Mark Pope spent over two decades away from the Kentucky Men’s Basketball program and was given a hero’s welcome upon his return in April.
The majority of undergrad students at UK weren’t even born when he was hanging banners in Lexington, yet more than 20,000 members of Big Blue Nation were on hand to welcome him home when he was introduced as the university’s next basketball coach.
“It’s really touching and it’s everything,” Pope said during an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show during the SEC Spring Meetings. “It’s everything from like, you know, I got a letter recently where there was a fan that was really twisted up that we lost the Kentucky 120 patch on the back of the jersey. Kentucky is a unique place that’s got 120 counties and people actually in the state of Kentucky, they don’t tell you the city they’re from, they tell you the county they’re from, right?
“And so, you get insights like that, to letters of gratitude, to occasionally the letters are like, ‘Ah, man, I wish we hired this coach’ and everything. And that is Big Blue Nation. It’s a brilliant thing and it’s an incredible gift to be able to be a part of that family again.”
If one thing is for sure, Big Blue Nation is going to tell you how they feel. Just ask John Calipari, or Billy Gillispie, or Tubby Smith. If things aren’t going well — BBN is going to tell them how to fix it.
Mark Pope was clear in his mission statement, saying that the goal at Kentucky is to play in Final Fours and win national championships. Pope has experience in that respect, having captained the infamous ‘Untouchables’ team during the 1995-96 season that saw UK finish the year 34-2 (16-0, SEC), running away with the national championship that season.
Kentucky has won two national championships in the 28 years (one in the past 26) since Pope’s squad stood atop the college basketball mountain. In turn, Big Blue Nation is eager for their Wildcats to finally bring home that elusive ninth national title.
Next April, it would be a decade since the last time Kentucky basketball was featured in the Final Four. Whether Pope is the man to bring that tradition back to what many within the program consider the standard of college basketball — it’s clear that the whole fanbase is united around his vision and are excited for the next era in Lexington.
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