Jamal Crawford has turned down Kentucky basketball's assistant coach position

Kentucky basketball posted an assistant coach job opening back in April and have not filled it yet, as of mid-July. Many fans began buzzing in May about a potential pursuit of former NBA All-Star Jamal Crawford to fill the role, adding even more swag after bringing on former NBA Champion Mo Williams. That pursuit turned out to be true, but now, it officially is no longer an option.

On Thursday, it was reported by KSR that Crawford has officially turned down Mark Pope and Kentucky's offer to become an assistant coach for the Wildcats. What's the reason? It's just not the right time for Crawford, who has a nice gig with NBC. "If this were a different time, there’s no doubt. There’s zero doubt," he told KSR's Jack Pilgrim. "I have such respect for Coach Pope, Coach Mo (Williams), but just with everything I’m doing right now, and I’m under contract with NBC, and seeing that through, I think that takes precedent."

Feb 13, 2026; Inglewood, California, USA; NBC Peacock analysts Reggie Miller (left) and Jamal Crawford (center) and play-by-play announcer Noah Eagle during an NBA All Star Rising Stars game at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Last week, we heard Mark Pope's comments on the KSR radio show when asked about the pursuit of Crawford, sighting that the former NBA All-Star still had two years left on his contract. Once we heard this answer, the writing was on the wall that a Crawford hire was unlikely.

"Jamal's still got two years left on his NBC contract," Pope said on KSR last week. "I'm good friends with Jamal, we've been friends for a long time. There might be a time where it's good for him to jump into coaching, it's something he would like to do. He's one of those guys that's cut from a little bit of a similar cloth like Mo Williams is, where, Mo was -- it's hard to run an AAU program. And there's a lot of guys that fund an AAU program -- Mo was running an AAU program. Jamal is running and coaching an AAU program. When you find guys like that with their background, he could have a great future in college, he could go get a job in the exact right space as a head coach in the NBA maybe, but I think coaching is in his future and he's got a sweet deal right now and he's got a couple years left."

Kentucky fans know how much getting Crawford on the staff would have helped. We're already seeing Mo WIlliams put his finger prints on everything with recruiting and adding Jamal Crawford would have made for a pretty deadly duo on the recruiting trail. But, that's for another time. Maybe in a few years Crawford could join the Kentucky staff? It's a possibility.

Now, it's up to Mark Pope if he wants to fill the spot or not, given a new NCAA rule that he talked about.

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