Pat Kelsey addresses reports of his altercation with Mark Pope while recruiting

Since Rick Pitino was fired from Louisville prior to the 2017-18 season, it had seemed like the rivalry between Kentucky and Louisville had died down a little bit. Since then, the ‘Cats are 6-1 against the Cardinals and haven’t quite had two head coaches who had animosity between each other like John Calipari and Pitino did.

Things may have changed this offseason, as a rumor popped up last week that Kentucky‘s Mark Pope and Louisville‘s Pat Kelsey got into a bit of an altercation while recruiting. The two were both reportedly visiting highly-touted prospect Taylen Kinney in Atlanta.

Kelsey addressed those rumors at Thursday’s Salute to the Game luncheon. It regularly takes place prior to the St. Xavier/Trinity football game in Louisville.

Today at the Salute to the Game luncheon for the St. X – Trinity football game…. Louisville's Pat Kelsey was the special guest speaker…. he lightly addressed the rumors that he and Mark Pope got into a verbal altercation on a recruiting trip a while back. @WHAS11 pic.twitter.com/l2WCakSf8O

— Kent Spencer (@WHAS11Kent) September 25, 2025

“The dream was that this was a UFC fight,” Kelsey joked. “Dana White, President of the UFC, is here. This place is packed just like this with 1,000 people. I get there and look up (weird dream) and the headliner event, the main bout, is Kelsey vs. Pope. So you see stuff on social media and stuff like that. That dude’s a competitor and I’m a competitor.

“He’s the head coach at one of the best programs in the country and so am I. We compete on the court, recruiting and we go at it. But you know what, we really respect each other. I think Mark Pope is one of the finest human beings in coaching. World-class father and world-class husband and I still wanna tear his face off when we play them.”

Kelsey and Pope got into a reported argument at Kinney visit

Per Field Of 68‘s Jeff Goodman on On3’s Megaboard, “Mark Pope and Kentucky had the midnight slot with Kinney, and Pat Kelsey and Louisville were bumped to 12:15 AM. Kelsey and his staff were sitting outside in the car waiting and they went in when Pope and Kentucky weren’t there right before midnight.

“Pope showed up moments later, called the agent and then got into it with Kelsey as he and the Louisville assistants walked out of the apartment a few minutes after midnight. Pope was heated, thinking Kelsey and his staff went in earlier than the allowed time of midnight.”

A reported verbal altercation ensued, as Pope thought Kelsey had committed a recruiting violation (which he didn’t take kindly too). The two sides eventually hugged it out, according to Goodman, but it seems like the heated rivalry is finally back in the state of Kentucky.