‘He’s just such an amazing leader.’ Mark Pope’s UK basketball teammates hyped about hire.

Like UK fans across the country, the 1996 Kentucky Wildcats group chat was in full speculation mode about where Mitch Barnhart would choose to lead the men’s basketball program this week.

But these Kentucky fans had a vested interest in the hire for another reason too.

“We had been kind of talking all week through the group text, it’d be awesome if they went after (Mark) Pope,” former Wildcat Cameron Mills said Friday, a few hours after Pope’s hire as John Calipari’s replacement was made official. “I think everybody in that group knows Mark as a person, knows him as a player and knows him as a coach. Even though he never coached us, you don’t have to sit in practice with someone too long to understand, oh, he gets it, he understands the game better than I do.

“That certainly was the case for me. I was Mark’s teammate for two years. Learned more from Coach (Rick) Pitino than anyone, but learned the second most from Mark Pope.”

While Mills could not vouch for each group text member’s actions this week, he said the general consensus was not to barge into the search like he had heard rumors of former players doing at other schools.

“I think it was kind of decided, you know what, we trust Mitch, it’s not our place to say, ‘What about him?’” Mills said. “Obviously (Barnhart) didn’t need help finding him.”

While Mills expressed some initial surprise when reports first surfaced that Pope was the likely hire after public reports during the two-day search had centered around Baylor’s Scott Drew, Connecticut’s Dan Hurley and the Chicago Bulls’ Billy Donovan, he was thrilled when it became clear his former teammate would be Kentucky’s next coach.

The fact that hire was met with an initial uproar of disappointment by a vocal portion of the fan base on social media has not dulled the excitement of the people who know Pope best.

“That’s fans being fans,” former Wildcat Anthony Epps told the Herald-Leader. “When you lose coaches like Pitino and Calipari and Tubby Smith, you’re looking for that big home run hit. We kind of struck out on some of the big-time names, but I like the hire, and I just think he’s going to do great.”

Mills knows the common concerns.

In nine seasons as coach at Utah Valley and BYU, Pope has never won an NCAA Tournament game. While he led BYU to two NCAA Tournament appearances in five seasons — and probably would have had a third had the 2020 tournament not been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic — he has yet to prove he can recruit the caliber of player Kentucky is used to landing.

To those questions, Mills has a simple answer.

“Listen, when Calipari got here, everybody thought, ‘Man, this guy’s charisma and his enthusiasm, it’s infectious,’” Mills said. “This is no disrespect to Coach Calipari, but man that’s all Mark Pope is, just enthusiasm and positivity. He knows he has a tough job. He’s getting ready to go through the meat grinder in a lot of ways because of the expectations at this school, but he’s already been at this school and played under those same expectations.

“I know it’s different coaching, I know I’m biased, I know I am, but I can’t personally think of anyone else that is better suited for this role at this time.”

As noted by Rick Pitino, Pope’s Kentucky coach, in a Twitter post after the hire was announced Friday, many of the top targets of Kentucky’s search were just as unproven as Pope when they accepted their current jobs. Hurley, who won his second consecutive national championship last week, had a worse record at Rhode Island when he was hired by Connecticut in 2018 than Pope had at BYU.

Mills points to the work ethic on full display when Pope played for Pitino at Kentucky as proof he will be able to address any lingering concerns now that he has the backing of UK’s immense resources.

During one Pitino practice, rather than sub himself out of a drill to vomit, Pope chose to throw up under his jersey, Mills remembered. A tongue-lashing from Pitino followed when managers had to pause practice to clean up the mess, but the message was already sent.

“That’s precisely who Mark Pope is: I have to throw up, but I am not leaving my place on this court,” Mills said.

“He’s a hard worker, relentless,” Epps said. “He understands what the Kentucky brand is about. So, he’s going to put the university, the fans and everything first and give it everything that he has. You’re not going to get shortchanged because he’s a great person.”

By midday Friday fan support on social media had begun to swing in Pope’s favor after the initial hours of disappointment. UK plans to officially unveil its new coach in a public news conference at Rupp Arena on Sunday.

There, fans will have a chance to see the personality Pope’s former teammates are already convinced will win over Big Blue Nation.

“He’s so full of positivity, he’s so full of, ‘We’re going to get better,’” Mills said. “He’s just such an amazing leader that you follow him into brick walls. You don’t run into brick walls for him, you follow him in because he’s leading the way. That’s who he is.”

Herald-leader staff writer Jared Peck contributed to this article.

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