That was the first question the former Utah Valley University coach was asked at his introductory news conference on Wednesday afternoon, and surprisingly Pope didn’t shrug off the pointed query as most coaches likely would have done.
“I am already actually pretty far down the road with assistants,” Pope said, perhaps an indication that he was planning to take the BYU job all along, contrary to some media reports that he was dragging his feet a bit in hopes of getting a better offer.
Pope didn’t mention anyone specifically, but after outlining four characteristics that he looks for in an assistant coach, he added: “I have been blessed to work with a great staff at UVU and I think we have some really good ideas about where we are going with that.