Mark and Lee Anne Pope nicknamed the mole in their backyard 'The Cardinal'

Kentucky coach Mark Pope and his wife Lee Anne shared a laugh about their first date on stage at the Greater Louisville UK Alumni Club tip off luncheon. Monday, October 21, 2024 (Syndication: The Courier-Journal, USA Today)

Just how much does Mark Pope hate Louisville? Ask his wife, Lee Anne. In their eyes, Kentucky‘s bitter rival is a nuisance who does nothing more than pester and cause trouble, driving the Popes crazy.

Extermination is the only option for The Cardinal, the burrowing mammal wreaking havoc in their backyard.

Wait, what? You heard that right.

“We have a mole in our backyard that we’re trying to kill,” Lee Anne Pope said at the 2024 Wildcat Tipoff Luncheon in Louisville on Monday. “We’ve nicknamed it ‘The Cardinal.'”

It was in response to a question about the Louisville rivalry and what those enemies in red mean to Kentucky basketball’s new royal family. That’s all that needs to be said, right?

“Would you like to add to that?” Lee Anne asked her husband.

“I’ll just verify that is a true story,” Mark joked. “If you’ve ever had a mole in your backyard, it’s tearing up your shrubs and ruining the grass, dirt everywhere. It’s driving us crazy. So it’s aptly named.”

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After soaking in the laughs and cheers, the first-year coach shared his genuine thoughts on Kentucky vs. Louisville and all of the program’s biggest rivalries — including Indiana. In short, they’re really important and what college sports are all about.

‘I love the rivalry. I actually love it. Rivalries are what make college sports great,” Pope said. “The great Pete Carroll, who I’ve had the chance to spend some time with through a third party, he talks about how much you love the competitors that drive you every day toward greatness. Rivalries do that, certainly our rivalries with Indiana and Louisville that have been here forever, are really important to Kentucky basketball.”

The Kentucky head coach previously described the rivalry as a “brawl, like brothers going in the backyard and getting after it.” Now, The Cardinal is digging holes and throwing dirt everywhere, destroying everything in its path at the Pope household.

No choice but to kill it, Mark and Lee Anne. Consider it your initiation going into your first year together in Lexington.