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Mark Pope's wife Lee Anne jokes about backyard mole 'Cardinal' as Kentucky-Louisville rivalry heats up

Kentucky coach Mark Pope and his wife, Lee Anne, attended the Wildcats Tipoff Luncheon on Monday. The two appeared in elegant outfits and looked like a sports power couple. One of the many reporters present asked for their thoughts about Kentucky's historic rivalry with Louisville.

Lee Anne enthusiastically took the mic in her hand and said:

“We have a mole in our backyard that we’re trying to kill and we’ve nicknamed it ‘The Cardinal.'”

Mark Pope got the chance to express his thoughts as well. He said:

“I’ll just verify that is a true story,” Mark Pope said. “If you’ve ever had a mole in your backyard, it’s tearing up the shrubs, it’s ruining the grass, dirt’s everywhere — it’s driving us crazy.”

When Pople played for the Wildcats, from 1994 to 1996, he faced the Louisville Cardinals twice and has a record of 1-1. Kentucky has won six times it played against Louisville and will prepare to face their eternal rivals next month.

Mark Pope is excited to work in the evolving landscape of NIL

Mark Pope is ready to prove that Kentucky MBB is now a changed program and can win a national championship next year. He also showed his advanced mindset by embracing the name, image and likeness situation, which has divided the opinions of many college coaches.

When the Wildcats coach attended Lexington's first-ever NIL event, he said that he and his team are working toward learning new NIL rules.

"I can’t tell you how unbelievably grateful I am to be at the University of Kentucky. We’re trying because, at the University of Kentucky, we need to be the flagship in every facet of the game of basketball. That’s what this place is," Pope said.
"We’re also trying to learn NIL and we’re trying 100 different ways to be great with NIL. To be able to have this event and people be so incredibly supportive — when we say this is Kentucky’s team, we mean it’s Kentucky’s team more than it’s ever been," he added.

Mark Pope's arrival has brought a lot of hope in the hearts of Wildcats fans. He left BYU Cougars to take the Kentucky coaching job.

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