UK men’s basketball coach Mark Pope buys Lexington home in gated estate

Fans who have been accustomed to driving by the University of Kentucky men’s basketball coach’s house in Lexington may have to wave from afar.

New UK head coach Mark Pope and his wife Lee Anne and family have purchased a house in an exclusive gated community on scenic Paris Pike , The Grange Lane.

The Popes, who have four daughters, bought the home on an 11.61-acre lot that has been owned by former Lexington TV journalist and former Miss Kentucky Melanie Glasscock Simpson Conley.

According to the Fayette County Property Valuation Administrator’s online database , the house in The Grange Estates, built in 2002, has six bedrooms, six bathrooms and three half baths, a pool and three-car garage. It was assessed in 2024 for $2,611,700.

The purchase price was recorded with the Fayette County Clerk’s office on July 3 for $4.75 million.

The Grange is a private subdivision tucked next to Lexington Country Club along Paris Pike, which is lined with horse farms. Keeneland’s Thoroughbred Training Center is just down the road. Pope’s contract with UK includes a country club membership but it does not specify which club. “The University agrees to provide Coach a membership at a mutually agreed upon country club. The University will continue to pay the monthly dues and any assessments as long as the Agreement is in effect,” the contract says.

There are only about 10 homes in the subdivision, each secluded on grassy acres and very hidden, unlike the home on Richmond Road where former UK men’s basketball coach John Calipari and his family lived. Calipari’s house also recently sold for $3.4 million.