John Clay: How Mark Pope's unusual message could propel Kentucky basketball to the NCAA Sweet 16

John Clay, Lexington Herald-Leader on Mar 22, 2025

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MILWAUKEE — I sit in Section 235 at Rupp Arena. Far corner, upper arena. Those are the media seats for Kentucky basketball home games. I’m not complaining. We can see the floor. We’re in the building. It’s all good.

Thursday night at the Fiserv Forum, I had a different seat. Second row from the floor, just behind the scorer’s table. The Kentucky bench was to my right. And from there, up close and personal, I gained a different perspective.

For most of the Wildcats’ 76-57 first-round victory against Troy in the NCAA Tournament, UK coach Mark Pope was directly in front of me. And I was struck by his 40 minutes of positivity.

Pope didn’t yell. He didn’t curse. He rarely complained to the officials. He gave instructions and offered encouragement. He clapped. He slapped hands with players as they left the court. He conferred with his assistant coaches. None of this was in a showy or exaggerated way. Except once: When 7-footer Amari Williams finished going coast-to-coast with a dunk while being fouled, Pope kicked his right leg up in the air as an exclamation point.

I wasn’t surprised. If you’ve been around the UK coach this season, you’ve caught the vibe. The words “super” and “amazing” and “impressive” and “unbelievable” are staples of the Mark Pope vocabulary.

“I want my guys to be challenged,” Pope said Saturday before UK’s second-round game against Illinois on Sunday. “I want them to face all of the struggles and trials and adversity that this game and this experience can offer them, because it gives them a chance to grow. But I also want them every single day to remember how blessed they are to have the opportunity to wake up, to be basketball players at the University of Kentucky. It’s just incredible.”

“He’s always tried to build up not only the players but the staff with a culture of confidence,” said assistant coach Cody Fueger, who has been with Pope for over a decade. “He wants everyone to get better.”

Here’s the question: Can that sort of positivity help a team win in the NCAA Tournament?

After all, not all coaches practice the Pope method. I know. I’ve been around. Yellers, screamers and intimidators dot the coaching landscape. Pope’s predecessor, John Calipari, often spent as much time coaching officials as he did his team. If not more. And Cal has won over 800 games, including a huge one Saturday. Everyone has their own style.

Pope’s style is purely Pope. He admits that when he started out coaching he tried to emulate his college coach, Rick Pitino. Didn’t work. It was Rick Pitino, but it wasn’t Mark Pope.

“I think that’s just how he rolls,” said Jaxson Robinson who played for Pope at BYU before coming to Kentucky. “It’s his way of doing things. I think it’s super effective. Players this year have definitely responded to it.”

How is it effective?

“The last few situations I’ve been in, it hasn’t necessarily been the same way,” Robinson said. “So just having that positivity, having that positive voice in your ear, just telling you to keep going, and giving the right feedback, it builds confidence.”

This is when you want your team to be confident. It’s win-or-go-home. So you want your team to play as if had nothing to lose when it has everything to lose.

Take Trent Noah. The freshman guard was 1 for 15 from 3-point range over his last seven games. Didn’t matter. Friday night against Troy, in his first NCAA Tournament game, Noah stepped up and nailed a 3-pointer from the corner that sparked a key first-half run.

“He’s so easy to play for, so fun to play for. He’s always building you up,” Noah said Saturday. “I can miss 30 in a row and he can tell me to shoot it like I made the last 10. That’s what makes it so easy for a shooter.”

“It’s been a breath of fresh air honestly,” said UK guard Koby Brea, not a bad shooter himself. “Not many places around the country you can go to and be coached by somebody like this. We’re so used to being screamed at, and the tough, gritty coaches. Everything about him is positive. As a player it really helps us thrive.”

The power of positive thinking doesn’t guarantee anything in March, of course. Danny Hurley is no wallflower. He’s won back-to-back titles. But the best coaches are themselves. And positivity is Mark Pope. It’s just how he rolls.

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