Louisville, Kentucky men’s basketball head coaches talk leadership

Although they may be sworn rivals, coaching at the University of Kentucky and Louisville, men’s basketball head coaches Mark Pope and Pat Kelsey have more in common than you might have thought. The two sat down with Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg on Wednesday at the 10th annual Leadership Louisville Luncheon at the Kentucky International Convention Center. They discussed the importance of leadership, their paths to success, and how they each plan to lead their respective teams to success. Both bring energy to their programs but in different ways. Kelsey said he has been unapologetically himself since he arrived in Louisville in March, which includes being a ball of energy. He’s appeared in social media videos, visited other teams within Louisville’s athletic program, and been present at events across the community. Kelsey said he’s just being himself. ” can see when you’re not truly genuine to who you are,” said Kelsey. “So I just think, first and foremost, you have to be genuine to who you are. Obviously, you have to build trust because you may say it’s cliche, but people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. So building that trust, and then defining with great clarity what your purpose is, defining that standard, and then holding people accountable to that every day, all day.”Pope echoed Kelsey’s sentiment about being genuine. He also said a leader is a good listener, something he tries to be every day.”We have CEO, CFO and CIO, but really, I think the best leaders are CLOs; Chief Listening Officers,” said Pope. “I think the only way that we can lead is by listening. In my particular case, it’s really important that I listen to my staff. If I’m up all the time just barking out orders, I’m missing out on the potential that we have to grow and the great ideas that are floating around in the room and the synergy that can happen on the staff.”At the luncheon, the two told stories about failures and triumphs, and how they got to the positions that they’re both now in. While they both had to start rosters from scratch since joining their programs in the spring, both said progress has been made, and they’re both confident in their teams. “We tried to squeeze a whole season into eight weeks, and my guys responded brilliantly,” said Pope. “While there are the things they learned on the court I was excited about, it was their interactions off the court is what really has me inspired. Where I see guys going out of their way to intentionally, as a verb, love each other, and lift each other and care about each other.””We had a great summer. Went on a foreign tour to the Bahamas, we’re thrilled with our progress,” said Kelsey. “We say relentless effort, competitive excellence and the power of the unit. You know, they’re working hard. They’re going really hard, competitive excellence. They know how important every repetition is.”Louisville and Kentucky will face off on Dec. 14 at Rupp Arena.

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