LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky announced the hiring of Mark Pope Friday morning, and fans and analysts were quick to share their thoughts.
Pope has big shoes to fill in Lexington as he replaces John Calipari, who left this week for Arkansas. Calipari coached the Wildcats for 15 seasons, bringing home a national championship and three Final Fours.
However early NCAA Tournament exits in recent years led to many fans souring on Coach Cal.
Pope is a former UK player and was a captain on the 1996 team that won the national title. He posted records of 77-56 in four years at Utah Valley and 110-52 in five years at BYU.
He is 0-2 in the NCAA Tournament and has never won a conference regular season or tournament championship.
According to ESPN, Pope signed a five-year contract with Kentucky and will earn a base salary of $5.5 million a year.
Here's what fans, analysts and others are saying about the hire.
Former UK coach Rick Pitino
"Offensive, no one does it better. The way his teams move, the way his teams shoot the 3, the ball movement -- it's outstanding. What you don't realize is it took [former Villanova coach] Jay Wright 11 years to get an NCAA win. Mark Pope will go on to greatness. You can put it down."
Reporter and analyst Jeff Goodman
ESPN's Jimmy Dykes
CBS Sports' Gary Parrish
CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein
Analyst Terrence Oglesby
Kentucky Sports Radio's Matt Jones
More social media reaction from UK fans