How to attend, watch the introduction of Mark Pope as the Kentucky men’s basketball coach

The Mark Pope era of Kentucky men’s basketball has begun.

On Friday morning, UK officially announced that Pope — formerly the head coach at Utah Valley and BYU — would be the next head coach in Lexington, replacing John Calipari after his 15-season run with the Wildcats.

Pope was a captain on Kentucky’s 1996 national championship team, and he started 14 of 69 games in his two seasons on the court for the Wildcats. He began his college career at Washington before transferring.

There’s plenty of work for Pope to do at UK: Between players in the NCAA transfer portal, declaring for the NBA draft and decommitting from Kentucky’s 2024 recruiting class, the Wildcats have a nearly nonexistent roster in place for next season.

But before work can be done on that front, Pope will be introduced as the next head man at Kentucky.

Pope’s introduction as the Kentucky men’s basketball coach will be at 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington.

Fans can attend Pope’s introductory press conference. Admission to the event will be free and Rupp Arena will open to the public at 3:30 p.m.

Rupp Arena will also have limited concessions available during Sunday’s event, which will be moderated by UK broadcaster Tom Leach.

Fans should enter Rupp Arena via the main entrance of the building off High Street. Limited parking will be available on High Street on a first-come, first-serve basis.

For fans wanting to watch Pope’s introductory press conference from home, LEX 18 will broadcast the event live starting at 4:15 p.m.

LEX 18 will have the broadcast on television, online, Facebook and on the LEX 18 app.

Content from Sunday’s event can also be found on UKathletics.com and on UK’s social media accounts.

Additionally, Sunday’s event will be broadcast live on local UK Sports Network radio affiliates, and on the UK Athletics app.

This story was originally published April 12, 2024 at 5:54 PM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription