Fear the beard? Why UK fans should hope Mark Pope hasn’t lost his razor
Fast-break points from the Texas Tech quarterback competition:
21. Mark Pope’s beard. The Kentucky men’s basketball coach has been taking a summer cessation from shaving.
20. Here to stay? Michelle Knezovic of the UK Sports Network recently asked Pope if the beard would stay in place for the 2026-27 season? “I don’t know,” Pope said. “I like it. ... I like the vibe.”
19. NCAA Tournament championship coaches. For the heck of it, I decided to look up the team picture of every NCAA men’s hoops championship winner. As it turns out, every coach to ever win the national title, from Oregon’s Howard Hobson in 1939 through Michigan’s Dusty May in 2026, appears to have had one thing in common.
18. Coaches with beards don’t cut down the nets. As best as I can tell (and some of the team pictures are “grainy”), no bearded coach has ever won the men’s basketball NCAA championship.
17. You can make a ‘stache work. Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson and Connecticut’s Kevin Ollie won it all in 1994 and 2014, respectively, while sporting mustaches.
16. Are beards a jinx? In the 1989 NCAA title game, Seton Hall, led by the very bearded P.J. Carlesimo, was leading Michigan 79-78 with only 3 seconds remaining in overtime. However, a controversial blocking call on the Pirates’ Gerald Green sent the Wolverines’ Rumeal Robinson to the foul line. Robinson cashed two free throws to give Michigan, and the clean-shaven Steve Fisher, an 80-79 win and the national championship.
15. Root for the razor. Based on NCAA tourney history, Kentucky fans have a compelling reason to hope Pope has held onto his razor.
14. Karl-Anthony Towns. In becoming the 20th ex-Kentucky Wildcats player to win an NBA championship, the New York center averaged 13 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists in the Finals as the Knicks took down San Antonio in five games.
13. De’Aaron Fox. The ex-UK point guard is taking a heaping helping of the blame for the Spurs’ defeat in The NBA Finals. Fox shot only 34.3% in the championship series and averaged 12 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists.
12. Keldon Johnson. Ex-Cat Johnson also had a rough go for San Antonio in the Finals. Johnson averaged 4.4 points and 3 rebounds while shooting only 34.8% vs. the Knicks.
11. Ex-Cats adding rings. Of the past eight NBA championship teams, five have had at least one former Kentucky player on their rosters.
10. Savvy Swords. The incoming Kentucky women’s basketball freshman forward tore it up in the FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup tournament. Swords made The All-Star Five (the all-tourney team) after averaging 16.4 points, 9 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.2 steals over five games while leading Canada to the silver medal.
9. Maddyn Greenway. The incoming Kentucky women’s basketball freshman point guard has been named MaxPreps Female National Athlete of the Year for her three-sport excellence as a high schooler at Minnesota’s Providence Academy.
8. Thirteen state titles. Greenway led Providence Academy to five Minnesota state championships in basketball, two in soccer and won six state titles herself in track and field.
7. Individual records. Not only is Greenway Minnesota’s all-time girls basketball scoring leader (5,521 points) and assists leader (1,186), she is also the all-time scoring leader in girls soccer (218 goals). For good measure, Greenway also set Minnesota state track-and-field records in the 300-meter hurdles (41.88 seconds) and as the anchor leg of Providence Academy’s 4x400 relay team (3:51.48).
6. A big assertion. It is hard to imagine that Kentucky, in any sport, has signed many players who were more-accomplished high school athletes than Maddyn Greenway.
5. Kenny Brooks. The UK women’s basketball coach has favored a tight playing rotation in his first two seasons with the Wildcats. On paper, it looks like Brooks’ 2026-27 roster is 10 deep with quality players. It is going to be interesting to see how Brooks deploys his depth in the coming season.
4. John B. Wethington. The last time someone other than Wethington served as head coach of the Lindsey Wilson University women’s basketball team was in 1989. In 2026-27, that will change.
3. Hanging up the whistle. Lindsey Wilson announced Tuesday that Wethington, who had been the Blue Raiders’ women’s hoops coach for 37 years, is stepping down from his coaching job to assume a position raising funds for the university’s athletics programs.
2. Went out with a flourish. What turned out to be Wethington’s final season as coach was a good one. The Blue Raiders went 23-9 last year and reached the NAIA national tournament’s round of 16. Wethington was named Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year for a fourth time.
1. Two distinguished mantles vacated. Before stepping down, Wethington had been the longest-serving college head basketball coach in Kentucky and was the NAIA’s active all-time national wins leader (737 victories vs. 428 defeats).
Suffice to say, Lindsey Wilson’s next women’s hoops head coach will have a high standard to meet.
