Mark Pope


Mark Edward Pope is an American basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the BYU Cougars. He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats, where he was part of a national championship team, and the Washington Huskies, where he was the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. He later played professionally in the National Basketball Association for the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets.

Career

Pope was a high school star at Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington and played two years at the University of Washington. He earned Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors in 1992 after setting a UW freshman single-season record with 8.1 rebounds per game. He transferred to the University of Kentucky, where he was a member of the 1996 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship team. Pope was a second round pick of the Indiana Pacers in the 1996 NBA Draft. The 2004-05 season was his last, as he was cut in training camp with the Denver Nuggets the following season.
In 2006, Pope enrolled in medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. In 2009, he left medical school and joined Mark Fox's coaching staff at the University of Georgia. Fox was an assistant coach when both were at UW. The following season, Pope moved to Wake Forest University to serve as an assistant under Jeff Bzdelik.
In May 2011, Pope was hired as an assistant to Dave Rose at Brigham Young University. Pope replaced Dave Rice, who left the Cougars to assume the head coach position at UNLV.
In March 2015, Pope was hired as the new head basketball coach at Utah Valley University, replacing the retiring Dick Hunsaker.
In April 2019, Pope replaced Rose as the new head basketball coach at BYU.

Personal life

Pope and his wife, Lee Anne, a former assistant to talk show host David Letterman, have four daughters. Lee Anne is the daughter of the late Lynn Archibald, who was the head basketball coach at the University of Utah from 1983-1989 and was an assistant at BYU in the 1990s. Pope is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Head coaching record