What grade would you give Mark Pope?
The dust has settled on the hiring of Mark Pope at Kentucky, and the Wildcats are very happy with what they have gotten.
This team looks good thanks to the veteran players Coach Pope has brought in through the transfer site. He has done an amazing job thus far.
Kentucky’s hire received a C grade from USA Today’s Blake Toppmeyer, who graded every basketball job in the SEC. I wonder if, in light of Coach Pope’s actions during his brief tenure in Lexington, his assessment of this grade would shift or remain unchanged.
Coach Pope was hired by Big Blue Nation, and the team is eager to prove to the world that he can win a national championship at his alma institution.
Here is Toppmeyer’s justification for giving the hire a C, “Let’s start with the bright side of this hire: The Wildcats anointed one of their own. This job features unforgiving expectations, and Pope comes to Lexington as no stranger to those demands, having been a team captain on the 1995-96 team that won a national championship. Kentucky fans recovered from any initial hiring disappointment to give Pope a rousing, full-house pleased to attend his press conference. He will infuse new life into a program that is stagnating. With his leadership, BYU successfully moved from the West Coast Conference to the Big 12. His attack should produce a plethora of 3-pointers.Here are the reasons to be concerned: What proof do we have that Pope will succeed in the UK? Calipari and Rick Pitino had considerably more polished resumes when they got to Kentucky.I believe Pope should have been expected to defeat Duquesne in March Madness, even though I don’t expect him to have led BYU to a Final Four.His BYU teams received No. 6 seeds for their two NCAA tournament appearances, but they were upset by an 11-seed.This hiring could be successful, but it’s a riskier move than I had anticipated.Ed. KentucKy”
