Mark Pope walks out to introductory press conference with 1996 championship trophy
Rupp Arena welcomed Mark Pope in incredible fashion on Sunday with a packed out crowd in Kentucky’s home gym for his introductory press conference. In turn, he said hello back to his old, yet also new, fanbase with an awesome wave of his own.
A bus full of Wildcat alumni filed off inside the arena as part of Pope’s greeting as the program’s next head coach this evening. Pope was the last of those people to step down as he walked off while hoisting the national championship trophy from 1996.
“Big Blue Nation, please welcome home your new head coach of Kentucky, Mark Pope!” shouted the stadium announcer.
After that triumphant step off the bus, Pope walked through a tunnel of former players as he made his way up to the podium.
Pope was a member of the Wildcats from 1993 through 1996. He redshirted in ’93-’94 after transferring to Lexington from Washington. He then appeared in 69 games at Kentucky as he averaged 7.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks while playing center for a team.
That included a role on ‘The Untouchables’ – the 1996 national title team under Rick Pitino. As a senior captain, he averaged 7.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in 36 games in his final season. That year ended in the school’s sixth national title with a 76-67 victory over Syracuse in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Pope did just about everything right to win his latest impression, including his first as head coach, on the Big Blue Nation. Raising that trophy certainly didn’t hurt, though, as he sets out to bring more of those titles back to the bluegrass.
Pope hoists 1996 jersey at introductory press conference
Mark Pope was announced as the next head coach for Kentucky on Friday but, on Sunday, his introductory press conference in Lexington was absolutely electric in front of a sold-out crowd in Rupp Arena.
Pope played for the Wildcats during the late 90s, a team captain who helped lead Kentucky to a 1996 National Championship. With teammates from that team in attendance, Pope broke a common tradition at his that introduction to pay homage as he held up his game-worn jersey from the national championship game instead of a crisp brand-new one.
“I’m about to break tradition. At every one of these press conferences the coach comes up and he stands there with the AD and they take a picture with a jersey that they just made that ends up in a closet somewhere. We not doing that,” Pope said.
“This jersey is in a hallowed place in my home because it’s the jersey that I got to wear with my teammates and all of Kentucky nation in a national championship game in the Meadowlands of New York,” Pope said. “That’s not just a jersey that’s gonna go in a closet. It’s a jersey that has blood, sweat, and tears, and love and is all of us together.”