A coach's job is never done
In August, after camp wraps but before preseason tips off, most programs slow down. But on the Eye on College Basketball podcast with Matt Norlander, Kentucky head coach Mark Pope made it clear — even the “off weeks” aren’t exactly off. The interview is over an hour long and worth listening to the whole thing if you are a UK fan.
“We had a really tremendous camp,” Pope said, “and then this weekend I got to go visit Big Don" Big Don is Don Pope his dad who lives in Idaho. He said he spent a day and a half with my parents, which he doesn't get to do much. You have to be so much more than just coach, a great example being helping Jayden Quaintance practice driving for his driver's test.
He tells his staff and all the players to get off campus and recharge, but Pope admits some players simply won’t. “I’m in the office, and Denzel Aberdeen’s in the gym" he was getting shots up with Reece Potter who also stayed behind.
When Norlander asked how that works if you want them gone for a break especially since players get used to the same voice, Pope laughed. “We got guys that are just hungry… You’d be shocked if you came to one of my practices — you’d be shocked at how soft my voice is. We fight like crazy for our players’ voices to be the loudest at practice.” That is not even mentioning how good Brandon Garrison has looked.
Still, Pope says everyone will get at least a couple days off. In his own “downtime,” he’ll take a deep dive into the last eight weeks of summer work to chart the roadmap ahead.
Translation: for Pope, the grind never really stops. Even in August, when the calendar says “off week,” the job says otherwise.