Mark Pope emphasizes the importance of honoring Kentucky legacy: 'Nobody gets to do this'

There are very few programs with comparable history to the Kentucky Wildcats. With that long history, Kentucky has also built up one of the strongest fanbases in all of college basketball, which head coach Mark Pope doesn’t want to overlook.

While speaking to Jon Rothstein, Mark Pope explained that it’s important for him and the team to honor that legacy at Kentucky. That starts by taking the time to appreciate what exists and is unique to the program.

“One of the things that we really try and encourage our players to do and our staff also,” Mark Pope said. “I’ll remind the staff all the time, is just like guys just take a look around for one second. Don’t miss this. That’s in the games at Rupp Arena. That’s when we’re on campus, in and out of the community interacting with fans. Nobody gets to do this.”

While Pope wants everyone within the program to appreciate what makes Kentucky special, it’s particularly important for the young players. They need to both appreciate they’re at a unique program and feel the importance of what’s on their shoulders.

“I’ll never forget getting to watch Jasper Johnson walk out onto the court of Rupp Arena this year and the place going crazy. So excited about him coming,” Pope said. “Malachi Moreno who is going to be a game-changer here. Like, it is 24/7 madness here. It’s everything you can imagine. So, you do have to remind yourself to just take a look and take it in, and our fanbase helps us do that.”

Mark Pope added to that with a story from his first season coaching Kentucky. There he was able to interact closely with fans and better appreciate how unique the fanbase is there.

“I’ve told this story a lot. I’ll share this story with you, but it’s archetypal for what happens every day. It was the second to last home game. It was after the radio show. I’m out signing autographs just an hour after the game. There’s four, five thousand people who stayed and listened to the radio show. I’m signing an autograph for a gentleman who’s probably in his 50s or maybe his early 60s. Right after, he’s like, ‘Coach, would it be okay if I just stepped up onto the court?’ He took one step up onto the court,” Pope said. “On the sideline, tears started coming out just streaming down his face. You have to take that in. This is Kentucky. It just means so much. So, we remind ourselves to do that all the time.”

For Mark Pope, getting to coach at Kentucky is a dream come true. As a player, he was a star at Kentucky and helped lead the Wildcats to a national championship as a player. He’s hoping to recreate that as a coach now a year after taking Kentucky to the Sweet Sixteen.