Will Billy Donovan coach Kentucky basketball in 2027?
Mark Pope is unlikely to coach Kentucky after this upcoming season. Replacements are surely being considered. One tops the very early list:
Mark Pope looks like a coach who is already on his last legs at Kentucky. He has whiffed on high-end recruits. He has not made a splash in the transfer portal.
Kentucky doesn't appear to be a top-20 team, let alone top-10. That's not the Big Blue standard. If Kentucky has a season anything close to its recently-concluded campaign -- a 7 seed with a meek second-round March Madness exit -- Pope should be gone.
Is this Billy Donovan's chance to get back into college basketball? North Carolina logistics Billy Donovan wanted to finish his season with the Chicago Bulls and discuss his future with the organization. UNC wasn't willing to wait for the NBA season to end, so it hired Mike Malone instead.
Short list Billy Donovan, if he does return to college basketball, wouldn't jump at any old job. Kentucky isn't "any old job. " North Carolina was another Cadillac job.