“I Blame (Greg) Sankey”: SEC and Kentucky Take the Heat as Analyst Absolves Mark Pope of Mark Mitchell Recruitment Debacle
Unfortunately for coach Mark Pope and the Kentucky Wildcats faithful, their offseason recruitment woes continue with the latest development involving returning veteran Mark Mitchell. After quite some time in court in Louisville, Mitchell is now allowed to pursue a fifth season of college eligibility. The Wildcats wasted no time in successfully getting his commitment. However, he has since decommitted and chosen to return to the Missouri Tigers.
In a video posted by Kentucky Sports Radio on Tuesday, Sept. 1, Wildcats analyst and insider Matt Jones explained why he is not putting the blame on coach Pope and his recruitment staff for missing out on Mitchell. Instead, Jones believes that the SEC, specifically SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, is responsible for Mitchell’s move. This is because the long-time SEC intraconference transfer rule is still being used.
“I don’t blame Pope for it happening. I don’t blame Mitchell for doing it. I blame the SEC, I blame (Greg) Sankey. I, to some extent, blame our president slash whatever for not fighting for this. But I actually don’t blame Mitchell, and I don’t really blame Pope. I said on the thing, Pope just can’t catch a break in terms of, like, everything that can go wrong from a perception standpoint goes wrong. Some of it is his fault, some of it’s just bad luck. I think this is more the bad luck part of it, but it is what it is,” Jones said. (0:44)
The SEC intraconference transfer rule allows players to transfer to other schools in the conference as soon as possible after they are given eligibility, as long as they have declared to transfer in their sport’s transfer portal window. Mitchell’s situation fell under this rule, even after he had committed to the Wildcats. He did not sign anything official with coach Pope’s team and has now chosen to return to the Tigers for 2026-27.
Matt Jones uses Zvonimir Ivisic as an example for how the Kentucky Wildcats can recruit in-season
Later on, in the aforementioned video on Kentucky Sports Radio’s X page, Matt Jones stressed how much the Kentucky Wildcats need to turn their recruitment woes around. Given the 2026-27 season is approaching, it is likely the Wildcats will seek players in the midst of the campaign. Jones then mentioned former Wildcats big man Zvonimir Ivisic as an example of how the team can recruit during the season.
“I think they will go get somebody. I mean, but you’re running out of time now because you have to go to our school. Now, I remember with Z, he started in, like, mid-November, or mid-February. I’ll never understand how Z ended up in school. We must have a flexible admissions policy…I don’t know. Z changed it all. Z made me think you can enter school at any moment of the year,” Jones shared. (1:33)
Ivisic was added to the 2023-24 Wildcats roster in August 2023 and played his first game for the team in January 2024 after NCAA clearance.
Insiders Provide Update on Mark Mitchell’s Kentucky Status Amid SEC’s New Rules on Eligibility
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