On Saturday afternoon, the aircraft carrying Mark Pope, the new head coach of the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team, and his family landed at Blue Grass Airport.
It has a small contingent of admirers waiting for Pope to arrive at the Aviation Museum. This follows the announcement made by former UK head coach John Calipari that he will be joining the Arkansas Razorbacks as the Kentucky Wildcats’ new head coach.
Longtime UK basketball supporter Kathleen Raque says, “I think he’s not homegrown, but I think he totally embodies what UK fans want to be and want to see, and we just want to unite and be supportive.” “We have a coach that we’re really going to enjoy and a lot of people are going to get behind.”
Raque drove from Louisville with her husband Jerry to Lexington to see Pope land on the ground. They both think Pope was a wise choice, but they also both think Calipari was excellent.
“He is aware of it. He was present. He inherited it from his parents, thus I believe the answer is yes. “I believe we will return to our rightful place,” remarks Raque.
“Unlike what we’ve had for years, we won’t have the one and dones. I anticipate having children visit and stay a little longer. Jerry Raque adds, “I’m excited about that, but I’m not sure if that will be better or not.
While many UK supporters have expressed their opinions over the sudden change in leadership, some speculate about the potential benefits for the team.
Yes, I’m curious to see how he plans to handle the NIL circumstance. He has twelve million here, really. Caleb Lane, a UK sports fan, asks, “He was one of their top choices behind championship level head coaches, I mean he’s got to feel good about that, but how is he going to incorporate that team into UK?”
A sophomore in the UK named Russell Glass poses the query, “Who is he going to bring back? He believes he can bring anyone, you know. Since everyone has been expressing a desire to have Reid Shepard returned, you know.”
“How does he intend to use his newfound access? Mario Garza, a sophomore for UK, asks, “Like, what adjustments is he going to make to the offense or the defense because you know our defense was really bad last year.”
Aside from the suspenseful questions, UK supporters are merely eager to watch Pope play and perhaps even lead the squad to a title this season.
“I’m rather happy about Mark Pope. Although I think Calipari was an excellent recruiter, I wasn’t always a big admirer of the way he was managing the offense at the time, says Garza.
“We can’t get enough of Mark Pope. He will provide a lot of offensive X’s and O’s. lots of offense with strong emotions. Many three-point shooters in the UK that we haven’t seen in the past ten years,” says Lane.
This coming weekend at Rupp Arena, which is free to the public and first-come, first-served, Pope will be formally introduced to the fans. In the event that someone is unable to attend the press conference, they can watch it live on LEX 18 on NBC, on LEX18.com, on our LEX 18 app, or on our Facebook page.
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