LEXINGTON, Ky. — In just two months, Mark Pope has settled into being the men's head basketball head coach at the University of Kentucky.
For the man who helped lead the cats to a national championship, this is a job he considers a dream.
In that span, he's had to completely rebuild a brand new roster, he's added 12 players, plus a new staff.
In a one-on-one interview with WHAS11 News, Pope said being a Wildcat changed who he was as a person "and so the chance to come back here and be a part of this again is, in every sense, a dream come true."
And when Coach John Calipari officially announced he was leaving Kentucky and the position was posted, he jumped at the chance.
"I know what Kentucky is, right?" he said. "And so there's just a momentary deep breath of that. And then after those two deep breaths, it was like it's the greatest no brainer of all time."
As coach, part of his job is building the best roster possible, and right now, he's looking for a foundation.
"I need to have a group of guys here that like their life blood, like from the from inception, from, you know, from even being the possibility of an idea in their family's minds have been breathing in Kentucky basketball," Pope said. "I gotta have a foundation there. I got to have a foundation of supremely talented young talent, the best players in the country, and I got to have a foundation of veteran guys that can bring what only veterans can bring."
As a former player himself, Pope understands the UK-UofL rivalry. Right now, the Cards have two of Pope's former players on the roster: Ali Khalifa and Noah Waterman.
But that doesn't stop Hope from respecting UofL men's head basketball coach, Pat Kelsey.
"I love him, actually, I got a ton of respect for him, and that's the beauty of this Kentucky Louisville deal is," he said. "I mean, these are two guys that I got to witness just sacrifice and grow and commit in a brilliant way. And so I love all those dynamics, because that's what Kentucky Louisville is supposed to be."
"It is like brothers going in the backyard and getting after it, and, and I love everything about it, and I want Louisville to be great."
At the end of the day though, Pope has one goal in mind.
"The one thing I know about Kentucky, Kentucky was the best program in college basketball before I got here. Kentucky is going to be the best program in college basketball after I get here. That was the same as a player, and it's going to be the same as a coach," he said.
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