After hiring Mark Pope to lead Kentucky basketball last April, UK received an invoice from his former employer, Brigham Young University, for $6 million regarding his buyout, according to records obtained by USA Today.
Kentucky athletics spokesperson Tony Neely and the university’s legal office confirmed that UK paid the invoice. The University of Kentucky said it did not pay a tax gross-up in addition to Pope’s buyout.
While $6 million is not the largest reported buyout paid to a men’s basketball coach (Wake Forest paid Danny Manning nearly $14.7 million in 2021 after firing him in April 2020), it is unusually lucrative. For example, the University of Georgia paid the University of Florida $1.25 million to cover basketball coach Mike White’s buyout in 2022 after he had been extended at UF through 2027. Louisville paid the College of Charleston $1.1 million to purchase coach Pat Kelsey’s contract, according to a copy of his employment agreement obtained by The Courier Journal.
Kentucky hired Mark Pope, a member of the school’s 1996 national championship team, in April of last year. He is set to make $5 million his first year as head coach of his alma mater, not including any postseason performance incentives. His current contract runs through March 31, 2029. If the Wildcats advance to the NCAA Sweet 16, it will trigger an automatic one-year extension with a full-term limit of five years.
Pope took over BYU basketball in 2019. After coaching the Cougars to a 24-8 record his first season, BYU announced a contract extension through 2026-27. Because BYU is a private university sponsored by the Mormon church, it is not subject to the same federal tax filing laws and public records laws as public universities. As such, the exact terms of Pope’s contract are unknown.
Kentucky is 21-10 (10-8 SEC), sitting at sixth in the SEC behind Auburn, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas A&M. UK will play the winner of No. 14 seed Oklahoma and No. 11 seed Georgia in the second round of the SEC Tournament Thursday. The Wildcats are currently projected as a No. 3 seed in the South Region of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, according to ESPN’s most recent Bracketology update.
