Kentucky coach Mark Pope has been on the job for five months and still hasn’t forgotten the phone call he received from Mitch Barnhart.
“I think it’s the greatest job in the world,” Pope said during an appearance on Kentucky Sports Radio Thursday. “You know, the day I forget that is the day that Mitch should move me out of here because this is just incredibly special, and it’s the greatest challenge that I’ll ever face in my life professionally. And it’s also the greatest honor to be here coaching this program. And so every day, it’s not hard to remember that — it’s really not.”
Pope admitted there are “some occasions we have a day where it’s a heavy work day,” but added, “Every day is joy.”
“We’re doing something we love and we’re doing it at the greatest institution in all of college basketball,” he said. “We’re certainly doing it in front of the greatest fan base in all of sports, I think. I do think that.”
Following Big Blue Madness on Oct. 11, the Wildcats will host the team’s annual Blue-White event on Oct. 18 at historic Memorial Coliseum. Pope said it will feature a live scrimmage among other festivities for the fan base, adding the event is “going to be pretty epic.”
“I’m excited about all the things we’re hearing that Club Blue is going to do around this,” he said. “And then, for us, we’re going to compete. It’s going to be game speed, full intensity kind of pride and guts and blood and sweat on the floor scrimmage where our guys are trying to prove themselves.
“We have a lot of guys who are going to be trying to earn time, earn position, learn how to play with each other. Our coaches will be mic’d up so you’ll be able to hear them coaching. There will probably be some commentary from us during timeouts and halftime where you really get an inside look at exactly the mechanism of how we operate and how we’re trying to build this thing. I think it’s going to be incredible. I’m super excited about it.”
He added his first Big Blue Madness as coach of the Wildcats will be a special event.
“Wee have some things in the works that have never been seen in college basketball before. I kid you not,” he said. “It’s going to be awesome. Big Blue Madness is always awesome. We’re trying to go next level.”
Off the court, Pope has been pleased with his team’s ability to build team chemistry and cited a recent visit to Eastern Kentucky and help rebuild areas that were damaged by flood waters last year.
“It was hard work, it was blistering hot, it was uncomfortable,” Pope said. “Guys were carrying timber and pounding nails and doing all that. A good, solid day’s work in the hot sun to serve. And this group, I’m telling you, there was not one guy in this group that hid, there was never a word of complaint. These guys were all in. It was really impressive as a staff to experience that with our guys. That’s something we keep going back to. It’s just like our guys are just fully invested.
“They know work, they love work, they’re about work, they’re about service. So, when you have that as a foundation for what a team is, it’s pretty cool.”
