Mark Pope took pictures with fans in the cold after a 20-point loss because of course he did

We’re not here to tell you Kentucky‘s performance was acceptable or you shouldn’t be frustrated after getting 20-pieced by a four-loss Ohio State team in New York City. There are clear areas of improvement for this group with 10 days to grow until the team’s next matchup vs. Brown on New Year’s Eve, 14 until the SEC opener vs. Florida in Lexington. The Wildcats played with fire, got burned, and now have to find a way to put those flames out.

There is plenty of time to address those things, though, and they won’t be able to learn from those mistakes until returning to game action after the holidays. You’d like to get the bad taste out of your mouth sooner, but what can you do? If you’re Mark Pope, you can control what you can control and do the things that matter outside of coaching.

That includes showing your appreciation for fans traveling to watch your team play, Pope meeting with a couple of families in the freezing cold to take a picture and say hello.

Friend of the program Tres Terrell captured a video of a pair of dads waiting for the Kentucky head coach outside with their kids, telling Pope it’s their first-ever UK game. Pope immediately rushes over and wishes everyone a merry Christmas before posing for a photo.

“The fact that he came out here after a loss when we were standing out here freezing our butts off — the first UK game for both of these (kids),” the fan said. “He acknowledged us, then he walked over to say hello because he knew it was important to us. He knows those are the kinds of things that make Big Blue Nation special.”

You can tell Pope is freezing cold and the fans are even colder after waiting over an hour outside of Madison Square Garden, but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, right?

It’s 21 degrees in New York and over an hour past a Kentucky loss and Mark Pope takes the time to come out to thank these fans and take a picture with them.

Again, this man gets it. pic.twitter.com/hRnN493QuJ

— Tres Terrell (@TerrellTres) December 22, 2024

Good on the fans for braving the elements, good on Coach Pope for being a good sport following an ugly loss.

That’s what it’s all about.