Kentucky Coach named Third-Best Hire of Offseason

The offseason in college basketball is always a frenzy, but more now than ever with the transfer portal and NIL. Add in coaching changes, and it can get really wild. For Kentucky, they were at the center of attention after John Calipari left for Arkansas. Then, Kentucky hired Mark Pope, a former Wildcat who seen it all in his time in Lexington, serving as the team captain for Kentucky's 1996 National Championship team.

CBS Sports recently polled numerous college coaches across the country on who they thought were the best coaching hires of the offseason. Kentucky's hire of Mark Pope came in as the third-best of the offseason on the list. Ahead of him were John Calipari (Arkansas) and Dusty May (Michigan). It comes as no surprise that Mark Pope was one of the top hires of the offseason, as well as being behind Arkansas' hire of Calipari, one that had the entire sports world talking at the time.

Matt Norlander and Gary Parrish of CBS Sports found a couple of interesting quotes when talking with coaches around the country about Mark Pope. “He’s not a guy that’s looking for a microphone every 10 minutes to state his case. He doesn’t make a lot of excuses. Basketball is what drives him,” one coach says. “Underrated recruiter, very good talent evaluator and knows how to stay ahead of the curve offensively and be impossible to guard in space. Uses his personnel like a surgeon. Everyone on the floor is really good at something, and they’ll buy into that role.” Another coach says the Wildcats will be fun to watch. "I know this isn’t the guy Kentucky fans thought they were going to replace Cal with — but he’s already won them over. He’ll be super there. And he really is a brilliant offensive coach. So not only will he be good there, but they’ll be fun to watch. He might not dominate the recruiting rankings like Cal did because lots of schools are using NIL. But he’ll get good players and win big."

Pope will look to make a statement in his first season as the head coach at Kentucky, and coaches around the country seem to be confident in his ability to have success in Lexington.