Mark Pope finally speaks on Kentucky hiring a general manager

One of the biggest questions surrounding the Kentucky Wildcats basketball program this offseason has been whether or not they would hire a general manager. A lot of programs already have, and in light of Mark Pope's recruiting struggles, it seemed to fans that someone was needed to be assigned as a GM to assist in that capacity.

However, on Friday, Pope answered that question by saying Kentucky would not be hiring a single person as a "GM", and would, instead, be relying on four different people to do the various things one would be expected to do. He elaborated on that as well.

In his latest video answering questions from Big Blue Nation, Pope said:

In this ever-changing, dynamic college basketball environment, everybody is trying a different solution. For us, instead of hiring a singular GM, we've gone with a more comprehensive general management team.

Pope went on to explain that Keegan Brown is a "data analysis and roster construction expert." Nick Robinson will be over their salary cap. Kevin Sargent would deal with contracts as a compliance officer. The fourth person is Kim Shelton, who is the JMI liason and deals with NIL and corporate sponsorships.

In theory, it sounds like a solid strategy that would allow each person to focus on one area of expertise with Pope in the middle. So far, though, it hasn't shown enough results for fans to be happy about the structure. Hopefully, they settle in and figure things out, or the calls for a GM will be as loud as the calls for Mark Pope's job.

This article originally appeared on UK Wildcats Wire: Kentucky basketball coach Mark Pope says no GM will be hired