Mitch Barnhart on Mark Pope and hiring process on Kentucky Sports Radio

Mitch Barnhart went on Kentucky Sports Radio to talk to the fans about what all went into the process of hiring Mark Pope as the new coach for Kentucky men’s basketball.

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Kentucky Athletics director and Mitch
I’ll start with this a very simple
question you have a new coach I assume
and it’s Mark Pope tell me how you ended
up getting there and why you ended up
picking him yeah that’s a that’s a long
question um the uh the processes are um
complicated and all these things they
move rapidly and obviously on Saturday
night we didn’t anticipate being in this
kind of a search this week and so
obviously you start on on uh Monday and
when you get news that things are moving
so you you’ve always you’re prepared in
in terms of things that uh people that
you might want to talk to and in
conversations you might want to have but
at the end of the day I think people
have this notion that the pool is
massively big and it’s really more like
a puddle of of names um because the
folks that that would would could want
to do a job like the University of
Kentucky is is smaller than then you
would would surmise and so you get to
that and then you begin the process of
working your way through through
availabilities and people that you want
you’ve got a lot of big personalities
involved in these things and um and that
includes not only the the coaches but
the representatives as well and so
you’re working your way through all that
and um and then obviously you’ve got the
the the the media and the public piece
of that so a lot of moving pieces and uh
we um sort of vetted a few not a few
several folks and and then walked
through it and and got to a spot where I
had a really good conversation with Mark
Pope um which we’ve we’ve known Mark for
for years from the times that he’s been
back around our campus and he and Leanne
we had a chance to visit with uh Leanne
she was um in Houston and and so we had
an opportunity to bring her into the
conversation and uh really enjoyed the
opportunity to spend more time with them
and and uh felt like uh he had the
energy and the passion um and
understands this place at a really
really high level um there’s not a lot
of people that can say they captained a
national championship team in any sport
and he did that for the University of
Kentucky and he brings an amazing
passion and energy for this place and um
and um and then he has got the skill set
that goes with it in terms of the
offense and style of ball that he plays
and the things that he does and the
relationships that he has here and once
Mark gets here we’re hopeful to get him
here in the next day hopefully tomorrow
and in some way shape or form um and get
him here people get to see him and see
his his heartbeat for Kentucky um he’s
one of ours and that means a lot to all
of us and to the players that played
here and the people who uh saw what he
did as he represented as a student
athlete he’ll do that and more as a
coach when you if I’m a fan that’s
listening right now and I’m saying Mitch
Barnhart give me one thing to get really
excited about MIT about Mark Pope as the
next coach of Kentucky beyond the fact
that he played here what would it be
yeah well I I think there’s there’s two
pieces to the puzzle so if I if you said
one I’d probably go two different sides
of the coin you know one is the
personality side and the other is the is
the technical side um when you talk to
the people in the basketball Community
they talk about the unique offense that
he runs um and the way he Forces teams
to defend and then he makes them defend
all the way out 27 by 50 um so they come
all the way out and and the way they
break it down and they shoot the threes
they have
um they led the third in the country and
made threes the the first they were
first in I think field three point field
goal percent or three-point field goal
percentage so they were up there at
least in the top five all year their
offensive efficiency is high level they
were 81 points a game um so when I talk
about why that fits in today’s landscape
of college basketball um obviously we
had a team that was um upper upper 80s
uh this year and and sometimes on the
defensive end we we didn’t get as much
on the defensive end as we used to and
so I think what Mark does he brings a
little bit of of his style as a player
when he was here um and he’s matched it
with the some nuances to the offense
that I think are really really cool and
um and we we talked technically a lot
about three on one side of the court and
two on the other it’s the new move of
the NBA and where the NBA is going and
some of the things that they’re doing
and the players like to play that way
and he has already put that in his stuff
and uh it’s really good and so as you
talk to some of the basketball I say
junk but if you talk about some of the
people that are sort of the nuances of
the game marks on The Cutting Edge of
those things offensively and defensively
he likes to do some of the things that
his team was famous playing for and how
they put pressure on people and turn
them over so from a technical
perspective I’d say you’re going to see
a little bit of a throwback to some of
the things that that his that look like
the team the St Mark played for and uh
and and not not exactly the same because
he’s tweaked it a little bit and put
some of his own stuff in there and then
on the other side of the coin Matt I
think what he has done is he he brings
the tenacity the toughness um and the
positive energy he is a positive guy you
can’t be around Mark Pope very long if
you don’t hear the positivity in his
voice he he uses words like we’re
crushing it we’re going to crush that
we’re going to you know get get after it
and then and let’s you know I his
positive energy for anybody that comes
into contact with him is is contagious
and um I think in a few back I went back
and looked at a couple of his pressors
from other things that he’ done know
words like Relentless and tenacity and
toughness roll off his tongue easily
because that’s what his teams do and he
went to some really in a league that
arguably maybe right or wrong you can
say arguably they’re the best basketball
conference this year in the deal that’s
what they all said going in now that big
12 did not have anybody in the final
four but they had a lot of teams in in
that conversation in terms of of the uh
the NCA tournament and he went in to
venues and mosted teams in the vs and um
in his first year in that league and
probably should have been named Big 12
coach of the year he did not get that
but he win places he beat teams that we
didn’t beat and he beat teams that were
people that we interviewed so um you
know it’s I just say he he has a lack of
fear of of the situation he is ready to
take everything on and he knows how big
this job is and he knows how important
it is to this state and so that’s more
than one um he he it means a lot to him
man well let me ask you this that
because I’m going to give you if the
average fan sort of thought concern I’ve
heard and maybe you can address some of
them I think the big that school he was
at has unique challenges in recruiting
do you believe he can bring the best
talent to Kentucky I think most people
believe in his X’s and O’s can he get
the players here that people think you
need to win a title yeah well I think I
think that the proof in in the pudding
obviously we got to go get that done but
so I get off the phone with him last
night and he already talked to me about
two players that he couldn’t get to come
to have a conversation with him at BYU
that already called him back and said
coach I’ll come to
Kentucky so it is about the name on the
front it’s it’s about the name on the
front of the Jersey right and and
there’s something about that brand so if
you go back and you look at and if you
look at just in the the social
Impressions from Monday at 3:00 until
Tuesday at 3:00 University of
Connecticut won the national
Championship obviously and they had 17
million impressions in that 24-hour
period of time Kentucky basketball
coming off something that everyone would
agree is not where we want to be in that
same 24-hour period of time we had 37
million
impressions over double so my my point
is the brand is real and it is really
really important and we’ve got to
effectively use it and we use it we we
combine some things in recruiting with
with the tenacity in recruiting a staff
in recruiting the brand that we have and
then the nil space and we’ve got some
people that have already stepped up over
the last 24 hours we’ve got several
donors that have stepped up to put over
$4 million in our n in our nilo
portfolio for Coach to work with uh to
get start you confirmed that was
reported earlier you can confirm that’s
true I can confirm that’s true gotcha so
that’s that’s hugely that’s hugely
important for us as we go forward
obviously in terms of roster management
the of the current roster as in roster
management going forward everyone talks
but we can we can say that these are
weird conversations this is stuff we’ve
rarely never talked about on the air
before it’s new but it’s real and so yes
so that is part of our our deal now we
and we continue to move forward we got
we’ve got more coming if people want to
get involved we can tell them how to do
that through um our Avenues well can
well can you I mean I how can you do it
you want to do that here Club blue yeah
you can do it through Club blue if you
go to CL I put a on my social there’s a
a link to Club blue if you want to go to
that all you do is is um you can go to
and I’m not plugging my Twitter page cuz
I really don’t you know that’s not my
deal but um there’s if you go there
you’ll find on my social there is a a
link to Club blue I I’ll put it out
later I that way people can uh can can
get it yours is proba more popular than
mine partner well thank let me ask you
this question because this is going to
be this is going to be what people are
going to talk about there is the over
the last few years everybody knows what
it has been like do you feel like what
are some things in the last couple years
that were weaknesses maybe around the
program that you think Mark Pope makes
better with his presence everybody knows
the strengths of the Cal era what about
some things you think will get better
with Mark Pope as the coach well I I
don’t I think as as we you know look
forward and that’s why I want to be
really focused on that um and I I think
that’s where you’re headed to man I I I
really appreciate Mark’s desire toing
the Big Blue
Nation and all of us together as we
Galvanize to go back and be who we want
to be and I when I I T the first thing
when we sat down he says Mitch thanks
for the opportunity to sit down with you
that place changed my life he says the
trajectory of of Mark Pope’s life
changed the day I walked on the campus
at the University of
Kentucky he said that place means more
to me than you can possibly imagine that
no one can replicate that DNA no one can
and so um it’s passionate and it’s
emotional and that’s what you get when
he told and I don’t want to steal all of
his stories because he’s got some great
stuff but when he talks about the
autograph signing line after the
national championship and what it meant
to the people was they stood in lined to
to catch a chance to have a glimpse of a
a national champion that’s the heartbeat
of all of our fans from border to border
in the state and Mark gets that and
that’s what I want to make sure that we
Galvanize that we Galvanize our
department around that there’s been you
know some things that have happened that
we need to we need to be banded together
better and and I’ve I’ve challenged Mark
to really be um thoughtful of how we do
that and that’s important to me that
helps us as we create culture within our
department and culture within our team
and our locker room and we become a
program that um walks out with um that
name on the front of the jersey and and
we walk out there representing the Big
Blue Nation in the form people in our
state and worldwide that is so important
that’s what I think um I’m hopeful that
we can be as a department better and
that’s on me and as a as a uh as a
basketball program that that people feel
that I want them to feel that when they
walk in we understand the goal we’re
going to have the the presser in rup
Arena it’s going to be in rup Arena and
it is very you’re gonna have the press
conference in rup Arena do you know what
day that’ll be they’re work they’re
working on the logistics on that
probably Sunday Matt probably Sunday so
we’re working on that probably Sunday um
so working working trying to get all the
details pulled together there’s an event
inter up on Monday will that be like for
the public like the public can come
absolutely absolutely okay all right so
that that’s the first time I can
remember that being the case that that
that so that that’ll be on Sunday all
right so again I’m I’m kind of trying to
channel apologize apologize to the media
on that know it’s not a great day for
that but we’re trying to get everything
going get everybody going and and he
needs obviously the task at hand is is
rosters recr yeah all right so let’s one
thing one other thing one other thing
that everybody understand the process
has to move really quickly because the
Dead period ends you know and so all of
a sudden how everybody’s out in
recruiting too that was critical mass as
we move forward in terms of you didn’t
feel like you could wait for someone am
I right oh you can’t wait long in this
process because a lot of things happen
you know people are you know all a
sudden you got people making decisions
in the transfer world and that kind of
stuff that that are uh you know critical
to rosters and uh and Y will just give
us give us time and no one’s willing no
one’s going to give you time I mean
that’s not a it’s not in the they don’t
care who you are in that in that deal
it’s it’s it’s moving quickly do you
think there will be have you all reached
out to or do you think there will be any
players that were either currently on
the team or were potentially committed
that you can be able to get to still be
at Kentucky play for Kentucky under Mark
Pope well I certainly you know obviously
those are Coach’s calls and he’s got to
he’s going to make those calls but I
certainly would hope that everyone give
this staff an opportunity to be able to
to have a conversation before they do it
that’s why getting it done quickly was
really really not getting it done
quickly but getting done efficiently and
be and being ready to go was really
really important because those we’re not
crazy the the this notion that no one’s
quote unquote tampering with your roster
that’s that’s gone I mean that’s NCAA
says you know please call us if you hear
that’s happening I don’t know that they
can handle the number of phone calls um
that it happens on a daily basis from
sport to sport it’s it’s not a not even
something they can track so yeah I mean
it’s you’ve got to be you got to jump in
the middle of this pretty pretty heavily
and get to your your roster and manage
that and and and he’s doing he’s going
to do that that’s that’s that’s job
number one position number one role
number one whatever you want to talk
about that’s the first thing on on his
list amongst other thinks have got
connecting with our fan base I’m not
sure if you if you if you moved or
something but you’re a little harder to
hear so for the last question Sor go
back to where you were before that
question that would be easier um I I
want to give you one I want to say one
last thing okay so I got online last
night when this got announced lot of
skepticism a lot of frustration lot of
worry to be honest with you seems much
better this morning but that’s still out
there part of as an ad you want
everybody to Rally the truth
I’m going to get you to put on your
Colonel uh you know Mitch Barnhart hat
rally the troops why is Mark Pope going
to be successful at
Kentucky I don’t know that you can ever
describe what it feels like um to put
the ca on a shirt and Captain a group of
guys to a
championship we’re going to roll out at
rine and we’re going to have a spotlight
on on the manners that represent this
place there’s very few people that can
stand on a Podium and say they were part
of that and they captained the team and
now they’re ready to lead the
ship this is our time to you know not
bicker we’ve been bickering a while
about what we should do not do it’s time
to say this is our guy he’s one of ours
and it is time to roll in get behind
this guy and let’s go win something
together
together and let’s make sure that we
have um a heartbeat of what’s on the
front of that Jersey the right way and
this guy can do it he’s got an
unbelievable passion for this program
he’s got an intelligence about the game
and he is absolutely most positive
people I’ve ever been around and the
players they’re going to be at that
pressure that have come out um they
believe in him and so I don’t ever want
to Cast Away the opport to say you know
what ours aren’t good enough to go lead
our program they are and this guy is
great enough to lead our program and he
is and we can go win championships and
we
will MIT barart thank you very much I
appreciate appreciate you calling in and
I will see you
Sunday thanks Matt appreciate it