Kentucky has found its John Calipari successor.
The Wildcats have hired BYU's Mark Pope as their next head coach, the school announced Friday.
"Mark Pope not only brings an impressive record in nine years as a head coach, but also a love of the University of Kentucky and a complete understanding of what our program means to the people of our state," Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said in a statement. "As a captain on the '96 championship team, Mark was a beloved and respected teammate. As a head coach, he is highly regarded nationally as an innovator. His teams run a unique and dynamic up-tempo offense and they get after it on defense. He is a strong recruiter with international ties and a person of integrity.
"He fully embraces our high expectations and standards and I know that as our fans get reacquainted with Mark, they will be eager to join him on what promises to be an exciting ride."
Pope was a member of Kentucky's 1996 national championship team, bringing some familiarity to Big Blue Nation after a quiet coaching search. The 51-year-old is coming off an impressive year at BYU, leading the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament with a 23-11 record in their first Big 12 season.
For more information on Pope and his future at Kentucky, The Sporting News has you covered below.
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Who is Mark Pope? Meet Kentucky's next head coaching
Pope was a two-year player at the University of Kentucky, winning a national championship with the Wildcats in 1996.
He began his coaching career in 2009, working as an assistant at Georgia (2009-10), Wake Forest (2010-11) and BYU (2011-15) before taking his first head coaching job at Utah Valley in 2015.
Pope spent four years at Utah Valley before returning to BYU, serving as head coach for five seasons from 2019-24. Pope led the Cougars to two NCAA Tournaments in five seasons, including an impressive 23-11 record in BYU's first Big 12 campaign this past year.
Kentucky considered several high-profile candidates to replace Calipari this past week, but to no avail. UConn's Dan Hurley and Alabama's Nate Oats elected to stay put. Former Villanova legend Jay Wright did not entertain coming out of retirement to fill the void. Even Baylor's Scott Drew, who was seen as the frontrunner for the opening, decided to stay in Waco instead.
After the Wildcats came up empty-handed, they landed on Pope to keep it in the family.
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Mark Pope coaching record
Pope has tallied a 187-108 (.634) record over nine seasons as a head coach between Utah Valley and BYU.
In four of his five seasons at BYU, he won at least 20 games and had his team in the AP Top 25. The Cougars qualified for two NCAA Tournaments under Pope, and they were projected to receive an at-large bid in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled March Madness.
MORE: Which BYU recruits could follow Pope to Kentucky?
The only knock on Pope is that he has not recorded an NCAA Tournament win in two appearances. No. 6 BYU was upset by No. 11 Duquesne this past season.
You can find Pope's record from each head coaching stop in his career below.
| Year | School | Conference | Overall Record | Result |
| 2015-16 | Utah Valley | WAC | 12-18 | — |
| 2016-17 | Utah Valley | WAC | 17-17 | — |
| 2017-18 | Utah Valley | WAC | 23-11 | — |
| 2018-19 | Utah Valley | WAC | 25-10 | — |
| 2019-20 | BYU | WCC | 24-8 | Final rank No. 18 |
| 2020-21 | BYU | WCC | 20-7 | NCAAT Round of 64 |
| 2021-22 | BYU | WCC | 24-11 | — |
| 2022-23 | BYU | WCC | 19-15 | — |
| 2023-24 | BYU | Big 12 | 23-11 | NCAAT Round of 64 |
Mark Pope stats, Kentucky playing career
Pope spent his first two seasons at Washington from 1991-1993. He earned Pac-12 Rookie of the Year as a freshman. After two years as a starter with the Huskies, he transferred to Kentucky.
Pope sat out the 1993-94 season due to the NCAA's previous transfer rules. He played his final two seasons with the Wildcats from 1994-96, serving as a key rotation player on Rick Pitino's team that won two SEC championships and a national title in 1996.
| Year | School | Class | GP | MIN | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
| 1991-92 | Washington | FR | 29 | 30.2 | 8.1 | 2.0 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 10.3 |
| 1992-93 | Washington | SO | 27 | 32.1 | 8.0 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 12.2 |
| 1993-94 | Kentucky | Redshirt | |||||||
| 1994-95 | Kentucky | JR | 33 | 22.1 | 6.3 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.2 | 8.2 |
| 1995-96 | Kentucky | SR | 36 | 20.3 | 5.2 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 7.6 |
Following his senior season, Pope was selected with the No. 52 overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft. He played six seasons in the NBA and also spent time playing professionally in Turkey.
1996 Kentucky national championship roster
Pope was a captain of Rick Pitino's 1996 Kentucky championship team which featured nine future NBA players, including himself.
| Player | Class | Position |
| Tony Delk* | SR | G |
| Antoine Walker* | SO | F |
| Walter McCarty* | SR | F |
| Derek Anderson* | JR | F |
| Ron Mercer* | FR | F |
| Mark Pope* | SR | C |
| Anthony Epps | JR | G |
| Jeff Sheppard* | JR | G |
| Wayne Turner* | FR | G |
| Allen Edwards | SO | F |
| Nazr Mohammed* | FR | C |
| Oliver Simmons | FR | F |
| Jared Prickett | SR | F |
| Cameron Mills | SO | G |
| Jason Lathrem | FR | F |
*Indicates future NBA player
