LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — When Riley Baldridge and her mom learned that the new Kentucky basketball coach, Mark Pope, is a Taylor Swift fan, they knew exactly what had to be done.
“That morning, while waiting in line, we took the beads and made bracelets while waiting,” she said on Monday morning.
On Sunday afternoon, Riley was one of about 20,000 Wildcat fans who packed Rupp Arena to watch Coach Pope’s first press conference since being hired on Friday. It was a wild scene, with almost a concert-like atmosphere, so Riley and her mom brought that vibe to the coach and his family by making the friendship bracelets that have become a staple of any Taylor Swift concert.
“We put BBN on some and Hope for Pope on some,” she said of their bracelet beads. They did this with one thing in mind: get them into the hands of the new head coach. So they wandered down near the tunnel towards the end of the press conference.
“I was kind of hoping he’d stop,” Riley said.
He did. The coach accepted the bracelets and called for his daughters to return to get theirs. The video Riley posted to X shows a coach (and children) who was very appreciative.
“We want the girls to feel welcome here too. I saw they were wearing them on Instagram,” Baldridge noted.
It was a great day for Big Blue Nation, offering renewed hope and optimism as if one of their own is now in charge of this program.
“I think he’ll do wonderful. It’s nice having someone who has won a championship before,” Riley said of Pope, who captained the 1996 NCAA championship team here.
