John Pelphrey is returning to his alma mater, joining Mark Pope’s staff at Kentucky as the Wildcats’ Director of Player Development.

Pelphrey played at Kentucky from 1988-92 and was part of the “Unforgettables,” the group that helped Rick Pitino rebuild the Wildcats following NCAA probation. During his senior season, Kentucky won the SEC Championship and advanced to the Elite Eight, falling to Duke on a Christian Laettner buzzer-beater.

During his career at UK, Pelphrey scored 1257 points, and totalled 469 rebounds, 327 assists, 173 steals and 51 blocks.

Following his playing career, Pelphrey spent time as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State, Marshall and Florida. He then went on to become a head coach at South Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee Tech. He spent the past seven seasons at Tennessee Tech (79-138 – .364) before being dismissed in March.