It was exactly one week ago today that the Big Blue Nation was preparing for a trip to Rupp Arena. A trip to greet the new head coach of Kentucky men’s basketball, Mark Pope. The folks at Rupp Arena were expecting a casual crowd of fans — nothing more than 10,000 people, surely. Right?

Oh, how wrong they were…

Rupp Arena was filled to the very brim last Sunday for Pope’s introductory press conference. The event went from only having half of the arena available to eventually having to open every single section while also turning away thousands of additional fans. That honestly feels like months ago now. The Pope era has everyone re-energized.

Pope himself doesn’t need any re-energizing though. He’s still just as excited to coach his alma mater today as he was seven days ago. His social media post from this morning confirmed that, but he also made sure to give a shoutout to the folks at BYU who gave him the opportunity to reach this position.

One week ago the Pope girls and I came HOME to UK to start the greatest adventure of our lives. It has been a whirlwind of awesomeness—that’s what Kentucky basketball IS! It’s the pinnacle of basketball. And BBN has gone straight next level in redefining southern hospitality! Thank you! We are immersed in the work. We will be relentless. We know the assignment! We will ALL do this together. Our hearts are overflowing with gratitude. We are home.

On this sacred Sunday morning I am also filled with immense gratitude for the blessings that have lead us here. BYU will always be an incredibly special place to our family. Soon after we arrived at BYU one mentor told me that “BYU had more to offer me than I had to offer BYU.” Those words proved to be SO true as we felt the BYU experience change our lives for the better. It’s overwhelming to reflect on the countless lifelong friendships that we forged at BYU. We are SO grateful.

I’m a believer. I believe God’s plans for our lives our way bigger than our own. Happy Sunday BBN! Lets go!!

Mark Pope, X/Twitter

Happy Sunday to you as well, Coach. We’re glad to have you back in Lexington. And while we’re here, why don’t we go ahead and look back on Pope’s legendary press conference from last Sunday?

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