Mark Pope’s Kentucky staff is now filled out for the 2026-27 men’s basketball season, and the Wildcats made it official on Tuesday with two hires that had already been reported earlier this month.
Alfred Aboya will take the final assistant coach spot on Pope’s five-man staff, joining Mo Williams, Cody Fueger, Mikhail McLean and Mark Fox. John Pelphrey, meanwhile, is in as the program’s next director of player development.
Aboya brings a résumé that points directly toward one of Kentucky’s biggest priorities: international recruiting. He’s expected to be a key piece in that area, especially with young players from Africa, and he also has a reputation for on-court training and skill development. He coached NBA Academy Africa from 2022 to 2026 and has led Cameroon in all FIBA competitions since 2022, including the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament, where Cameroon reached the semifinals.
Before that, Aboya got his coaching start as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State and later moved into a player development role with the Iowa Wolves of the NBA G League. As a player, he was part of UCLA’s winningest senior class in men’s basketball history, appearing in 142 games and helping the Bruins reach three straight Final Fours. He finished his college career with 123 wins.
Pelphrey’s arrival had already been publicly acknowledged by Pope, and he began working with the Wildcats on the day of Big Blue Madness. Pope praised the longtime coach on Monday at the Wildcat Tipoff Luncheon in Louisville.
“John Pelphrey-John is special,” Pope said at the Wildcat Tipoff Luncheon in Louisville on Monday. “He’s been a head coach in the SEC successfully.
He’s been a wildly successful assistant coach in the SEC. He’s done everything there is to do in college coaching.
And he bleeds blue, maybe bluer than any human being.”
Pelphrey, 58, played at Kentucky from 1987-92 and scored 1257 points in 114 games while adding 469 rebounds, 327 assists, 173 steals and 51 blocks. His most recent job was as head coach at Tennessee Tech, where he went 79-138 from 2019 to 2026.
His coaching path also includes stops as an assistant at Oklahoma State, Marshall, Florida and Alabama, plus head-coaching tenures at South Alabama and Arkansas. Along with Pelphrey, UK’s support staff now includes Nick Robinson, Keegan Brown, Randy Towner, Brandon Wells, Matt Santoro and Will Corbin.
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Mark Popes First Kentucky Team Just Got An Early SEC Reality Check
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