Unless you’ve been sleeping under a rock the past couple of weeks, John Calipari has officially parted ways with the University of Kentucky and left a sudden void in the Wildcat basketball program. Calipari’s tenure at UK was of course filled with a dramatic sense of pride, controversy, success, and frustration all rolled into one roller coaster ride called the Big Blue Nation and it only time will tell if Kentucky can regain its dominant stature in NCAA men’s basketball over the next couple of seasons. Truth be told, the Wildcats have faltered over the past few years and NCAA tournament first-round losses only compounded the dire circumstances this proud program has found itself in during the twilight of John Calipari’s time in Lexington.

As soon as Coach Cal made his exit strategy known to Kentucky AD, Mitch Barnhart, the race was on (a Kentucky Basketball Derby, so to speak) to quickly find a replacement for Calipari and practice a heavy dose of damage control. Recruits and current team players alike based their allegiance as much to John Calipari as they did to the University of Kentucky and when a coaching legend leaves a program, the current NCAA transfer portal vividly portrays that players scatter to the four winds in search of new playing opportunities with other schools. Yes, some players will follow the old head coach to their new stomping grounds but any new head coach hire has to build up a roster – immediately.

Being one of the true blue-blood elite college basketball programs around, the Wildcats quickly set to work and started the phone calls and texts to a plethora of the who’s who in the college coaching ranks. Of course, UConn’s Dan Hurley was contacted not once but twice and to no avail. Who could seriously blame Hurley, given he’s holding two consecutive national titles? Then Scott Drew was enticed to leave Waco for the SEC and that turned out to be a bust for UK as well. Moving on, Mitch Barnhart had to make quick work of contacting the likes of Shaka Smart at Marquette, Nate Oats at Alabama and none less than Jay Wright to add to the mix. Maybe, just maybe these coaches knew something surrounding the Wildcat basketball program or maybe they were simply content with their current positions.

Neverthelless, the Mark Pope hiring seemed more anticlimactic than anything else given the fact that he certainly wasn’t in the top tier candidate list. What can an athletic director do but keep calling every coach you can until you finally here the magic word yes? Let’s get one thing straight: Mark Pope is no John Calipari. Whatever drama or controversy that hung around Lexington during the Calipari era is probably over for good. Yes, Mark Pope brings one specific talent and that’s an innate understanding of how important Kentucky Wildcat basketball is to the fan base and the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky. After all, Mark Pope is not only an alumnus but a national champion former player who lived and breathed UK basketball during his days in Lexington.

The biggest question mark at this point is whether Mark Pope can translate his familiarity with Kentucky basketball into a winning program. Yes, he had success at both Utah Valley and BYU but that was regular season success; Pope is winless in two NCAA tournament appearances prior to taking over Kentucky basketball. Maybe none of this will matter in the long run; Pope’s ability to relate to recruits and sell a program he played for and won a national championship with is a strong selling point. While the current offseason already has provided its share of challenges for UK basketball, Mark Pope should at least be given the benefit of the doubt and see what he can do with his alma mater.