The NCAA basketball world was stunned to learn that Kentucky’s head basketball coach, John Calipari, was relocating from Lexington to Fayetteville.
Mitch Barnhart conducted an intensive coaching search, which resulted in the Kentucky Wildcats selecting Mark Pope, a former BYU coach and member of the Wildcats’ 1996 National Championship squad.
Now that the dust has settled on these significant changes to the collegiate basketball environment, it appears that both parties are pleased with their new hire, and the coaches are preparing to put together a roster for the following season.
In a recent TV interview, Coach Pope said of former Kentucky Coach John Calipari, “I’m really grateful for everything he achieved. John revolutionised many aspects of college basketball recruiting and play style. What he accomplished at Kentucky is truly outstanding. We’re all really grateful for that.”
All of the responses about this quotation from Coach Pope are about how much of a class act he is based on what he stated.
Ironically, many of the players that Coach Pope is targeting via the transfer portal are also targets for Coach Calipari, thus these two coaches will compete on the recruiting path.
When Coach Calipari’s Razorbacks visit Lexington to face the Wildcats, it will be a very exciting day.
It’s safe to assume we’ll have a Rowdy Rupp for the highly anticipated basketball contest.
