Coach Mark Pope

Moral & Ethical Leadership

Mark Pope was hired as head men’s basketball coach at BYU on April 10, 2019. He is the 19th head men’s basketball coach since the Cougars’ inaugural season in 1902-03. Pope came to Provo after serving as head coach at Utah Valley University for the previous four seasons. In his first season as BYU's head coach, Pope led the Cougars to a record of 24-8, the most wins for a first-year coach in program history. He became just the second first-year BYU coach to lead his team into the top 25 and the first to end his debut season ranked. The Cougars entered the top 25 as No. 23 in the AP Poll on Feb. 17 and jumped to as high as No. 14. BYU ended the season at No. 18 in the AP Poll and No. 16 in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Pope’s coaching career has included stints as an assistant coach at Georgia, Wake Forest and BYU before he was named the head coach at Utah Valley. As a player, Pope helped Kentucky win the 1996 NCAA National Title before enjoying a professional career that included stints in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets. Before joining the basketball staff at Georgia, Pope completed two years of medical school at Columbia University in New York. He did much of his pre-med course work while playing in the NBA. Pope and his wife Lee Anne have four daughters: Ella, Avery, Layla and Shay. Lee Anne worked at ESPN before serving as David Letterman's personal assistant for four years.