Jon Gruden gifted care package from Mark Pope, Kentucky basketball team

Former NFL head coach Jon Gruden is ready for March Madness. On Thursday, the Barstool Sports personality uploaded a video of himself unboxing a care package from Mark Pope and the Kentucky basketball team.

As usual, Gruden brought plenty of energy to the task, listing off former Kentucky Wildcats as if it were a daily routine. Kentucky included all sorts of goodies for Gruden, including several sweet hats, jackets and a pair of basketball shorts.

“Is this a freaking tradition or what, man?” Gruden said to the person filming the video. “You ever been to Rupp Arena? Have you, Clay? Put it on your bucket list, man. Kentucky Wildcats. This is so cool. NCAA Tournament time, basketball time — is this not freaking legendary?

“I feel like Anthony Davis or John Wall right now. Thank you, Coach Pope. It’s our time of year, playoff time.”

Our first BASKETBALL box comes courtesy of Coach Pope and @KentuckyMBB! So much tradition and history, what an awesome gift to receive!

Just in time for the Tournament, too! pic.twitter.com/C88XPFsLBc

— Jon Gruden (@BarstoolGruden) March 13, 2025

Jon Gruden didn’t waste any time putting his new athletic gear to use. In the final 30 seconds of the video, Gruden is donning one of the gifted hats and jackets while shooting a football in the office. Hopefully for Kentucky fans, Gruden’s positive energy can rub off on their team.

On Thursday, Kentucky will square off against Oklahoma at 9:30 p.m. ET. It’s the first game of the SEC Tournament for the Wildcats, who earned a first-round bye for their success in the regular season.

It won’t be an easy showdown for Kentucky. When the two teams met earlier this season on Feb. 27, Kentucky narrowly escaped with an 83-82 victory. Kentucky’s Otega Oweh, who transferred to UK from Oklahoma this past offseason, went off in the win, scoring 21 of the Wildcats’ final 23 points.

Oweh’s jaw-dropping performance was capped off by a game-winning bucket in traffic with six seconds left in the game. The Sooners are ready for a rematch and hungry for revenge.

“I think it’s going to be a great game,” Oklahoma’s Jalon Moore said after the Sooners’ win over Georgia on Wednesday. “When we played them last time, it came down to a last shot. We’re a different team when we played them, too. Tomorrow, being able to play them again and getting a W tomorrow, it’s going to be a fun and physical game.”

Kentucky and Oklahoma will face off at 9:30 p.m. ET on Thursday inside Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn. The game will air live on the SEC Network. The winner will advance to the quarterfinals and take on 3-seed Alabama on Friday.