BREAKING NEWS: Mark Pope has added another coaching staff  as his assistant…

Although an official announcement won’t be made “until next week,” Kentucky head coach Mark Pope has begun to assemble his staff. A name has emerged as the first assistant to join Pope.

Pope will be joined in Kentucky by BYU assistant coach Cody Fueger, as reported by KSR’s Matt Jones.

Jones added, “I can confirm that one of Mark Pope’s three recruiting assistants and first member of staff will be former BYU Coach Cody Fueger.” In addition, he has spoken with recruiters today on behalf of Kentucky.

Pope and Fueger have worked together since 2013, when Pope was an assistant coach at BYU and Fueger served as director of basketball operations.

Following Pope, Fueger first attended Utah Valley State before returning to BYU, where he has been since 2019.

For the past few seasons, Fueger has established himself as one of Division I basketball’s finest emerging coaches. Additionally, Silver Waves Media recognized him as one of the most influential mid-major assistant coaches in Division I in both 2022 and 2023.

Fueger has been instrumental in the development of several All-Conference players, including Alex Barcello, Dallin Hall, and Jaxson Robinson.

Here’s a detailed analysis of Fueger’s prior experience:

Mark Pope’s announcement as the new basketball coach at Kentucky hasn’t even been a week, but with everything that has transpired, it feels like a year.

In front of a packed house at Rupp Arena on Sunday, Pope was presented as the next coach of Kentucky. Since then, he has been working nonstop to replace a large number of the talented players that left after John Calipari left.
He participated in a piece on ESPN’s Sportscenter on Wednesday to talk about his first few days at work.

“I’m incredibly grateful for everything John Calipari accomplished at Kentucky,” Pope remarked. “John significantly changed the methods for recruiting and the way collegiate basketball is played. His actions at Kentucky are just amazing. We are incredibly appreciative of that.

Pope, who referred to Kentucky as the “pinnacle of coaching” in college basketball, inked a five-year contract to join the staff.