Mark Popes New Kentucky Hire Says Plenty About His Bigger Plan

Kentucky's basketball program strengthens its coaching staff with the addition of Alfred Aboya, bringing international experience and a focus on recruiting to the team.

Kentucky basketball’s newest addition to Mark Pope’s staff will make $200,000 on a one-year deal, according to a term sheet obtained by the Herald-Leader.

Alfred Aboya, announced earlier this month as the fifth assistant on Pope’s staff, signed the term sheet on Oct. 8. The document lays out his salary and benefits while the university works through his formal contract.

The deal runs through April 30, 2027. Along with the $200,000 salary, Aboya will get an $8,500 moving stipend and a $3,500 temporary housing allowance.

There’s also incentive money built in. Aboya can earn $20,000 for reaching the Sweet 16, with the payouts rising to $100,000 for a national championship. He can pick up $30,000 for a regular season SEC title and $20,000 for an SEC Tournament championship.

Pope said last week at SEC Media Days that he had spent the summer reaching out across the sport to vet Aboya.

“As we went through this process over the course of the summer, I probably reached out to 15 different people kind of league-wide,” Pope said at SEC Media Days last week. “...I’ve had people call me back faster about him than they have on any other topic just to give a ringing endorsement of who he is as a human being.”

Aboya most recently served as head coach at NBA Academy Africa and has also been the head coach of the Cameroon National team since 2022.

A native of Cameroon, he played at UCLA, where he reached three straight Final Fours. After his professional playing career in France, Japan, Venezuela, Turkey and the NBA G League, he began coaching as a graduate assistant at Mississippi State. He later worked as a player development director with the G League’s Iowa Wolves.

“His contacts throughout Africa and Europe with African players are extraordinary,” Pope said.

Pope’s staff also includes Cody Fueger, Mark Fox, Mikhail McLean and Mo Williams as assistant coaches, along with Nick Robinson, Keegan Brown and John Pelphrey in support roles.

Williams, hired earlier in the offseason, signed a two-year contract worth $500,000 per year. McLean’s most recent contract extension, signed in April 2025, runs through June 2027. Kentucky has not yet provided updated contract and salary information for Fueger and Fox, whose previous contracts expired in June.

Pope said Aboya will bring something different to the staff right away.

“(Aboya) adds another dimension to our staff that’s going to be really important for us long-term,” Pope said. “He’s going to have an immediate impact with our guys on the floor.

He’s a big, he coaches bigs, he’s really going to help with our front line, but also on the recruiting front, the X’s and O’s front. He’s got great acumen.

He’s really going to help us.”

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