Former BYU head basketball coach Mark Pope was announced as the next head coach for Kentucky on Friday, but on Sunday, his introductory press conference in Lexington was absolutely electric in front of a sold-out crowd in Rupp Arena.
Pope played for the Wildcats in the late 90s, a team captain who helped lead Kentucky to a 1996 National Championship. And with teammates from that national title team in attendance, Pope broke a common tradition at his introductory press conference to pay homage to that 1995-1996 team. Holding up his game-worn jersey from the national championship game instead of a crisp brand-new one.
“I’m about to break tradition, at every one of these press conferences the coach comes up and he stands there with the AD and they take a picture with a jersey that they just made that ends up in a closet somewhere. We not doing that,” Pope said.
“This jersey is in a hallowed place in my home because it’s the jersey that I got to wear with my teammates and all of Kentucky nation in a national championship game in the Meadowlands of New York,” Pope said. “And that’s not just a jersey that’s gonna go in a closet, it’s a jersey that has blood, sweat, and tears, and love, and is all of us together.”
This report will be further updated momentarily
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