Vicky Graff Photo
If you were giving Mark Pope a grade for his press conference performance Sunday, it would be A plus — or maybe higher.
The former captain of UK’s 1996 national championship team said all the right things after being introduced as Kentucky’s new coach. Of course, he had already earned an A plus before the press conference even started when he mingled with fans outside Rupp Arena — and don’t forget he recorded a message for every current UK student that went out Saturday night.
Pope hit on several subjects that certainly showed the difference in his approach to that of former coach John Calipari and his understanding of how to relate to Kentucky fans in a way Calipari seemed to have lost the last few years.
— Approach in-state recruiting: “From Richie Farmer and all of the instate greats that came before him, including Reed (Sheppard) last year, and I don’t know if he is here right now, but (UK signee) Travis Perry next year. Are you here? Stand up. What are you doing? There is a good chance he will not jump into the portal, guys. But before Richie and after Travis and everybody in-between that is an instate Kentucky kid, these young men that grow up in Kentucky, they bring a spirit to the team that cannot be fabricated or replaced. And it helps us to win, and we will continue to recruit them.”
Calipari never seemed to full embrace going after the best players in Kentucky before Reed Sheppard gave him no choice but to play him last season when he went on to become national freshman of the year.
— Thoughts on scheduling home-and-home series or playing in preseason tournament: “Anybody here down for the game versus St. John’s? “I neglected, I’m so embarrassed, I neglected to pay homage to coach Rick Pitino. Every coach that has coached here has done amazing things, contributed to Big Blue Nation, but coach Pitino changed me. And I will tell you, like he changed me to my soul, changed my DNA as a human being. He allowed me to be someone who feels they can walk into any room and take on any impossible task. And I will love him forever. So I say St. John’s (where Pitino now coaches) because I have so much admiration for him. He is the best that did it. I love him so much.
“My other question, since we have a small group gathered together, let’s say sometime in the future we can find our way into this Maui tournament. Would anybody come?Maybe. We will see.”
Calipari had no interest in an event like the Maui Invitational that many UK fans loved and certainly would have no part of a series with Pitino that Pope might well put together.
— Winning the SEC Tournament, something UK used to do regularly but was not a priority for Calipari: “We’re here to win banners in Nashville (at the SEC Tournament) because you guys turn out in Nashville like nobody else and that matters. And we are here, our job here, our assignment is to go win banners in the Final Four, win national championships. That’s our job. With those high expectations there will come criticism. But I don’t want you guys to worry, because I will group chat with every one of my single ’96 championship teammates and they will destroy me every time something goes wrong.”
Pope played for Pitino who wanted to bury teams in the SEC Tournament to build momentum for NCAA play. Calipari was not that way and recently left UK fans upset with Kentucky not even making the tourney semifinals. Pope also knows fan criticism is part of UK basketball and accepts that.
— On being back at Kentucky: “Guys, it is the greatest honor that I will ever have in my professional or this family career to be able to come back here and do this with you. The difference between Kentucky and every other program in the country is that this is not my team. It is not even our team. It is our team. . I’m looking up at these (national championship) banners up here. I’ve got championship team 1948, 1949, 1951, 1958, 1978, if you remember, I can’t tell you how many times I heard Kyle (Macy) tell the story about halftime when coach (Joe Hall) came in and said five words, “Get the ball to Goose.”
“We’ve got 1996 team. And we have got these legends. I think I have a couple here from 2012. How much do we love that team?
“And I will tell you, the last thing I have for you, when I look up at the banners, when I look up at the rafters, it looks super crowded, if I know anything in the world about Mitch Barnhart, he will make more room. Let’s go fill it up. Go Cats! Love you Cats!”
5 Responses
He energetically checked all the appropriate boxes.
First off ..what a spectacle.. 21k for a press conference and more wanting to come in. I thought he threw some subtle and not so subtle jabs at the last coach. I loved all of it. He made some stark contrasts as to how things have been and how they are going to be. The idea that he’s all inclusive is so nice and refreshing to hear again.
He needs to flip that boy Noah who signed with south Carolina but with the transfer rule he might play a year or 2 at south Carolina then come home. I hope he brings that McDonald’s all American who just got off his 2 year Mormon trip. He’s probably unbelievable. A 20 year old freshman. Plus he can shoot with the best of them. If we could get him and reed, Burks came back for year two and he could start at the 3. Bring in Khalifa to play the 4 and get that 6-10 transfer center that would be a top 10 starting 5. Then bring in a couple BYU boys and a couple more transfers and for the icing on the cake bring back Thiero or Big Z. They have over 4 million in NIL money. They should swing for the fences on 4 great transfers.
It was insane Dirks
We’ve been waiting for this for a long time to have a coach that knows what this fan base wants from their coach. Welcome home coach you have 100% of the of the fan base support behind you. Go get ’em….