Two of Three Assistant Coaches Are Gone. Pope's Year 3 Starts With an Empty Bench.

Jason Hart didn't leave for a bigger job. SMU is not a blue blood. SMU is not in the SEC. But Andy Enfield offered him the associate head coach title and a reunion with a coaching relationship that goes back to USC. Hart looked at what Kentucky was building and decided SMU was the better opportunity.

Brooks' departure is different — his contract wasn't renewed, which means Pope (or the administration) made the decision. Either way, the result is the same: the coaching staff that recruited this roster, developed these players, and drew up these game plans is being dismantled.

The one new hire so far is Keegan Brown as Director of Roster Management — a Pope loyalist from BYU who most recently worked with the Milwaukee Bucks' G League affiliate. His job is transfer portal evaluation, NIL strategy, and analytics. That's important. But it's not a bench coach. Pope still needs the people who will actually coach the players.