Arizona Basketball: 6 candidates to replace Sean Miller as head coach

Mark Pope

Even though Arizona was once an elite basketball program, it still would behoove us not to bring up a few of the hotter mid-major names for the job. While it doesn’t look like any of the Mountain West head coaches would be great fits for Arizona (especially with Craig Smith off to Utah), there are a couple of head coaches in the WCC who make sense for the Wildcats.

Pope played forward for Washington, Kentucky, and four NBA teams in his playing career. His coaching career has taken him to the staffs of Georgia and Wake Forest, with his head coaching start in 2015 at Utah Valley. Those Wolverines improved in each of his four seasons, leading to him getting the BYU job two years ago. While he’s had just two seasons, he’s made a major impact on these Cougars, accumulating 44 wins and making an NCAA Tournament already.

Pope is a head coach on the rise and a former Pac-10 Freshman of the Year; why he couldn’t he return to the conference and lead one of its proudest programs? He’s shown an ability to recruit at smaller schools and build around talent. The Arizona job would certainly be much tougher, but Pope has shown he’s up for the challenge.