Immediately prior to taking the helm at his alma mater, he was head coach of the Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars of the Big 12 Conference.

Pope played six seasons in the NBA for the Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, and Denver Nuggets.

In 2006, Pope enrolled in medical school at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City.

In 2009, he left medical school and joined Mark Fox's coaching staff at the University of Georgia as director of basketball operations for the 2009–10 season.

In 2015, Pope was hired as head coach of the men's basketball team at Utah Valley University (UVU).

[4] In his first season, Pope led the Cougars to a 24–8 record, the most wins for a first-year coach in program history.

He became just the second first-year BYU coach to lead his team into the top 25 and the first to end his debut season ranked.

In league play, Pope guided the Cougars to a record of 13–3, second in the West Coast Conference (WCC).

The win also gave the Cougars a 16–4 record for the season, which was Pope's best start through 20 games as head coach.

During 2022–23, BYU failed to reach 20 wins for the first time in Pope's tenure as head coach, going 19–15 overall and 7–9 in-conference for the Cougars' final season as a member of the WCC.

[7][8] In Pope's third game as coach, ranked #19, he faced Kentucky's long-time rival #6 Duke University in the Champions Classic in Atlanta, Georgia.

[9] Pope and his wife, Lee Anne, a former assistant to talk show host David Letterman, have four daughters.

Lee Anne is the daughter of the late Lynn Archibald, who was the head basketball coach at the University of Utah from 1983 to 1989 and was an assistant at BYU in the 1990s.