BYU's Mark Pope is a Top Five Candidate for the Kentucky Job According to Oddsmakers

Mark Pope is one of the top five most likely candidates to be hired

BYU basketball head coach Mark Pope is receiving interest from other jobs across college basketball. Pope, who is coming off a season in which BYU exceeded expectations in their first Big 12 season, was mentioned as a candidate for the Louisville, Washington, and USCF jobs before those were filled. In the last week, longtime Kentucky head coach John Calipari left Kentucky for Arkansas. BYU head coach Mark Pope, who won a national championship at Kentucky, he's been mentioned as a candidate for the job. BetOnline released the odds for the most likely candidates to be the next head coach. Mark Pope is in the top five at 10:1 odds.

BetOnline Odds to be Kentucky's Next Head Basketball Coach

Scott Drew +100
Nate Oats +300
Richard Pitino +700
Billy Donovan +900
Mark Pope +1000
Kelvin Sampson +1200
Sean Miller +1600
Jamie Dixon +1600
Chris Beard +1800
Rick Pitino +2000
Scott Padgett +2000
Shaka Smart +2000
TJ Otzelberger +2500
Bruce Pearl +2500
Will Wade +2500
Anfernee Hardaway +2500
Dan Hurley +2500
Jay Wright +2500

Since BetOnline released these odds, Alabama head coach Nate Oats came out and reaffirmed his commitment to be the coach of the Crimson Tide. Meaning Mark Pope is one of the four most likely candidates to be hired by Kentucky.

If Kentucky offers Mark Pope the job, he will very likely take it. The Kentucky job has widely been viewed as Pope's dream job. However, Mark Pope has never won an NCAA Tournament game. It seems highly unlikely that a program like Kentucky, who was on the verge of firing one of the best coaches ever in John Calipari, would hire a candidate with Pope's resume.

That doesn't mean he couldn't do great things at Kentucky. He definitely could. But Kentucky has a track record of hiring coaches with a history of deep tournament runs. That's one thing that Pope doesn't have on his resume, at least not yet.

Losing Pope at this point in time would be a major blow to a BYU basketball program who has a brighter future ahead. BYU has played with a relatively young team over the last two years, so most of the roster is expected to be back next year. If BYU is able to plug a few holes via the transfer portal, BYU would have a roster capable of making a run in the tournament.