Kentucky adds new Grad Assistant to Staff

Soon after taking the head coaching job at Kentucky, Mark Pope had to quickly think about what staff he would surround himself with. He has gone above and beyond with not just the roster construction, but the staff additions as well. He added coaching veterans with NBA and/or college experience, former players, and coaches with impressive recruiting ties. He's got a little bit of everything on this staff

Mark Pope brought in Alvin Brooks lll, an assistant coach at Baylor, Cody Fueger, his right-hand man at BYU, Mark Fox, an experienced coaching veteran with a connection to Pope that goes back nearly 20 years, Jason Hart, an experienced AAU coach, and Mikhail McLean, who has been at a number of places as an assistant, including the Bahamas National Team. Now, Pope is adding another Graduate Assistant to his staff, bringing Austin Pope onto his staff. Pope has the words "Graduate assistant for @kentuckymbb" in his Twitter bio . He comes to Kentucky after having experience in the high school and AAU ranks. He has coached with Viewpoint School as well as Burroughs High School, both as assistants.

Not only is he bringing his coaching experience to Lexington, but he's also a former basketball player. Pope played at Chaminade as a point guard. During his time there, Pope earned First-Team All-Pacific West honors after his senior season. He averaged 14.8 points, 4.5 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. After that, he played professionally in Denmark, Lithuania, Serbia, and Sweden, as well as some time in the NBA G-League.

The Kentucky head coach hit home runs with all of his other hires, and this one is no different as Austin Pope looks to begin his journey in the college ranks of coaching, and what better place to start than at Kentucky.