If you listen to Kentucky Sports Radio right now, Mark Pope should be standing up on a podium and talking with the media.
While Matt Jones and company are openly begging for some kind of communication, even joking about sending up “smoke signals,” the Kentucky basketball program has effectively gone completely dark.
Aside from a video asking fans for questions about the program and the obligatory social media graphics announcing player signings and assistant coaching hires, we haven’t heard a peep from Mark Pope since his final radio show back in March.
But is this silence actually a bad thing?
No. In fact, I think they are doing the right thing by remaining silent and doing the work that this roster desperately needs.
Coach speak doesn’t win games
Regardless of how you feel about where the roster currently sits, speaking to a hounding media and a fanbase that has been living on edge for weeks wouldn’t actually accomplish anything.
If Pope sat down at a podium tomorrow, what could he really say? We would get 20 minutes of standard coach speak. We would get a few optimistic quips about how “things are going to be good” and how much they “love the guys in the locker room.” Is that going to move the needle in a positive way for this program? Absolutely not.
So, the best thing Pope and his staff can do right now is put their heads down, ignore the outside noise, get to work, and figure out a way to fix this thing.
A massive offseason to-do list
When you actually look at the logistical nightmare the staff is currently navigating, you realize why they don’t have time for empty press conferences.
First, there are massive staffing questions that will probably be addressed in the next month. Cody Fueger and Mark Fox are currently sitting on expiring contracts that run out on June 30th. On top of that, Kentucky is still down an assistant coach, meaning the current staff is spread incredibly thin.
Then, there is the recruiting trail. Pope is still trying to fill out the last two spots to make sure year number 3 is better than year number 2. He flew out to Israel to meet Marcio Santos, all while meeting and having conversations with recruits from this year and next.
I don’t want him taking 20 minutes out of that schedule to sit down in front of a camera and tell us “everything is fine.” It would do absolutely nothing except provide a few fleeting clicks.
Give me wins over words
At the end of the day, I’d rather have wins on the court and on the roster. I take this prolonged silence as a sign that this coaching staff is working as hard as they can to field a competitive team. I will take that any day of the week.
It may not work out perfectly. The season could still go sideways if the portal guys don’t gel or injuries hit. But a little press conference in early May isn’t going to change any of that. It’s only going to slow progress.
Let the coaching staff work in the shadows for now. We can have all the press conferences we want later in the summer when the roster is finalized.
Mark Pope is working to make it work. And he decided he wanted to talk directly to fans. Pope went on Twitter to leave a video and let BBN know he wanted to talk directly to them, and asked them to leave questions.
Some of the responses are not great, but some of them are actually pretty solid questions. Who knows how he answers them, but if he were going to do an interview, I would rather he do it this way.
I still think I would prefer total silence until June, but I also can understand doing what they do. Are you looking forward to hearing from Pope? Did you leave a question, or do you think he should have just remained silent?
