...just the opposite, his actions showed he was highly motivated to get BYU basketball to the next level right from the beginning. There are so many evidences of this that it's silly to say otherwise. As a matter of fact, on some of these indicators he took quite a bit of heat from fans on CB and in other forums because he was willing to make tough decisions necessary to get BYU playing at a higher level.

For starters, his first year taking over the team, he could've stood pat with the players he inherited and he would've had a .500 team. Instead, he convinced Yoeli to back out of the draft and return to BYU, cut a cancerous player from the current team, signed a 4 star transfer from AZ and got Jake Toolson to transfer to BYU. That resulted in a marquee win vs #2 Gonzaga and BYU finishing the season ranked in the top 25 and looking at a 5 or 6 seed in the NCAA tourney that year.

Heading into year 2 we lost a bunch of seniors from his first year and he could've stood pat and relied on the incoming recruits left to him by the previous coaching staff (guys like Hunter Erickson and Nate Hansen). Instead of doing that he stole a HS recruit from Utah and brought in several impact guys from the transfer portal, including one of the most sought after transfer guys WCC DPOY Matt Haarms. Resulted in another 20 win season, top 25 ranking and a #6 seed in the NCAA tourney.

The next 2 seasons we struggled to cycle through roster changes trying to stay competitive while it took time for Pope's recruits to go on 2 yr missions, get on the court, shake off rust, get exp, etc yet Pope was tirelessly flying around the globe (few coaches logged as many miles as he did in recruiting), flying to AFrica, Mexico, Egypt, etc. He caught all kinds of flack from fans on message boards that he was "too in love with the portal."

Think it through objectively for a second, your position makes zero sense. If he didn't care if BYU was good (speed of the leader determines the speed of the pack) and we sucked, he's never going to get his dream job offer at Kentucky. For him to get that offer, he had to get positive results that would earn him the opportunity to get that interview and offer. I think it's a no-brainer that Pope was HIGHLY motivated to help BYU be consistently great and that he worked tirelessly towards that end.