NCAA Basketball: Top 1st-year head coaching performances so far in 2019-20
By Erik Mauro
6. Mark Pope – BYU
Pope took over from Dave Rose who is second all-time in wins at BYU, and hasn’t missed a step. Rose retired suddenly in March after winning nearly 350 games, however some were vacated due to an improper benefits case involving former player Nick Emery. Rose ended his coaching career with an official NCAA total of 301 wins, 70 behind all time wins leader Stan Watts.
Pope joins the Cougars from Utah Valley, where he improved his win total each year, making the CBI three times and was a former assistant at BYU under Rose. Last year, the Cougs only won 19 games, missing any postseason tournament entirely and haven’t made the NCAA Tournament in five years. This year, Pope has already amassed 15 wins, and missed Yoeli Childs for parts of the season. He just returned on Thursday. Childs has only played in eight games, but the COugs have been carried by Jake Toolson and TJ Haws. Toolson is averaging 15.6 PPG and Haws is averaging 13.5 PPG to pick up the slack from Childs’ absence.
The Cougars own wins over UCLA and Virginia Tech at the Maui Invitational, and playing in the West Coast Conference they shouldn’t lose too many more games. Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s are about the bulk of their competition for the rest of the season. They lost the first meeting to each team this year, but the second matchups will be at home in Provo.
Playing in the WCC, the opportunity for resume building wins just isn’t there, so if they can win one of those games and make a run in the conference tournament, they may have a decent case for an at-large bid to the Tournament in Pope’s first season. Cougars fans have missed March basketball for awhile, and they would surely welcome it back in 2020.