Mark Edward Pope (born September 11, 1972) is an American basketball coach and former player who is the nineteenth and current head coach of Brigham Young University's (BYU) men's basketball team. He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats, where he was part of the Wildcats 1996 championship team, and the Washington Huskies, where he was the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. He later played professionally in the National Basketball Association for the Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets. Career Pope was a high school star at Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington and played two years at the University of Washington (UW). He earned Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors in 1992 after setting a UW freshman single-season record with 8.1 rebounds per game. He transferred to the University of Kentucky, where he was a captain of the 1996 NCAA Men's Basketball Championship team. Pope was a second round pick of the Indiana Pacers in the 1996 NBA draft. The 2004-05 season was his last, as he was cut in training camp with the Denver Nuggets the following season. In 2006, Pope enrolled in medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. In 2009, he left medical school and joined Mark Fox's coaching staff at the University of Georgia. Fox was an assistant coach when both were at UW. The following season (2010–11), Pope moved to Wake Forest University to serve as an assistant under Jeff Bzdelik. In May 2011, Pope was hired as an assistant to Dave Rose at BYU, when Dave Rice left to become the head coach at UNLV. In March 2015, Pope was hired as the new head basketball coach at Utah Valley University (UVU), replacing the retiring Dick Hunsaker. In April 2019, Pope was hired to replace Dave Rose as head coach at BYU after Rose retired. Personal life Pope and his wife, Lee Anne, a former assistant to talk show host David Letterman, have four daughters. Lee Anne is the daughter of the late Lynn Archibald, who was the head basketball coach at the University of Utah from 1983-1989 and was an assistant at BYU in the 1990s. Pope is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. BYU head coach (2019-present) On April 10, 2019, Pope was hired as BYU's 19th head men’s basketball coach since its inaugural season in 1902-03. Pope