Cody Fueger explains why he does the "Boom" GIFs to tease commitments
Earlier this month, KSR’s Jack Pilgrim learned that new Kentucky men’s basketball assistant Cody Fueger lets the players hand-pick which “Boom” GIF he uses to tease their commitment on social media. The Big Blue Nation quickly fell in love with the move, waiting (not-so) patiently for a new post to come from Fueger’s account at any moment.
During Tuesday’s edition of Kentucky Sports Radio, Fueger pulled back the curtain even more, explaining how he’s been doing something similar for years now, but that the always-engaged BBN gave it a life of its own. From Denzel Washington to Danny DeVito to the Joker, most “Boom” GIFs are unique to the player who chooses it and it gets the fans fired up for good news on the horizon.
“I’ve been putting little GIFs out when I was at Utah Valley and BYU,” Fueger said. “Anytime we get a recruit and things like that. This first one (for Kentucky) we had a bunch of different guys on campus. I think we had like, what seven recruits in five days, something crazy like that.
“And during one of it, I just dropped this ‘Boom’ GIF, but it wasn’t meant to be just for specifically that, but it just kind of turned into its own thing. And now I got to do the boom for every single one of them. And the last three, it’s kind of gone to: which one do you want?”
Fueger believes the GIFs allow the players to still have their special moment once they do announce a commitment, but it also gives Kentucky fans an extra reason to stay tuned in. It’s also a way for Fueger to involve himself with the fanbase just a bit more. It’s not often an assistant coach has fans monitoring their social media accounts for something positive.
“I want the kids, I want it to be their moment,” Fueger added. “But I just want to make sure I let our fans know, hey, something good is about to happen.“
According to Fueger, this trend won’t be going away anytime soon. With 10 players currently on Kentucky’s roster for the 2024-25 season, head coach Mark Pope has said he intends to add 2-3 more pieces. Expect a few more “Boom” GIFs in the coming weeks.
“It’s been a lot of fun and the parents and the kids are really enjoying it,” he said. “So I guess we’re gonna stay with it.”
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