National college basketball analyst explains why Kentucky needs a GM

Kentucky basketball has had an impressive turnaround with this year's team, no doubt. But that still does not mean that their struggles with recruiting and roster construction should go unnoticed. Last season, Mark Pope filled his roster with shooters and playmakers, guys that fit his system. This year, he has seemed to have over-corrected to prioritize more of athelticism and defense.

While the Wildcats still are shooting the second-best three-point percentage of anyone in the SEC through conference play, Pope still needs to address the issues that not only include roster construction, but also the fact that he overpaid for many players on this roster, which added up to become the highest-paid team in college basketball this season. Despite the huge incredible turnaround, the results still do not match that.

Moving forward with not only his issues recruiting certain players in the portal, but issues in high school recruiting as well, it begs the question of should Kentucky basketball hire of GM to take care of these things and ease the big load that Pope and his coaching staff are having to carry? The Field of 68 's Jeff Goodman explained why Kentucky needs one.

"You have to have somebody devoted to this that really is plugged in to the agents," Goodman said on The Field of 68 podcast. "When you have 22 million, I would take a million of that and go hire somebody that is so plugged in to that part of it so you're not pissing away money by overpaying. You're Kentucky, you shouldn't overpay. They overpaid on, like, everyone on this team. ...Everobody on their staff is a coach. I think you have to find somebody that is locked in to the agent part of it to really be able to dig in and get that kind of information. ...You need a guy who is locked in 100 percent of the time into looking at tape of every mid-major guy who might be on the board, having a board, letting Pope watch some guys during the season a little bit. Take 20 minutes a day to watch tape on this guy and this guy so that you're not overwhelmed (when the transfer portal opens)."

Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope looks on during the first half against the Mississippi Rebels. — Jan 24, 2026; Lexington, Kentucky, USA; Kentucky Wildcats head coach Mark Pope looks on during the first half against the Mississippi Rebels at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Jordan Prather-Imagn Images | Jordan Prather-Imagn Images

Goodman went on to say that Pope needs to realize the roster construction with this roster was not correct. Maybe he does, but it's time to take action on it for the future of the program and ultimately hire someone that can put them in a good position for when the portal opens, or else it may be too late if they don't. Even if it's not a GM, Goodman says. Just someone, or a group of people, that can do that as their job.

"Pope should have understood early that, hey, listen, the roster construction wasn’t right,” Goodman said. “We can’t leave it up to our assistant coaches, because frankly, they've got too much going on during the season. We need to bring in a team, a roster construction team. We have all this money, let’s delegate it to the right place so that we make the best decisions possible and it’s not on us while we’re trying to scout the SEC tournament and prepare for that and then the NCAA Tournament. If you go to the Sweet 16 again, so many of these kids, by the time they go in the portal, it’s already done.”

With the portal now opening as soon as the National Championship game ends, Kentucky will have to race to start building relationships with players, many of whom, like Goodman said, that will have already started building relationships with other schools. Hiring a GM, or a group of people dedicated to that, would go a long way. Mark Pope is too good off an on-court coach to not get help in such a major off-court area.