LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — The plane carrying new University of Kentucky men's basketball head coach Mark Pope and his family touched down at Blue Grass Airport Saturday afternoon.
Which had a small group of fans gathered in anticipation outside of the Aviation Museum waiting for Pope's arrival. This come's after former UK head coach, John Calipari, announced that he will be leaving the Kentucky Wildcats for the Arkansas Razorbacks.
"I think he isn't 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," says Kathleen Raque, a longtime UK basketball fan, "We have a coach that we're really going to enjoy and a lot of people are going to get behind."
Raque and her husband Jerry traveled from Louisville to witness Pope step off the plane and onto Lexington soil. Both agree that Calipari was great, but they both know Pope was a clever pick.
"He knows it. He's been there. He's got it in his blood and roots, and I think, yes. I think we will be right back where we belong," says Raque.
"We won't have the one and dones like we've had for years now. I think we'll have kids that come and stay a little longer. Whether that will be better or not, who knows, but I'm looking forward to it," says Jerry Raque.
Although many UK fans have shared their thoughts on the unexpected switch, some predict what this new change in leadership could bring to the team.
"Yeah, I'm interested in how he's going to handle the NIL situation. I mean he's got 12 million here. He was one of their top choice 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?" questions Caleb Lane, who's a UK sports fan.
Russel Glass, a UK sophomore, raises the question, "Who is he going to bring back? If there's anyone, he thinks he can bring, you know. Cause everybody has been talking about wanting to get Reid Shepard back, you know."
"What is he thinking he's going to do once he gets in? Like what changes is he going to make to the offense or the defense because you know our defense was really bad last year," says UK sophomore Mario Garza.
Aside from the nail biting questions, UK fans are just excited to see what Pope can bring to the court and maybe even bring home a championship win for the team this season.
"I'm pretty excited for Mark Pope. I like Calipari, think he was a great recruiter, but some of his, you know, I wasn't a huge fan in the way that he was running kind of the offense at the times," says Garza.
"We're really excited about Mark Pope. He's going to bring a lot of X's and O's offense. A lot of high emotion offense. A lot of three-point shooter UK which we've been missing the last decade," Lane explains.
Pope will officially be introduced to fans this weekend at Rupp Arena at 4:30 p.m. which is open to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. Anyone who is unable to attend the press conference can watch it on LEX 18 on NBC, or watch a livestream of the conference on LEX18.com, on our LEX 18 app or on our Facebook page.
