Mark Pope’s origin story says a lot about the coach today. From the Herald-Leader archives.
Editor’s note: New University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach Mark Pope played at UK from 1994-96 and was a captain for the Wildcats’ 1996 national champions. On March 1, 1996, exactly one month before the NCAA finals and one day before Pope’s Senior Night at Kentucky, now-retired staff writer Jerry Tipton wrote this article. From the Herald-Leader archives, here is the story Jerry told wrapping up Pope’s college career before Pope went on to play six seasons in the NBA.
His own man: Pope likes being a Cat of different colors.
He’s the only blond in his family.
He’s the only person taller than 6-foot-3.
So, Kentucky center Mark Pope is used to standing out in a crowd.
Although several UK teammates can look him in the eye, Pope stands out like a scream in a cemetery.
Who else is a former Rhodes Scholar candidate who abstains from alcohol, tobacco, cursing and pre-marital sex?
”It’s not my goal to fit in,” he said. “It’s kind of my goal to fit out. If we’re all the same, there’s no fun in that.”
Pope is the only player who grew up west of the Mississippi River.
Befitting a guy whose all-out personality shines like a lighted Christmas tree, he grew up about as far west of the Mississippi as possible and still stay in the continental United States: Bellevue, Wash.
”For me, it’s no fun if you just do something half-heartedly,” said Pope, who became a cross-country biking enthusiast after a coach told him to strengthen his legs. “If you just coast, you don’t get anything out of it.”
Rick Pitino loves the willingness to please that Pope exemplifies. But when Pope first expressed an interest in transferring from Washington, Pitino wondered how the big man would fit in.
”Mormons, by and large, have a different code that they live by,” Pitino said. “The greatest thing about him is he doesn’t look down upon someone. He’s the type of guy that could move into the inner city and stick out at first. But then everybody would love him and everybody would think the world of him.”
For Pope, Saturday’s Senior Night festivities begin the final countdown to an unusual five-year college career.
He grew up rooting for North Carolina. But he developed a friendship with Washington coach Lynn Nance, the former Joe B. Hall assistant at UK, and signed with the Huskies.
Pope became the Pacific-10 Conference Freshman of the Year for 1991-92. But an ugly and divisive race-related controversy shattered the dream Pope and Nance shared of lifting Washington’s basketball profile.
Nance kicked two Black players off the team after Pope’s freshman year. Charges of racism were raised. Pope’s second season became his and Nance’s last.
”I think of my five years of college basketball in some ways as going by quick,” Pope said. “In other ways, it seems like an eternity. Like I walked around the world.”
Pope decided to transfer. Not because he wanted to leave his beloved Northwest — “When I got to Kentucky I thought, ‘Where’s the trees?’” he said — and not because he failed to be charmed by new Huskies coach Bob Bender.
”I can’t stay in this situation and look those people in the face and say things are OK,” Pope said in asking Nance for help in transferring. “They’re not.”
“You know how unbelievable that is?” Pitino said. “Ninety-nine out of a hundred (players) stay. The new coach says, ‘I need you.’ They did that. They all wanted him to stay. That’s why he is who he is.”
Nance remains an unabashed Pope fan. He hurt, as did Pope, when Pope got passed over in his bid to become UK’s first Rhodes Scholar since 1955.
”Mark is different in an extremely positive way,” Nance said. “He reminds me in some respects of Kyle Macy. Both are very conscientious. If you’re talking, Mark’s going to be listening. You have to be careful what you say. He’s apt to believe it. If you say he’s a dog, he’s liable to bark.”
Nance watches from a distance and wonders if Pope’s Boy Scout devotion hasn’t been exploited.
With practically an all-star roster, Kentucky stressed teamwork this season. Pope jumped enthusiastically into the deep end. Last summer, he agreed to give up his scholarship when it appeared the Cats had more players than grants-in-aid. That didn’t become necessary when Scott Padgett left school because of academic problems.
And Pope, a senior with NBA aspirations, gladly accepted a reserve role.
”That bothers me,” Nance said. “It’s Mark’s year. He needs the exposure. In a way, it’s taking advantage of a kid who can be taken advantage of.”
Pope does not complain.
”It’s a matter of what your goals are,” he said. “If my goal is to put up big numbers, maybe I’d be concerned about playing time or being taken advantage of.
”This is what some people say to me: ‘Mark, Coach isn’t going to play you because he knows if he doesn’t play you, you won’t be upset about it. You won’t cause a problem with the team.’ Which I don’t think is true. And if it is, who cares? I’m trying to add to the team whatever I can.”
Pope hopes to get drafted by an NBA team. Pitino thinks the big man has a chance to make a roster.
”If Mark Pope plays with great confidence, plays relaxed and showcases his true athletic ability, with no uptightness at all, he’d have a shot,” the UK coach said. “Or he’d walk into an NBA camp and say, ‘Oh my God. This is the Chicago Bulls camp. Wow! This is unbelievable.’ It depends on which Mark Pope you see.”
Unlike many UK players past and present, Pope does not fixate on playing in the NBA. Sure, he’d like to continue playing, if not in the NBA then overseas. Another career option evolved from his runaway — what else? — enthusiasm for his major: English. He’s thinking he might try to earn a Ph.D. and teach English at the college level.
”If I had to choose between playing in the NBA or winning a championship and just play whatever role, I wouldn’t even need a second to decide,” he said. “It’s not about a million dollars. It’s about accomplishing a goal. The problem is I still see it as a game. I’m not looking at it as a career.”
