Mark Pope grateful generations of Kentucky basketball history helped him with bus entrance

Mitch Barnhart and Mark Pope came together to make a gutsy call the new Kentucky head coach’s hiring became official. Rather than setting up a traditional press conference with members of the media in a private location, the event televised and live-streamed for fans to view exclusively from home, the UK AD wanted to do it big.

If you’re going to make a hire focused on putting the program’s rich history and tradition first, why not include the best part of it, Big Blue Nation?

Barnhart made the call to host it in Rupp Arena, banking on Kentucky fans to show up in full force.

“On Friday morning, Mitch said, ‘You know what? We’re going to do this in Rupp.’ He was pretty fired up,” Pope said in an appearance on The Paul Finebaum Show to open the week. “He’s like, ‘We’re going to do it in Rupp, I’m telling you.’ So it’s kind of this idea of throwing a party and wondering if anybody is going to show up. You don’t ask that question here. You don’t ask that question here with Big Blue Nation, how they feel about their program. It was a moment.”

You guys know the rest of the story, Rupp Arena not only selling out, but forced to turn away 5,000 fans hoping to get in. With the venue packed from top to bottom, Pope entered the building on a bus and walked off holding up the 1996 national championship trophy, just as he did with his teammates nearly three decades ago.

This time, though, he had help from all previous generations of Kentucky basketball fame, representatives from the program’s title squads filing off the bus one by one.

Pope knew what was coming, but the magnitude of the moment really hit him as he jumped on ahead of the event.

“People talk to us all the time, we see the footage of me walking off of the bus exactly the same way we did 27 years ago. Carrying the trophy with players from every generation of Kentucky basketball greats, that was incredibly special,” Pope told Finebaum. “But even maybe more special to me was getting on the bus. When I first got on the bus before we drove in, every seat was filled with the greatest — many of the Kentucky greats.

“I got on and in the third row it’s Jack Givens. I mean, come on. You talk about one of the great ambassadors in the history of Kentucky basketball, his legendary stature. Walking back and getting to say hello to every one of these former great players.”

One by one, title by title, Pope made his way to the very back where his 1996 teammates were mingling, just like that special day after winning the title.

“And in the back of the bus was my ’96 team gathered together. It was so special to see all those faces and know that we’re all doing this together,” he added.

A special touch? All of the former players from start to finish warned him what would happen if he didn’t bring more banners to Lexington — just as it should be, Pope embracing the importance of his role as the next leader of this special program.

“And what was really brilliant too as I walked on back, every single one of those players threatened me that if we don’t put up banners soon, they’re coming for me,” he said. “And that’s the way this is supposed to be.”

The former Cats get it — but so does Pope.