Most of the AAU coaches did not like him in Utah. They felt he was not straight with people in recruiting, and he burned a lot of bridges with people. For instance, someone on air said Pope caused the guard that transferred to KSU after signing. Allegedly he promised him a bunch of NIL knowing BYU couldn’t deliver it.
I don’t know how much of that is true, but people are talking a lot now. I’m sure the way he exited made people more likely to talk about it. But there are always two sides to the story and obviously we don’t get to hear both sides…so who knows.