HOW TO LEAD
HOW TO LEAD: CALLING THE SHOTS BY ETHA N B AUER
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the team discussed how to hollow out the bricks, Pope showed up with patio ark Pope loves the word relentless. He recruits “relentlessly.” He pavers, much heavier than standard bricks. Nance once told Pope he needed scouts relentlessly. And during his six seasons in the NBA, the to improve his leg strength and should spend more time on a bike. Rather BYU men’s basketball coach hustled relentlessly as the self-titled “worst than opting for a stationary bike, he bought a road bike and started riding NBA player ever.” But his dedication to the concept started as a child, with it between his Bellevue home and the University of Washington campus — his parents. between 15 and 20 miles per day. “He was, and still is to this day, the hard They drilled it into him, and later on, it became central to a career that est-working basketball player I have ever been around,” Didrickson said. from the outside might look like an unqualified success, but to Pope, has In his first season, Pope started every game and was named Pac-10 been just as marked by failure. It’s in those moments, those disappointFreshman of the Year by setting a Washington freshman record with 8.1 ments and setbacks common to everyone, that Pope turns to the relentrebounds (perhaps the most relentless statistic) per game — a record that lessness he’s cultivated since childhood. still stands. But Washington finished with a disappointing 12–17 record. His dad, Don, was “relentlessly honest,” Pope said. And his mom, LinThe next year, after the Huskies underwhelmed yet da, relentlessly chased big ideas. Like in sixth grade, again with a 13–14 mark, Nance resigned. when Pope needed to design his own country for Pope blamed himself. He was supposed to carry a school project. He started with simple pencil the team, he thought, and despite practicing harder, sketches, but that wasn’t enough for his mom, a hustling harder, lifting harder than anyone could’ve perfectionist. She knew he could do better. And so POPE BLAMED reasonably expected, he couldn’t save the program or Linda brought in Play-Doh to build a three-dimenHIMSELF. HE WAS his coach. He’d failed before, but this was one of his sional map and paint to color-code the regions, and SUPPOSED TO first “big failures” on his path toward a self-bestowed “ they planted a handful of miniature flags. He doesn’t CARRY THE TEAM, AND DESPITE Ph.D. in failing.” “What he views as failure most of us remember what he named the country — “I’m sure PRACTICING HARDER, wouldn’t,” Didrickson said. But the Washington years it was something ridiculous,” he said — but he does HUSTLING HARDER, still burden Pope even now; he calls it an “epic failure” remember he had to turn it sideways to fit it through LIFTING HARDER, where he “just wasn’t good enough to save his coach’s the classroom door and lost a couple of the flags HE COULDN’T job.” But in failure, he found perspective: Setbacks are along the way. “Which was, like, 10 times more than SAVE THE PROGRAM OR HIS COACH. momentary, he realized. They only define you if you what the assignment was supposed to be,” Pope said, dwell on them. with a laugh. “My mom was never satisfied with a So in search of a fresh start, he transferred to Rick status-quo product.” Every assignment, in Linda’s Pitino’s Kentucky in 1993 and, after sitting out for a eyes, could be made rewarding by doing more. By year because of NCAA transfer rules, suited up for the doing extra. By making it special. By being relentless in the pursuit of excellence. 1994-95 season. As an off-the-bench center, he aver Pope applied the same attitude to basketball, and by the time he was aged about 20 minutes per game in his two seasons in Lexington as UK’s a senior at Newport High School in Bellevue, Washington, he was a nasixth man, supporting Southeastern Conference Player of the Year Tony tionally sought-after recruit. He decided to stay close to home and in Delk and future NBA All-Star Antoine Walker, among others. Named 1991 committed to the Washington Huskies and coach Lynn Nance as a team captain his senior year, Pope and the Wildcats won a national a 6-foot-10, first-team all-state center — a “huge recruiting ‘get’” for title in 1996. the program, per the Seattle Times. Pope wanted to elevate the Hus Sure, it helped that he was 6-10, but he wasn’t the fastest or the highest kies to national prominence, and the stories about how he went about it jumper. He was, though, the most dedicated. One time, after gobbling up are legion and legend — well beyond the cliche about starting early and some delicious Memphis barbecue the night before a game, Pope threw up leaving late. on his shirt at practice and kept playing — without protest from his team In the summer before Pope’s freshman year, teammate and roommate mates. “Nobody missed a beat,” former teammate Jeff Sheppard said via Scott Didrickson recalls, an assistant coach concocted a conditioning text. “It was just another day with Mark Pope.” Another time, Sheppard scheme that involved running 3 miles while holding bricks. While most of remembered, Pitino told Pope he needed to put on a few pounds of muscle. 20 DESERET MAGAZINE
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