The Kentucky Wildcats tip off their exhibition schedule this Friday as they welcome former Wildcat Travis Ford and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Trojans to Rupp Arena. There is also another former Wildcat who has joined the staff: John Pelphrey.
Hired as the Director of Player Development, Pelphrey brings plenty of experience in the college basketball coaching world, and got some high praise from Mark Pope at SEC Media Days in Birmingham.
“John brings a lot,” Pope said. “I’ve known him
for a long time. We were entertaining discussions all throughout the course of the summer to see if this would be a perfect fit, which it’s turned out to be.
“Clearly he’s been a really successful head coach in the SEC. Incredibly successful assistant coach in the SEC. A terrific player himself at Kentucky. He knows Kentucky and loves Kentucky maybe as much as any human being on the planet.
“People are familiar with the story…these facts might be a little bit fuzzy. I’ll let John verify. At some point early on in his Kentucky career, he was diagnosed with some type of possible heart issue. To continue playing, he had to get a waiver signed by his parents.
“The conversation went something like, ‘Dad, I want to play.’ His dad said, ‘I can’t think of a better place to die than on a Rupp Arena floor.’”
As if anyone doubted how much love Pelphrey still has for this program.
The Cats also added a new assistant coach, Alfred Aboya, who has filled out the coaching staff heading into the season. In a world of the transfer portal and NIL, roles like Pelphrey’s are important to building future success.
With those words from Pope, it sounds like they expect that this could really help propel the program going forward.
