This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Orem • Another one of BYU basketball coach Dave Rose's assistant coaches has landed a head coaching job.
Utah Valley University will announce Tuesday at an afternoon news conference that it has hired four-year BYU assistant Mark Pope to replace Dick Hunsaker as its head basketball coach, according to several sources familiar with the negotiations.
CBS Sports first reported the hiring early Monday afternoon.
Pope, 42, joined Rose's staff in 2011. He replaced Dave Rice, who left BYU to take the head coaching job at UNLV.
Pope helped BYU to 98-43 record in his four years on the staff and was primarily in charge of scouting opponents, coaching defense and working with post players.
Pope, who is 6-foot-10, was a star at Newport High in Bellevue, Wash., before playing his freshman and sophomore seasons at Washington. He transferred to Kentucky for his final two years of college basketball and was a team captain on Kentucky's 1996 national championship team. He played in the NBA for the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks and Denver Nuggets.
Pope enrolled in medical school in New York City in 2006 and completed two years at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons before joining the basketball staff at the University of Georgia.
He was director of basketball operations at Georgia in 2009-10, reuniting with Mark Fox, who was an assistant at Washington when Pope played for the Huskies. Pope was a Wake Forest assistant coach in 2010-11 before joining Rose's staff at BYU and was responsible for bringing guard Chase Fischer to Provo when Fischer announced he was leaving Wake Forest.
When Rose hired Pope in 2011, the other leading candidate to replace Rice was wildly successful Lone Peak High coach Quincy Lewis, who is expected to again be considered for the BYU opening.
Pope's wife, Lee Anne, is the daughter of former University of Utah basketball coach Lynn Archibald. The couple has four daughters.
Twitter: @drewjay