STILL FROM VIDEO: From incoming freshmen to seasoned players from the portal, UK basketball coach Mark Pope breaks down each new player on his 2025 squad. Jeff Faughender/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Where is Mark Pope ranked among college basketball coaches heading into the 2025-26 season?

Originally posted on Kentucky Wildcats on SI
By Andrew Stefaniak | Last updated Oct 21, 2025 11:28 AM ET

It didn't take long for Big Blue Nation to fully buy into Mark Pope as the head coach of the Kentucky basketball program. In year one of his tenure in Lexington, Pope took a team that he threw together in a month all the way to the Sweet 16 despite having multiple crucial players injured.

Now Pope's team is ranked #9 heading into the season, and Kentucky fans can't wait to see this team take the floor.

The question is, where should Coach Pope be ranked among college basketball coaches? David Connelly of Sports Grid wrote an article where he ranked the top 45 coaches in the nation, and he had Pope ranked 29th.

Matt Stone/The Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Here is Connelly's reasoning for ranking Pope 29th: "Mark Pope is a difficult one to rank, given he has spent just two seasons as a power conference head coach, but he has just shown too much ability in that span of time to stay out of our top 30. Many were critical of Pope's hiring at Kentucky following the John Calipari era. Those skeptics were quickly turned into believers when Pope led the Wildcats to the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019, an impressive feat for a debut season. The ceiling is yet to be known with Pope in Lexington, but we're bullish that he could bring them back to their heights of the 2010s."

Kentucky fans will hear that Pope is ranked 29th among college coaches and will likely be frustrated. This is somewhat understandable, as he should be closer to the top 20, but Coach Pope still has a lot to prove.

He had a great first season in Lexington, and the expectations are high for year two, but he and his team still have to go out on the floor and let their play do the talking.

Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images

Coach Pope has everything he needs to be a top ten coach in college basketball someday, but it is going to take some time. He will need to get this program to a Final Four before he joins the elite company in the top ten, but Big Blue Nation has all of the confidence in the world that he will get this done.

This season will give Coach Pope a real shot to move up this list, knowing he is heading into the start of the season with one of the best rosters in all of college basketball.

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

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