Mark Edward Pope (born September 11, 1972) is an American collegiate

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and former player who is head men's basketball coach at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

, his alma matter. As a player, Pope played

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

and

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

. He was Pac-10 Freshman of the Year with the Washington Huskies and then transferred to Kentucky, where he served as a team captain of its 1996 NCAA national championship team. After college, Pope spent almost a decade playing professionally in the U.S. and internationally. Pope has held various coaching roles at the collegiate level. Prior to taking the helm at his alma mater, he was the head coach at

Utah Valley Utah Valley is a valley in North Central Utah located in Utah County, Utah, Utah County, and is considered part of the Wasatch Front. It contains the cities of Provo, Utah, Provo, Orem, Utah, Orem, and their suburbs, including Alpine, Utah, A ...

from 2015 to 2019 and BYU from 2019 to 2024.

Playing career

Pope played at Newport High School in

Bellevue, Washington Bellevue ( ) is a city in the Eastside (King County, Washington), Eastside region of King County, Washington, United States, located across Lake Washington from Seattle. It is the third-largest city in the Seattle metropolitan area, and the f ...

. In college, he played two years for the Washington Huskies and earned Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors in 1992 after setting a freshman single-season school record with 8.1 rebounds per game. After two seasons with the Huskies, Pope transferred to the Kentucky Wildcats. After sitting out the 1993–94 season due to NCAA transfer rules, Pope appeared in every game for the Wildcats over the next two seasons, winning two SEC championships. Pope was also a team captain on the 1995–96 Wildcats team that won an NCAA national championship, averaging 7.6 points in 20.3 minutes per game. Following his college career, Pope was a second-round pick for the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

in the 1996 NBA draft. Pope played six seasons in the NBA for the Pacers,

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

, and

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

. His playing career ended in 2005.

Coaching career

Early coaching jobs

In 2006, Pope enrolled in

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, professional school, or forms a part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, ...

at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. In 2009, he left medical school and joined Mark Fox's coaching staff at the

University of Georgia The University of Georgia (UGA or Georgia) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia, United States. Chartered in 1785, it is the oldest public university in th ...

as director of basketball operations for the 2009–10 season. Fox was an assistant coach when both were at Washington. The following season (2010–11), Pope moved to Wake Forest to serve as an assistant under Jeff Bzdelik. From 2011 to 2015, Pope was an assistant under Dave Rose at BYU. In four years, Pope helped the Cougars to four straight 20-win seasons and four straight postseason appearances, including three NCAA Tournament bids and a trip to the semifinals of the 2013 NIT.

Utah Valley

In 2015, Pope was hired as the head coach at

Utah Valley University Utah Valley University (UVU) is a public university in Orem, Utah, United States. UVU offers master's, bachelor's, associate degrees, and certificates. Previously called Utah Valley State College, the school attained university status in July ...

(UVU). In four years at UVU (2015–19), Pope's teams made improvements each season, going from 12 wins in 2015–16 to 25 in 2018–19. He also led the Wolverines to three-straight postseason appearances (2017, 2018, 2019) and back-to-back 20-win seasons (2017–18, 2018–19).

BYU

On April 10, 2019, Pope was hired to replace Dave Rose as BYU's 19th men's basketball head coach, after Rose's retirement. In his first season, Pope led the Cougars to a 24–8 record, the most wins for a first-year coach in program history. He became just the second first-year BYU coach to lead his team into the top 25 and the first to end his debut season ranked. The Cougars entered the top 25 as No. 23 in the AP Poll on Feb. 17 and jumped to as high as No. 14. In league play, Pope guided the Cougars to a record of 13–3, second in the West Coast Conference (WCC). The 13 wins – which included a 91–78 victory over No. 2 Gonzaga in the Marriott Center – were tied for the most by BYU during their time in the WCC. Gonzaga was the highest-ranked team BYU has defeated in the history of the Marriott Center. The Cougars finished the regular season on a nine-game win streak, the team's longest win streak in WCC play. BYU boasted one of the most efficient offenses in the nation in 2019–20, evidenced by top 5 national rankings in several statistical categories. The team was projected to be a lock for an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, which would have been their first berth since 2015. However, the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

cancelled the tournament and prematurely ended the successful season. BYU ended the season at No. 18 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Pope's early success with the Cougars continued in 2020–21. BYU finished 10–3 in WCC play. The team reached the finals of the WCC Tournament, losing to Gonzaga, 88–78, in the championship. The team received an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015. They were defeated in the first round by

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, 73–62. On January 20, 2022, BYU defeated San Diego 79–71, which marked Pope's 60th career win at BYU and made him the fastest BYU head coach ever to reach that benchmark. The win also gave the Cougars a 16–4 record for the season, which was Pope's best start through 20 games as head coach. Pope and the Cougars went 24–11 in 2021–22 and ended their season in the quarterfinals of the NIT. During 2022–23, BYU failed to reach 20 wins for the first time in Pope's tenure as head coach, going 19–15 overall and 7–9 in-conference for the Cougars' final season as a member of the WCC. The Cougars failed to reach the postseason for the first time since 2019. On July 1, 2023, BYU became a member of the Big 12 Conference, with Pope coaching the Cougars in their first-ever season as part of a major conference in 2023–24. BYU posted a 22–9 regular season record and a 10–8 record in Big 12 play during the 2023–24 season. The Cougars advanced to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament, where they were defeated by Texas Tech. They received a bid to the NCAA Tournament as a 6-seed and lost to Duquesne in the Round of 64.

Kentucky

On April 12, 2024, Pope was hired to become the 23rd men's basketball head coach at Kentucky. Pope's coaching debut at Kentucky was a 103–62 win against Wright State University. The score received some media attention for being a 41-point win, as #41 was the number of Pope when he was a player at Kentucky. In Pope's third game as coach, ranked #19, he faced Kentucky's long-time rival #6

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

in the Champions Classic in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. He won 77–72 in his first win against a ranked team as head coach of UK, giving the Wildcats their first win over Duke since 2015.

Personal life

Pope and his wife, Lee Anne, a former assistant to talk show host

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...

, have four daughters. Lee Anne is the daughter of the late Lynn Archibald, who was the head basketball coach at the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

from 1983 to 1989 and was an assistant at BYU in the 1990s. Pope is a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

Career statistics

NBA

Source

Regular season

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Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

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Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

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Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

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Playoffs

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1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

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2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...