’ll be the third head-to-head battle against the former and fourth against the latter, the most recent matchups coming in 2014 for UT and 2010 for OU, respectively.

Terry and Moser, however, have coaching experience against Pope. BYU defeated Texas 84-72 last January before losing to Oklahoma 82-66 in February in the Cougars’ first year in the Big 12 — Pope’s first as a high-major coach.

What do they know about Kentucky’s new head coach after scouting and coaching against him last season? And how are they preparing for their upcoming matchups in the SEC?

Expectations are high for the Wildcats under Pope, to put it lightly.

“Mark is a tremendous coach, tremendous person. He was a good player, as well,” Terry told KSR at SEC Media Day. “I think that his teams play with a great spirit about themselves. They’re very unselfish. They share the basketball. Very good offensively. So you have to prepare in terms of really trying to have a really good defensive mindset because they’re a team that can really score the basketball in my short time competing against his team in the Big 12.

“But very well-coached. Really good guy, great person.”

“You know, playing Mark at Kentucky, one, he’s such a good coach,” Moser added. “He teaches great spacing. Offensively he had such — the way the ball moved, the way he could do things, and everybody that knows Mark, he’s just an unbelievable guy. … He’s put together a great roster.”

Pope is a brilliant basketball mind — we all know that. What separates him for this job in their eyes is the fact that he now gets to live out his dream as the head coach of his alma mater. He’s always been energetic and enthusiastic, but now, it’s on a different planet because he gets to do it all at Kentucky.

That part has been fun to watch from their perspective.

“The fact that he played at Kentucky, is an ambassador for them, it’s been fun to watch as I studied him in his first months on the job,” Moser told KSR.

“I think having a chance — I think I’m living my dream job. It’s my dream job here. Every day I’m blessed and honored to be the head coach at University of Texas,” Terry added. “I think he feels the same way with Kentucky. He’s a former player, won a National Championship there. There’s a lot of pride in walking into the office every day when you feel like you’re living a dream every day.

“I can’t speak for him, but I would think that it would be a dream for him to be the head coach at the University of Kentucky.”

Pope’s words and actions would indicate Terry is exactly right. He had a blast coaching in the Big 12 a year ago. Imagine how he feels in the SEC at Kentucky?

“I probably had more fun coaching than I’ve ever had before last year in the Big 12. It’s such an incredibly competitive league. Every single game you play is against a top-25 opponent,” he told KSR. “… We walked into the Big 12 last year for the first time and the toughest league in the country, and as things go, we get to walk into the toughest league in the country now in the SEC a year later. It’s pretty remarkable.”

BYU finished fifth in one of the strongest leagues in college basketball last season en route to a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament. What can Pope do at Kentucky in his first year in the SEC? His opposing coaches believe he’ll be successful right away.