The stories of Mark Pope as a Kentucky basketball head coach will be legendary, and in many ways, they already are. He’s been coaching at Kentucky for all of 8 games, and we already have some stories that will live on the legends of Big Blue Nation. He’s given us the entrance from the crowd at Big Blue Madness, the prediction of Cooper Flagg’s spin to seal the win over Duke, and the night he bought ice cream for Big Blue Nation.
It all started with him hanging around after each post-game radio interview on the floor of Rupp Arena, signing autographs. Fans have shown up for years to watch the post-game radio interview, but Pope became a man of the people in his first season as head coach by talking with the fans, signing autographs, and taking pictures. However, after the Georgia State game, he had a meeting set up after the game (presumably with an NBA scout) and couldn’t stay to sign autographs.
He didn’t like not being there for BBN, so he left his credit card at the Rupp ice cream stand and said, “It’s on me!” The gesture was kindly received, and the line went around the stadium.
It’s not cheap ice cream, though. Those cones run at about $6.50 a pop, and that bill added up quickly for Mark Pope. Not every BBN took advantage of the free ice cream, but hundreds did. Quick math says if it was 300 people x $6.50 a cone, that’s nearly $2k before tax. So that’s where Tom Leach set the over/under in the Mark Pope Show on KSR radio.
The hilarious part of the situation was that Rupp gave him the “who are you treament?” and charged him full price on the ice creams. Pope’s gesture turned out to be an expensive night for Pope and his wife. However, he said – “It was worth it!’
