What will Mark Pope wear next? The UK basketball coach explains his wardrobe choices.
Those with a keen eye for fashion will have noticed something over Mark Pope’s first few games as the head coach of the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team.
In the Wildcats’ two exhibition games, Pope — and all of his assistant coaches — wore UK quarter-zips on the sidelines. Then, when the real games began — first the season opener against Wright State on Nov. 4, then Bucknell five days later in Rupp Arena — the Kentucky coaching staff was decked out in suits.
The following week brought the first marquee game of the Pope era: a matchup with Duke in the Champions Classic, surely a stage that warranted the finest a wardrobe had to offer, right? Wrong. Pope and his assistants were back to the quarter-zips that night in Atlanta.
A week later, the Cats returned to Rupp, and the coaches were rocking suits once again.
So, what gives? Is there any rhyme or reason to Pope’s fashion choices?
“Well, I just can’t in good conscience walk into Rupp in a three-quarter zip,” Pope said at his weekly press conference Thursday afternoon. “To me, that’s a really sacred building, and there’s nothing that feels right about that.
“And then on the road, it was long, tenuous negotiations with my staff. They’re less inclined to be excited about a suit than I am, and so we kind of thought, ‘We’ll start this way. Suit at home, honoring Rupp (Arena). Three-quarter-zip on the road.’ And then we had these neutral games.”
That presented a trickier situation.
Pope deferred to the wishes of his staff and allowed for the quarter-zips in Atlanta, but he said that his wife, Lee Anne, who spent years working in New York City, would not allow him to wear such a casual get-up for UK’s game against Ohio State there on Dec. 21.
“There’s no way that Lee Anne is going to let me walk into Madison Square Garden in a three-quarter-zip,” Pope said. “That just ain’t happening. It’s the world’s most famous arena. We love that place. We love that city.”
So, quarter-zips in Atlanta, suits in New York. Easy enough. Until the Cats upset the Blue Devils 77-72 in the Champions Classic, rocketed into the top 10 in the national rankings, and gave Pope’s staff a little extra in their argument to keep things casual away from home.
UK assistant coach Jason Hart is apparently lobbying for the good-luck charm on his colleagues’ behalf.
“J-Hart, you know, after the Duke win, he was like, ‘Coach, I don’t know. These three quarter-zips are pretty good in these neutral (games).’ So now that’s under consideration,” Pope said. “... I don’t know where that’s going to end. That’s in hands way more powerful (with) decision-making than my own.”
Pope, who is lauded for his preparation for the games themselves, smiled before finishing that thought.
“But we spend a lot of time trying to figure out what to wear,” he said.
So, get used to seeing the Kentucky coaches in suits on their home court. It sounds like they’ll go with more comfortable fits for the SEC road games. And we’ll see who wins the wardrobe battle when the Wildcats roll into Madison Square Garden a month from now.
Oh, and just out of curiosity, does Lee Anne — already known to Kentucky fans for her own keen sense of style — pick out the coach’s suits before each game?
“Lee Anne picks everything,” Pope said.
This story was originally published November 21, 2024 at 1:34 PM.
