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Former University of Kentucky point guard Anthony Epps admits he was “very excited” when UK named Mark Pope, his former teammate on UK’s 1996 national championship team, as its new head basketball coach.
And that was before Big Blue fans filled Rupp Arena for Pope’s introductory press conference that included him arriving in a bus with many of his former teammates from the 1996 national title team and Pope getting off the bus carrying the 1996 national championship trophy just like he did in 1996.
Epps was not there only because he was in Pittsburg due to a prior AAU commitment but he was with his former teammate in spirit. Epps understood it was not the high-profile hire that many UK fans initially wanted after former coach John Calipari left after 15 years to take the head job at Arkansas but the tide quickly turned.
“I know it took a lot of guts by (UK athletics director) Mitch Barnhart to pull the string and hire Mark,” said Epps. “But Mark is ready for this opportunity. He’s been a head coach for nine years (at Utah Valley and BYU), so he’s ready.”
Pope was the team captain on the 1996 national championship team and Epps’ teammate for two years after he transferred to Kentucky from Washington.
“I think hiring Mark is bringing our brotherhood (of former players) even closer than we already were. I think a lot of people have felt out of touch with the program for so long. Hiring Mark will re-energize all of us (former players),” Epps said.
Epps, currently the head boys coach at Campbellsville High School, believes UK fans will love Pope and be energized by his energy like they were at the press conference either in person or while watching on TV or online.
“Mark is just relentless. He is a hard, hard worker. He’s very smart and innovative,” Epps said. “He plays a fun style of basketball. He’s always positive. Even back when we were playing and we were down or struggled, he always was positive and brought us up even though he also hated losing.
“He was just fun to be around. He had a goofiness about him but loved everybody he came in contact with. It was like he always put everybody before him.”
Epps knows fans will appreciate Pope’s coaching fundamentals and the way he approaches the game.
“His offense is fun to watch. There is a lot of movement and a lot of 3’s. His team also always does a great job of playing defense,” Epps said.
Pope and Epps played for coach Rick Pitino at Kentucky. Epps doesn’t think Pope’s style is exactly what Pitino used.
“I think Mark has taken pieces of everybody he has been around and then put his own little twist to it,” Epps said.
The former UK point guard believes Kentucky high school coaches would attend a clinic if Pope had one to learn the X’s and O’s of what he does. However, Epps knows Pope’s love for Kentucky basketball does not mean he suddenly can stock a roster with all in-state players.
“Everybody can’t be connected because Mark still has a job to do. If a coach does not have a player good enough to play at that level he might not have a lot of interaction with Mark or any Kentucky coach. It’s a business,” Epps said. “But I also know Mark will do what is best to recruit in the state if a player fits what he does in his system.
“The toughest thing to understand is that not everybody can play at Kentucky. Mark Pope loves Kentucky. Don’t doubt that. But he also has a job to do. One great thing about the transfer portal, though, is a Kentucky kid goes off somewhere else and imposes he now has a chance to still come back and play for Kentucky.”
Epps knows former teammates and other UK players are going to support Pope. He believes fans will do the same.
“BBN has to get behind Mark and show him support snd give him time to build his program,” Epps said. “He’s a great guy, a really smart guy. However, he’s also a really good basketball coach who loves Kentucky and will be a tireless worker to make Kentucky special.”
2 Responses
Mark arrived at Kentucky in it’s worst possible condition. Every scholarship player has left. Perry says he is still coming to UK and I hope he does. Chandler is a wild card. Will he still be able to ball after being away from the game for 2 years? I think yes, but it may take a few games for him to get back into a groove. Having a dominant post player like Williams will help our guards on both ends of the floor. Will the Williams signing affect Osobor? I would think that a banger would want to play with another banger, but we will know soon. Thiero would be the perfect wing to add to that frontcourt, but he may be wanting to get back closer to home. There are still plenty of options for every spot and I think Mark will field a respectable team, but depth could be a concern. Regardless of the outcome, I am behind Pope 100%! He will get the job done and sooner than most think. Go Cats!
Great read and quotes by Anthony Epps–who, by the way, is one of the most underrated UK point guards to ever play here. He was the true QUARTERBACK for that 1996 team–Pitino experimented a little that year and started Wayne Turner at the point for a couple of games as a freshman–but he realized, once tournament play rolled around, Epps was the one u needed starting at the point, because, again, he was the quarterback for that team and that offense, and he actually played quarterback in high school too, so he was one of the glue guys, just like Pope was on the inside, for that 1996 team, for that offense–he always knew where everybody else was going to be, he knew everyone else’s strengths, he knew who to get the ball to, and WHEN, and his sense of timing in that run-n-gun offense was impeccable, with some of his telegraphed passes. My two fav memories of Anthony Epps at KY are from the 1995 SEC Tournament championship comeback victory over ARK in OT–probably the greatest SEC Tournament champ game in history, and the 1997 national championship game against AZ in OT. The ’95 SEC championship is one that doesn’t seem to be mentioned or rememebered as well as some others–that game was truly something unbelievable. Down 19 in the first half, down 8 at half, stormed back to take it to OT after Roderick Rhodes choked away the win at the end of regulation by missing both free throws, and basically ended his KY career right there, for all intents and purposes. Epps was over on the bench turned around with his back to the court with both fingers crossed while Rhodes shot the FTs–he was so nervous he couldn’t even watch–and he ended up sitting next to Rhodes in the OT consoling him, not knowing a few mins later, he was gonna be in the exact same situation. Epps was a stone-cold assassin in games and situations like that one, where every pass, every dribble is a matter of life and death —it was like the more do-or-die the situation in a game, the more Ice water Epps had in his veins. Epps ended up getting the ball in his hands twice inside that final 30 secs of OT–KY got back down by 9 again with a min and a half left in OT, it was all but over–Antoine Walker has his coming-out party that game too as a freshman–Walker, Delk, and Epps all saved the day for KY in that last 1:30 with huge 3s, huge rebounds and steals, and clutch FTs–Epps got the rebound off the final ARK shot to try to win it with one sec left, got fouled with only 0.06 secs left, and Rick Pitino came running out onto the court to hug Epps to celebrate even tho the game had officially not ended yet–but KY already had a 1-pt lead and there was not enough time left for ARK to get another possession and go full court–so Epps added one more free throw out of 2, for a 95-93 win. It was one of the most emotional KY games I have ever witnessed, and one of the biggest wins of the Pitino era, especially to that point in time, as we had not yet won a title with him as coach. That was the year before the championship team, and because the 1995 team had an epic meltdown again UNC in the Elite 8, that SEC tournament championship over ARK was kind of that team’s Final 4 experience. ARK returned their entire team that year from the defending natl champs, that was Corliss Williamson, Scotty Thurman, and Co, and they were the #1 or #2 team in the country at the time that game was played, so it was a monumental win at the time for KY. And those were the days when the ARK/KY rivalry was bloody–that was Nolan’s 40 mins of hell era–they would always beat us in the reg season, but we would get sweet payback in the SEC championship! One of the most forgotten games in UK history, but one of the biggest wins ever in that era, and it’s a damn shame the way that season ended, because that team was close to being 1996 level and were def good enough to win it all! But they were building their way there. They lost Roderick Rhodes but gained Derek Anderson and Ron Mercer, and those were the last needed pieces! But back to Anthony Epps–my second biggest memory of him was the 3-pt dagger to send the 1997 natl champ game against AZ to OT–I was sitting in the end zone in Indianapolis opposite where Epps launched that prayer–and I thought I was going to have a heart attack when that shot went in. At that moment, I honestly believed we were going to win that game and believed that I was going to witness history by seeing a back-to-back UK natl champ in person–thats the most devastated I have ever been at any KY game I ever saw in person in my entire lifetime–the UK GODS provided divine karmic redemption for me the next year, however, as I got to see the Comeback Cats defeat UCLA, DUKE, Stanford, and Utah all in person to bring home Banner #7!!!!! and by the way, going back now even further in time, the first great memory I have of Anthony Epps at KY is when he led an improbable comeback down at Tennessee in 1994 just a couple of weeks after the Mardi Gras miracle, and it was the game after Pitino had suspended Travis Ford, Gimel Martinez, and Jared Pickett for the free-throw fiasco down at Vanderbilt! So off they go to Knoxville with only 8 scholarship players, no starting PG, both power forwards out, and they had already lost Rodney Dent for the season back in Jan, who was by far and away their best big man…..talk Abt a game the natl media thought we had no chance at winning–nobody in their right thought we were winning that game. In some ways, it was almost as improbable as the 31-pt comeback down at LSU. At TN, we were down by 14 at halftime and it could have easily been more–we were lucky to be that close–Epps, a seldom-used freshman that season, led a charge in the second half that was absolutely unbelievable–he put that team on his back and started bombing 3s from everywhere, and they pulled off an absolute stunner in front of a stunned crowd at Thompson-Boling Arena–i think they ended up winning that one by like 4 or 5 points. That whole season was really crazy and all over the place–u had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows, and like all going on at the same time. It was actually Pitino’s worst season at KY all-in-all, and his only team that never gelled, it was kind of his Team Turmoil, because so much sh** happened with that team, both good and bad, like i said–but even with that, some of the best memories and most unforgettable moments even in a season like that. That puts into perspective the level of Pitino’s run here at KY and how absolutely incredible it was, and the amount of things he accomplished here across so many generations of players and so many different eras of time. If u look back at it now today and start studying it, u realize how large an imprint he had on this program and across how long of a time period his imprint touched. He began with the leftovers from the fallout of the Eddie Sutton era and ended with planting the seeds for Tubby Smith’s not only getting the KY job, but for also his national championship in 1998 and his second Elite 8 run in 1999. Pitino’s 8 seasons at KY had a life-changing, far-reaching effect that made an imprint on this program that was felt for more like 15 yrs’ worth of time and 15 yrs’ worth of generations of players. It was a decade of time and of basketball that will forever be untoppable…….Thanks for letting me share some of my memories tonight!!!