Mark Pope once dreamed of healing people, working as a doctor in the pediatric ER. He thrived at Columbia University, where patients adored the giant, smiling doctor in scrubs. His future seemed set in the world of medicine, with plans to spend his life in New York helping children. But something was missing.
During his medical training, Pope realized that, despite his passion for helping others, he was longing for deeper connections and the excitement of competition. His heart kept pulling him back to basketball, a sport he had loved since childhood.
One fateful March, after wrestling with his inner conflict, Pope reached out to the coaches he knew for advice. They urged him not to leave medical school, but Pope’s drive to coach was undeniable. When Mark Fox, a mentor of Pope’s, took the head coaching job at Georgia in 2009, Pope saw his opportunity. Despite the naysayers, Pope left behind his medical aspirations and took a job as assistant basketball operations director under Fox.
When he informed the dean at Columbia, she was taken aback, joking that Pope must have been “on drugs.” But nothing could stop him. He drove straight through the night to Athens, Georgia, and the moment he stepped onto the court, Pope knew he had made the right choice.
“I’m the most blessed person in the world to get to do this,” he says of his transition from future doctor to head coach. Though his wife Lee Anne admits he would have been an exceptional doctor, she acknowledges that coaching is where Pope truly shines—connecting with players and bringing out their best.