Mark Pope is building his staff at Kentucky. And the Cats got some good financial fortune.
On the first episode of the “Mark Pope Show” — that title will take some getting used to, eh? — the new Kentucky coach joked that things were a little lonely in the UK basketball offices during his first day on the job.
Pope, who was officially announced as the Wildcats’ head coach Friday, introduced to a capacity crowd of adoring fans in Rupp Arena on Sunday and began settling into his first work week in Lexington on Monday, said things were so quiet that UK athletics director Mitch Barnhart and department deputies Marc Hill and Rock Oliver came by to see him.
“Mitch and Marc and Rock by the end of the day were like, ‘Man, we think he’s lonely in there. Let’s just go congregate around.’ But it’ll get full of life and joy soon,” Pope said.
Indeed, those offices should start filling up rather quickly.
There’s a bit more red tape involved with the hiring of assistant coaches and support staff than what comes with the process of bringing a new head coach to campus and letting him get to work, but Pope should officially have some colleagues over at the Joe Craft Center soon, perhaps before the close of business Friday.
“I’m really excited about the possibilities with the staff,” Pope said on the radio Monday night. “I have a couple guys that we’re right at the finish line of trying to finalize. Hopefully we’ll get that done here in the next several days. And then we’ll kind of go from there. I’d like to put the core together and then kind of build out as we discover the spaces that we need to fill in. And there’s so many people in this business that I admire and trust and have been working with for a long time.
“And so I’d like to finish that sooner rather than later, because today was super lonely sitting in the office with nobody there.”
Two of his former assistants at BYU — Cody Fueger and Keegan Brown — were linked to the possibility of following Pope to Lexington shortly after his hiring was made official Friday.
Fueger has been an assistant under Pope for all nine of his seasons as a head coach, the first four at Utah Valley before spending the past five years together at BYU. He was also director of basketball operations at BYU while Pope was an assistant coach with the Cougars.
The Utah graduate was a student assistant there under Rick Majerus and has been credited as playing an instrumental role in helping Pope establish his highly efficient and fun-filled offensive approach at BYU in recent years. Fueger is expected to be part of the new Kentucky staff.
Brown held the title of “director of video and analytics strategy” at BYU, his alma mater, and was there, in various capacities, for all five seasons of the Pope era. Brown was responsible for film breakdown of games and practices, forming scouting reports and in-game approaches, as well as recruiting research — plus other duties — for a team that finished No. 14 in offensive efficiency in the KenPom ratings this past season and leaned heavily into analytics to form its exciting, 3-pointer-happy approach on offense.
He could follow Pope to UK, though the BYU grad would also have a spot on the new Cougars’ staff, and he could stay put in Provo.
Another longtime Pope assistant is Nick Robinson, who was also on the new Kentucky coach’s staff for all five seasons at BYU. A former Stanford player, Robinson was mentioned among the candidates to replace Pope as BYU head coach, though that position is going to Phoenix Suns associate head coach Kevin Young, who could retain Robinson in Provo next season.
There’s also been a clamor among Kentucky fans — riding the high of nostalgia at the moment — to bring someone aboard with ties to the program. Pope’s college teammates include UMass associate head coach Allen Edwards and Mississippi State assistant Scott Padgett — both of whom have head coaching experience — as well as Oklahoma City Thunder director of team personnel Nazr Mohammed, who’s also the general manager of that club’s G League affiliate. Former Saint Louis head coach Travis Ford was also one of Pope’s teammates at Kentucky.
During his intro in Rupp Arena on Sunday, the new UK coach talked about building a coaching staff for the future amid an ever-changing basketball landscape.
“It is so dynamic right now — the portal, NIL. Conference realignment has changed so quickly,” Pope said. “Building a staff now, you are not looking just for the skill sets, for just recruiting, but considering GM positions that navigate a roster. Considering NIL positions.”
He added that grappling with the challenges of name, image and likeness reforms is more about building an overall structure than simply putting players in situations to score individual deals. “And doing that right takes a lot of effort. And I can go into hours and hours of conversations on that.”
Pope also seemed open to the idea of carving out specific staff positions to work toward NIL and transfer portal goals.
“It is very much in the forefront in all of our conversations,” he said. “And maybe not titled that way. Maybe ‘responsibility.’ But clearly that is wildly important. I am not smart enough to figure it all out, so we will get help in here to do it.”
Pope can have five assistant coaching positions — three of which will be allowed to engage in off-campus recruiting — but college basketball staffs these days are flexible and roles can be fungible. Kentucky’s new coach should also have ample resources at his disposal.
Ex-Kentucky staff leaves money behind
A bit of good financial fortune was left behind in Lexington when John Calipari decided to pull up stakes and head for Arkansas last week.
Not only was UK off the hook for the remainder of Calipari’s $44.5 million contract — as well as rid of the debate over whether it should pay Calipari a $33 million-plus buyout to see him on his way — but the rash of exits that will follow him to Fayetteville means a lot more payroll is about to open up.
Under different circumstances, UK might have been responsible for some or all of the money left on the contracts of Calipari’s assistant coaches, but — since all of them are leaving of their own volition — the athletics department will be able to start with a clean financial slate this offseason.
Orlando Antigua ($900,000 in salary this past season) and Bruiser Flint ($525,000) were both on expiring contracts this summer. Antigua also had a $400,000 retention bonus if he was still with UK on June 1, a scenario that would have required a contract extension. Chin Coleman was due to make $650,000 for the 2024-25 season, Chuck Martin was set to make $375,000 and John Welch had an upcoming salary of $275,000.
That comes out to nearly $3 million in the most recent pool for five assistants — assuming Antigua and Flint would have been retained for next season — and the buyout clauses in those deals will now be obsolete, since Calipari has left the program and his former assistants are expected to follow him out.
For example, if Calipari had left and not taken Coleman with him — and he was unable to find a comparable job in college basketball next season — UK would have owed the former assistant coach $325,000 as severance, per the terms of his contract.
Last week, CBS Sports reported that Antigua, Coleman, Flint and Martin were all expected to go to Arkansas, though no official announcements have been made. It’s also possible that Antigua could return to Illinois, where he was an assistant coach for four seasons before coming to Kentucky in 2021. Along with those expected departures, UK basketball operations official Chris Woolard, who made a little more than $200,000 this past season, is likely to follow Calipari to Arkansas. Welch is leaving to become the associate head coach at Fresno State.
Resources are not expected to be an issue for Pope, who has the full backing of Barnhart and early investments from influential UK boosters as he transitions the program out of the Calipari era and into this new phase of its history.
Barnhart announced on the morning of Pope’s hiring that UK basketball had already received $4 million in pledged donations for NIL purposes as a result of the coaching change, and the athletics director made it clear two days later that Pope will be given the freedom to shape the program in his vision as he gets started.
For a coach with a history of forward-thinking approaches on and off the court, that could mean some innovative staff arrangements for Kentucky basketball as this new era takes shape.
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