LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky men’s basketball head coach Mark Pope has named Jason Hart, a nine-year NBA veteran with extensive coaching experience at the high school, collegiate and professional levels, to his inaugural staff it was announced on Monday.

“Jason Hart is everything as a coach that he was as a player,” Pope said. “He has boundless energy. He’s fearless. He is stubborn. But he has endless joy and love for this game and our players.

“He has all of the grit that you’d expect from a big-time Syracuse point guard, and he earned everything he got in his decade-long NBA career through pure blood, sweat and tears. Jason is going to win over Kentucky players and Kentucky fans in about 10 seconds. I’m thrilled to welcome Jason, Brandi and their family to UK.”

Hart most recently served as the head coach of the NBA’s G-League Ignite squad, coaching the likes of Jaden Hardy, Scoot Henderson, Matas Buzelis and Ron Holland.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join the Big Blue Nation,” Hart said. “I’ve played and coached at every level of basketball and there is not a more passionate fan base than this one. I will give every ounce of energy to our players and this program, and I can’t wait to get started. I want to thank Mitch Barnhart and Mark Pope for their confidence in me, and I want to say a special thanks to my family for their continued support.”

A nine-year NBA veteran, he is also a member of Syracuse’s All-Century Team, which honored the top 25 players in the program’s history. In 2011, Syracuse awarded him the Vic Hanson Medal of Excellence.

Hart concluded his collegiate playing career (1997-2000) as the program’s all-time leader in steals (329) and ranked second all-time in assists (709). He also shares the Syracuse record for most steals in a season with 101 set in 1999. In his four seasons at Syracuse, Hart helped lead the Orange to the NCAA Tournament three times and the NIT one time. During his sophomore and senior seasons Syracuse advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.

He was picked in the second round of the 2000 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, where he was teammates with Pope for one season.

Hart played for Milwaukee, San Antonio, Charlotte, the Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento, Utah, Denver, New Orleans and Minnesota. Four times his teams qualified for the NBA Playoffs. During the 2004-05 season with Charlotte, he was third in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. Hart also played a season in Greece.

Hart retired in December of 2010 and began coaching on the AAU circuit. He then was named the head coach at Taft High and led the Toreadors to a 29-4 record, the Los Angeles City Section Division I title, the second round of the Division I state championships and a perfect 10-0 record in league play. He was named the L.A. City Coach of the Year.

A Southern California native, Hart joined the Ignite following a nine-year assistant coaching career. He began his collegiate coaching career at Pepperdine in 2012 before joining Andy Enfield’s staff at Southern Cal for the 2013-14 season. He was promoted to associate head coach beginning in 2017-18, continuing through the 2020-21 season.

In eight seasons with the Trojans, he was an instrumental piece to a staff that helped recruit and develop five NBA draft selections and advance to three NCAA Tournament appearances.

USC’s 2019 freshman class was ranked No. 7 by 247Sports.com. Hart was selected to participate in the inaugural Collegiate Coaching Consortium, a collaboration between the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and AthleticDirectorU held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, after the 2019 season. This program is designed to help train and develop the next great group of leaders in the basketball coaching profession.

In all, Southern Cal amassed a 157-110 record with Hart on the staff. The Trojans strung together five 20-win seasons and four postseason appearances, including an appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight in 2021.

Hart graduated from Syracuse in 2000 with a degree in sociology. He and his wife, Brandi, have two children, Jason and Justin.

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