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Mark Pope wants Kentucky fans to vote on jerseys

Matt Connollyby: Matt Connolly04/16/24MattConnollyOn3
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope responds to the crowd at his introductory press conference - Aaron Perkins, Kentucky Sports Radio
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope responds to the crowd at his introductory press conference - Aaron Perkins, Kentucky Sports Radio

New Kentucky head coach Mark Pope has been working to win over the portion of Big Blue Nation that questioned his hire earlier this month.

Pope is doing what he can to build excitement around the program, and it seems to be working based on the crowd that showed up for his introductory press conference over the weekend.

He has another idea to build excitement within the Kentucky fanbase — allow fans to vote on what jerseys the Wildcats will wear moving forward.

“I actually, if you ask me, think that we should put it in the hands of BBN and we should put the uniforms out there, the potential uniforms, and let you guys vote on them,” Mark Pope said Monday night during his radio show. “I would dig that. That would be awesome.”

Mark Pope was asked about bringing back the denim jerseys that his Wildcats team wore when he was a player in 1996.

The jerseys were later named the worst in sports history. 

Pope didn’t commit to bringing back the denim, but he does want fans to be able to voice their opinions when it comes to what Kentucky should wear in this new era of Wildcats basketball.

“The denim, you know, I don’t know,” Pope said. “I love the denim uniforms but I was not a huge fan of the denim Converse shoes. That was a little stretch for me.”

Mark Pope on Kentucky fans doing L’s down: ‘I’m gonna keep my mouth closed on that one’

In addition to jerseys, Mark Pope covered a number of other topics during his radio show on Monday. One of those was Wildcats fans doing Ls down.

Last season at BYU, Pope made headlines after requesting students wearing shirts that spelled out “Horns Down” remove their shirts before the Cougars tipped off against Texas.

Aware of Pope’s history, Kentucky fans were concerned the 51-year-old head coach would bring the same energy toward the Wildcats’ rivalry with Louisville. Particularly, the Big Blue Nation grew worried Pope would discourage fans from throwing the infamous Ls Down symbol at the Cardinals.

During his first appearance on the “UK HealthCare Mark Pope Show,” Pope puts fans’ anxieties to rest.

“The one thing I know about Big Blue Nation is if I say anything about the L’s Down, I’m going to get run out of town and I’d like to stay here for a long time, so I’m going to keep my mouth closed on that one,” Pope said.