Rick Pitino says Mark Pope will ‘win in a big way’ as Kentucky’s basketball coach

Rick Pitino knows Mark Pope as well as anyone. The former Kentucky coach brought Pope to UK as a transfer from Washington. He made him captain of the UK’s 1996 national championship team. He has been a mentor to his college coaching career.

When it was announced Friday that Pope had accepted the job as Kentucky’s new basketball coach, Pitino released a video congratulating his former player and lauding him as a coach who will “get it done” for the Wildcats.

Afterward, I talked to Pitino about his relationship with Pope and how he feels UK’s new coach will approach the specifics of the job.

Question: Tell me about when you first met Mark when he was transferring into the program. What was your impression of him and what kind of impression did he make on you? Not just as a player but as a person during his time at Kentucky.

Pitino: “I went out there and he lived in a beautiful area. It was called Bellevue, and it was overlooking Puget Sound. And it was a magnificent home just because it was on a cliff. And he spoke so highly of being where he was. And I said, ‘Well, why do you want to transfer?’ and he said, ‘I could not go back there because they fired my coach.’ And, you know, I kind of looked at the record a little bit and said, well, maybe the coach was not deserving to be fired, but maybe it was understandable. And it just struck me that Mark was so loyal.

So we we felt that he’d be great for the program. We thought he had the work ethic that we were looking for. And he had everything that we wanted at that position that we thought he could play both the four (position) and five. And he just impressed us so much as a person. When we checked with the other coaches at school, they said his work ethic is not to be believed.”

Q: When you were coaching him, did you think that he would be a future coach someday?

Pitino: “I knew he was a great leader. You know, they all have their heart at that time set on playing, right? So no, I didn’t. When I think when you look at guys, I could see Travis Ford maybe, because he wasn’t going to be an NBA player. But with Mark, I thought he’d have a long career either in the NBA or playing overseas.”

Q: His teammates have talked about how competitive he was as a player. Can you just talk about that his competitive nature?

Pitino: “He played every second. Like he would post up, get around defensively. He played every second of practice. And you know, for our team, I always felt that (the 1996 national championship team) was one of the great teams of all time, and without Mark, that everybody looked up to as a selfless leader, I don’t know if we could have accomplished what we accomplished.

He was the guy everybody looked up to in practice, that didn’t take a play off. And he was the model for consistency with that basketball team because he just gave it all the time and everybody wanted to live up to what he did.

And even at one point, you know, Antoine (Walker), he was a character in practice. He would always say, ‘Coach, put somebody else on. This is not working.’ Mark was all business every possession. Let’s get it done. He was just a great leader.”

Q: How do you think Mark will handle the current landscape with NIL and the transfer portal?

Pitino: “You know I think Mark will approach it a lot differently. He’ll go with the guys that fit his system and his attack. You know, he’ll go to shooters and people that really understand his style of play. His style of play is a lot of fun to watch, right? I mean, every chance I got to watch Brigham Young I did. It’s a fun style of play for the players. I think he’ll get people that fit that style.”

Q: What about NIL?

Pitino: “I think if he has a meeting with Joe Craft and Kelly Craft, he will sell them on what he’s all about. That’s a good place to start.

Kentucky can do more even with grassroots — if they just got all the people from the grassroots level just giving a little bit. Almost like an election, you know, try to get the $25 to $50 donors. That can turn into something special as well.”

Q: You know as well as anyone about the pressures of the Kentucky job. You are expected to win. How do you think Mark will handle the pressures of the job?

Pitino: “I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like that (1996) season. If we didn’t win that national championship, it would have been a failure in the eyes of the 13 guys in that locker room. They felt the pressure from the first game of the season to the last game of the season of having to win. So nobody knows better about the pressure of the University of Kentucky than Mark Pope, because he lived it as a player. He knows it going in.

He’s a very gifted coach. Unfortunately, people don’t know that about him. They get so wrapped up in Danny Hurley and Jay Wright and Billy (Donovan), the guys that had no interest in the job, that they didn’t look at (Mark’s) record.

I went out there to visit with him and his family when he was coaching Utah Valley State. That’s when I was sold on his coaching ability, watching a practice and then watching him coach a game. I was convinced at that point that future greatness lies ahead for him and then when you look at what he did at Brigham Young, you realize the first year he goes into the Big 12 what he does. He beats Kansas at Kansas. He plays Houston to wire. He beats Baylor at home. So he’s done a remarkable job with a fun style.

There won’t be a problem in recruiting for Kentucky. If you have the NIL money, it’s no different than Alabama, Tennessee, Auburn, Florida. I mean, they just gave one of my players at Florida from Iona an incredible amount. It’s the nature of the beast right now. And you know I’m spending a lot of time just fundraising and doing things like that that I never thought I would do in my lifetime and he’s gonna have to do that as well.”

Q: What else makes you believe Mark will be a success at Kentucky?

Pitino: “I used to get such a kick out of watching Feldhaus and Pelphrey put on the (Kentucky) uniform. And Pelphrey would always get misty-eyed when he was putting on a uniform. Nobody I coached at University Kentucky epitomized the front of the jersey more than Mark. He rivaled the Kentucky kids in the way he felt about Kentucky.

He was so important to my team that I coached and I think he’ll do it proud. I really do. I think he’ll win in a big way. I think he’ll shock people and surprise people that want a brand name (coach). You can get a lot of great suits that don’t have to be Brioni or Armani. That’s going to come across.

You know, I texted him. I said, ‘Be proud. Be confident. Be humble. Be you.’ He’s going to do a fabulous job. Certain people I wouldn’t wish that job on, but I have no trepidation about Mark at all. He’ll get it done the right way make make all the Kentucky fans proud.”

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