Kentucky head coach Mark Pope was initially willing to spare no expense to get all of Big Blue Nation to Milwaukee for March Madness. His comments, which may have been tongue-in-cheek, are very quickly proving costly as a large number of college basketball fans request his assistance.
Will he follow through on his promise?
Pope, in his first year as the college basketball coach at his alma mater, led the Wildcats to a 22-12 record during the 2024-25 season. Kentucky will be a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. It will compete out of the Midwest Region. First and second round games are scheduled to be played at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee.
Milwaukee is located approximately 470 miles from Lexington. The drive, according to Google Maps, will take about seven hours. All things considered, while not particularly close, it could be much worse.
There is no doubt that Big Blue Nation is going to travel in mass. They takeover almost every neutral site arena at every possibility. And their head coach offered to pick up (some) of the tab!
Pope joked on his weekly radio show that he would be willing to help out with gas money.
Mark Pope wants to see BBN take over Milwaukee, a 7-hour drive from Lexington.
— Tristan Pharis (@TristanUda) March 17, 2025
"If anybody is having trouble with gas money, hit me up. Let's go. Let's get all of BBN out there."
🎥: @UKSportsNetwork pic.twitter.com/UerH3NYKuv
It did not take long for Wildcats fans to take him up on the offer. They immediately flooded his inbox.
Just minutes after Pope teased the idea of gas money, he said that his executive assistant had already received a “whole slew” of requests via email. “That was not a good call on my part,” said the 52-year-old. “This is not going to go well.”
One student named Jack is currently on spring break. He told the head coach that he and his girlfriend would make the trip to Milwaukee if he could get the gas and/or plane ticket covered. Jack’s email was just one of many. They continued to flood Pope’s inbox throughout the entire show.
Mark Pope says a "whole slew" of requests for gas money have already come in, including from a college student in Florida named Jack.
— Tristan Pharis (@TristanUda) March 17, 2025
"That was not a good call on my part… Gas money for Milwaukee, this is not going to go well."
🎥: @UKSportsNetwork https://t.co/MvXsFTT1jj pic.twitter.com/zD7szIZaz7
To Mark Pope’s credit, he told Jack that he was “going to try to hit him back” and promised to “do his best.” What that means exactly, we will see. I would say that there is no way he can afford to pay for gas for the entire fanbase, but he is making approximately $5.5 million per year. Perhaps he can.
Kentucky will play Troy at 7:10 p.m. ET on Friday. How many fans will be there? How many received financial help from Mark Pope?!