Jan 25, 2025; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope paces the sideline against the Vanderbilt Commodores during the second half at Memorial Gymnasium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Kentucky's Mark Pope is being disrespected by his peers in the coaching industry

Originally posted on Kentucky Wildcats on SI
By Andrew Stefaniak | Last updated Sep 30, 2025 6:24 PM ET

When Mark Pope was first hired to be the new head coach at Kentucky after John Calipari left for Arkansas, the immediate reaction was shock. Not many Kentucky fans had followed what Coach Pope did during his time at BYU, but he had some really good teams.

Obviously, Coach Pope was coming off an upset loss in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with his final BYU team, but his team was excellent, and they scored a lot of points.

A lot of college basketball experts looked at Coach Pope as one of the best young minds in college basketball, but clearly, his peers don't agree. CBS Sports put out a new candid coaches' article where they ask college coaches different questions. The question for this article was about who the best X's and O's coach in the nation is. Pope was not mentioned once in this article, as clearly his peers don't see him as an elite X's and O's coach.

100 college coaches were polled, and Pope didn't get mentioned in this article once. Now, it is fair to say that Coach Pope still has a lot to prove, but many coaches have discussed just how innovative his offense is and how difficult it is to stop.

Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

Many of the coaches on this list were older veteran coaches, and this could play a role in the decision-making, but at the same time, Coach Pope has proven to be one of the hottest up-and-coming coaches in the game.

Some Kentucky fans might look at the list of coaches who did end up making this list and say to themselves, 'Coach Pope is a better X's and O's coach than that guy.' While this could be the case, Coach Pope is still young and likely with one more good season this year, he will be looked at as one of the better coaches in college basketball.

Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images

It should make Kentucky fans feel better that Calipari was not on this list. Obviously, Calipari is the best recruiter in the history of college basketball, but he has never been known as an elite X's and O's guy.

Big Blue Nation has a ton of belief in Coach Pope, and if he is able to start winning a lot of basketball games and making NCAA Tournament runs, he will quickly be looked at as a top ten coach in college hoops. This season will prove a lot about the type of coach the Wildcats have.

This article first appeared on Kentucky Wildcats on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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