Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope is a smart man. So when he says something, it carries a lot of weight.
“I believe it’s the greatest time to be a college coach. It’s the most challenging, but also the most rewarding. The players need us more than ever before,” Pope said this week at the Larry Shyatt Coaching Clinic.
I’ll echo something former Cincinnati Bearcats head coach Luke Fickell constantly said, which is the fact that college coaches are working with 18-22-year-olds on a daily basis. It’s a poignant time in these young men’s lives, and they need someone who can coach them, mentor them, and mold them into young men who are ready for the professional world.
Pope has proven to be just that at Kentucky, where he played for Rick Pitino and won a national championship as a team captain in 1996.
Pope was one of the featured speakers at the Larry Shyatt Coaching Clinic, which is in its 39th season.
Pope understands the modern landscape of college basketball, and his positive take on it is paramount to getting Kentucky back to the top of the sport.
There’s one mission, one assignment at Kentucky this season, and that’s to win the ninth national championship in program history.