About 6 months (since late March 2026), and the position is still open as of late September 2026.Kentucky men’s basketball (under Mark Pope) lost two assistants after the 2025-26 season: Jason Hart (to SMU as associate head coach, reported around March 25, 2026) and Alvin Brooks III (associate head coach; contract not renewed, confirmed via social media around March 28, 2026)
BB; COMING UPON 6 MONTHS WITH A VACANT ASSISTANT POSITION
- Thread starter TheResistance
- Start date
If Pope had been killing it I wouldn't care. But he needs all the help he can get. Mo helped with recruiting a tad I feel like. Need another assistant coach with recruiting ties. Bigger than Mo. I think its a huge deal. Pope is as stubborn as any coach I've ever seen.
True! The only problem is mark pope! He’s a fraud
I think it's an advantage. Forgive me if I don't buy that one more assistant is going to make a useful difference in terms of training and development the kids would get.
Mark's biggest achilles heel is his recruiting. Keeping a spot open to where he can hire any kid's father or uncle or high school coach at the drop of a hat if it will land us a star is a much more plausible benefit (even if he didn't plan it intentionally) than expecting to get a boost from some dude who is supposedly the next William Wesley or Phil Jackson but is also strangely scrounging for a job as a college-level assistant coach. We've seen all the other blue blood programs and a lot of programs below us use that move and get a big benefit out of it. Why can't we do it for once. Even just keeping the possibility alive is worth more than anything we'd get from an assistant, especially the grade of assistant Pope would be likely to hire.
Mark's biggest achilles heel is his recruiting. Keeping a spot open to where he can hire any kid's father or uncle or high school coach at the drop of a hat if it will land us a star is a much more plausible benefit (even if he didn't plan it intentionally) than expecting to get a boost from some dude who is supposedly the next William Wesley or Phil Jackson but is also strangely scrounging for a job as a college-level assistant coach. We've seen all the other blue blood programs and a lot of programs below us use that move and get a big benefit out of it. Why can't we do it for once. Even just keeping the possibility alive is worth more than anything we'd get from an assistant, especially the grade of assistant Pope would be likely to hire.
What is the difference between “no” (I don’t care) and “don’t care one bit?”
So you think without Mo on staff we have Hampton committed this early or at all? I'm just asking because I only have an opinion also. I don't believe Pope has Hampton committed if he didn't have Mo's help. Just like a different assistant with different connections respect/swagger could help out a little.
I don't think it's a huge deal. But answering the OP i think Pope needs some help. But ya know he's shown he's got everything under control.......
I mean....I feel like you are a troll. But there's not much I can argue with what you said.
Mo looks like a great hire. Pope also wanted Crawford and took a swing knowing Crawford is not in a spot to say yes right now. I like both of those attempts. If he is waiting on the right person (he can be patient whereas he could not when he was first hired), I want him to wait. I would like another Mo type.
I’m 100000% over mark pope! Cut ties immediately. Jai would be a major upgrade!
Hopefully with some FB success apathy doesn't fully set in on basketball.
What I think is of course we could get one guy who has a relationship with one kid that could definitely help us out. And we could also hire some top 3 stud‘s father. Either is possible.
But I don’t think there’s another Mo out there waiting to be hired by us. Mo was a special case. If there was anyone else with similar potential and similarly accessible to our staff we’d have heard long ago that Pope was at least trying to get him.
And when it comes to the type of assistant Pope would be much, much more likely to hire—
You only have two possibilities left. Either he doesn’t have great connections but hopes he can build them,
Or he is already in super tight with one stud.
But if he’s in super tight with one stud, why would you think I’d be against hiring him? We ought to keep one assistant spot clear of lower-value assistants specifically so we’ll be able to grab a guy like that if he comes along. That was my original point.
I just can’t be bothered to get angered about any of this crap. Just win the games. If Pope changes every single coach on payroll once per month but wins 30+ games and makes a Final Four, I’ll be happy. If he kept the same coaches for four years, loses more than he should and doesn’t make it past the Sweet Sixteen, I won’t be happy.
Im weird I guess — don’t think it is worth a second thought. Just win.
Im weird I guess — don’t think it is worth a second thought. Just win.
Considering he's sucked by UK standards the first 2 years, it's pretty telling he hasn't hired one as of yet.
There was a time we won championships with one or two assistants. Now there’s a coach or some other named position making boat loads of money who responsible for someone’s jock. Bloated structure not unique to UK. they weren’t paying players for years and they didn’t know what to do with the cash. It is a useless position unless there is a bona fide five star whose father needs a job.
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