LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – This wasn’t an introduction, it was an investiture. And not just because the new Kentucky basketball coach’s last name is “Pope.”
It wasn’t a news conference, it was a show of force. I would feel bad that I had no idea how many Kentucky fans would show up to watch Mark Pope’s inauguration as University of Kentucky basketball coach on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Rupp Arena, but it’s clear UK officials had no idea, either.
On a bus with some 40 former players, Pope and his fellow letterman had little idea themselves, until they pulled up outside Rupp Arena and saw the lines, just minutes before the whole thing was to start. Once inside, the reprised the bus arrival after the 1996 NCAA championship, and Pope emerged, once again, carrying the championship trophy.
Over the years, I’ve grown comfortable with the notion that Kentucky basketball, while still of vital importance to its adherents around the state, just isn’t what it once was. Fans still loved the Wildcats, and supported them like few other fan bases. But the fun wasn’t quite what it used to be. The crazy crowds of thousands at public shootarounds were probably a thing of the past. Everything felt more corporate and gray. It was still fun, even this past season, for thousands of Kentucky fans. But for some reason, it just didn’t feel like them.
Then Sunday happened. Pope got up to speak. And people came to listen and scream and experience revival. I’ve seen a lot of things in a long career in these parts. I’ve never seen anything like that. By the time the crowd left, they’d experienced that old time religion.
If nothing else, for the first time in a very long time, what they heard from a Kentucky basketball coach matched what they felt deep down.
And without mentioning names or taking any direct shots, Pope began preaching to the choir immediately.
“I understand the assignment,” he said. “We are here to win banners.”
Major ovation.
“And as we go through this journey, we’re here to win banners in Nashville,” and again he was stopped by an ovation. His predecessor, while wildly successful in the SEC Tournament in the first half of his tenure, notoriously downplayed the event.
“Because you guys turn out in Nashville like nobody else and that matters,” Pope said. “Our job here, our assignment, is to go win banners in the Final Four, win national championships. That’s our job.”
The Kentucky basketball calendar just changed. The most important day is no longer NBA Draft day.
Whether Pope can deliver on those high expectations remains to be seen. But this much is true that wasn’t on the day he was hired – he has a rabid, blue-clad throng in his corner.
What would help is to have Reed Sheppard in his corner. The biggest recruit Pope could get is the national freshman of the year, who is a projected NBA Draft lottery pick. He wasn’t in attendance on Sunday, though his father, Jeff was. In fact, when Pope talked about “shepherding’ players, just the mention of the word sent the crowd into applause and the chant “one more year.”
Afrer the press conference, Jeff Sheppard said, “What was going through my mind is, ‘I owe him one.’ I'm so excited for Mark. I'm so excited for the energy that he's bringing in. What a phenomenal press conference. When I heard we were doing this, I was like, ‘I wonder how they're going to position Rupp Arena to make it look full?’ . . . When we pulled in on that bus, it was really, really special. So, cool moment.”
Jeff Sheppard (left) and Rex Chapman were among former Kentucky players to support Mark Pope during his introduction as basketball coach.
As for his son’s impending NBA Draft decision. Sheppard said, “What's been really neat is everybody's allowed us to close the door and gather information as a family. That's how we do things. That's how we make decisions. And that's what we're doing right now. The door’s closed and we're continuing to gather information and try to piece it together. It’s a very difficult decision. Reed’s a Kentucky boy. He loves Kentucky, Kentucky loves him. I don't need to share that. Because Kentucky fans have seen that, I think they know it's just a matter of us as a family trying to gather a little bit more information and then figuring some things out. But today's not about Reed. Today is about Mark Pope and the whole program and the excitement that is here.”
Rex Chapman has been in Sheppard’s shoes. He heard the chants.
“I’m glad he wasn't here,” Chapman said. “That would have been a hard thing for him. It’s very tough, and especially with Reed growing up here. I grew up in the state, but I grew up a Louisville fan. Kentucky is Reed’s dream school. And he’s a Kentucky kid, Eastern Kentucky kid. And I know for a fact that they didn’t think any of this stuff would happen this fast. . . . You work your ass off to become as good as you can to play at the University of Kentucky and you do that, and now you’re forced to make a very adult decision. I’m happy he’s in this position. But man, it’s hard. . . . And I can say this, he's got the two best people, in (parents) Jeff and Stacy, to advise their family that's very grounded. They know that basketball will in one day. So I have no no, no doubt that they'll make the right decision for Reed.”
As for Pope, Chapman said that Kentucky got the best person for the job.
Mark Pope was named the new basketball head coach Friday.
“His wife makes homemade cookies for opposing teams that come into their building,” Chapman said. “Nobody else in college basketball – it’s just a level of thoughtful you would not expect. . . . It's just perfect. I don't know that we could have made a better hire. I really don't. Maybe some other guys were offered. But he's just the perfect guy to lead this program. He doesn't drink. He doesn't cuss. He's grounded in his faith. He's a can handle a room. Rhodes Scholar. Come on. That's great.”
Pope checked all the boxes. He credited Rick Pitino and UK for changing his life. He stressed the importance of passion. He said the program belongs to the people. In a definite change in tone, he sent warm greetings to Cats' Pause publisher Oscar Combs, and retired Lexington TV sportscaster Alan Cutler.
And he vowed to give players from Kentucky a chance. One of them, the state’s all-time leading high school scorer, Travis Perry of Lyon County, was sitting in a floor seat. The Kentucky signee was last in Rupp Arena scoring 27 points to lead the Lions to a state championship. He said he was riding to Frankfort when he heard the news that John Calipari was leaving.
He was surprised when Pope asked him to stand up. When he did, the crowd erupted.
“I did not expect that today,” he said. “It was 23,000 people in here about as loud as you can possibly get. That's pretty neat. That's a feeling you can't really replicate. You don't really know what you're doing in the moment, honestly, just kind of taking it all in and hopefully trying to soak it in. So that was pretty incredible.”
Remarked Pope, “There’s a good chance Travis is not going to jump into the portal, guys.”
For a while in Rupp Arena, it was like old times. Now comes the hard work of winning in March like they did in old times, and some not-so-old times, too.
The strange thing about this coaching change is that it doesn’t come after struggles. UK has been winning. It had a beloved team this season, and Rupp Arena was the loudest it’s been in a long time. Kentucky’s team two years ago was as likeable as any Calipari team.
It's just that the tournament flame-outs have short circuited those teams’ place in Kentucky history. It’s what Pope has been hired to fix.
Nostalgia is fine. It’s feel-good stuff. It doesn’t win games. But on Sunday, it brought Kentucky fans out of the woodwork with a passion that a lot of us thought was a product of a bygone era. Something in Pope’s hiring woke up some echoes that had not been stirred in some time.
“A lot of the other older players, you know, we're kind of flashing back saying, you know, this is how it used to be,” Sheppard said. “Although this is how it was this year. Rupp Arena was electric this year. It was on fire. So it's there. And even this team was so close. . . . We were so close to putting together a run together. But that's how fragile it is. And that's why it's so important for us to support Mark to build something special.”
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