Kenny Brooks Jokes About Running John Calipari out of Lexington

Kenny Brooks at Big Blue Madness. (Vicky Graff Photo)

It was his first Southeastern Conference Media Day but new Kentucky women’s basketball coach Kenny Brooks certainly was comfortable — and funny — during his time at the main podium.

He was asked about Kentucky’s recent Big Blue Madness and his relationship with men’s coach Mark Pope and how that has built excitement in the Bluegrass. However, he managed to start his answer with a memorable line.

“First and foremost, when I got to Kentucky, (former coach John) Calipari was there. Cal stayed for a week. I told everybody that the talent wasn’t big enough for the both of us, so I ran him out,” a smiling Brooks said.

Then Brooks gave a long, detailed answer to what he was asked.

“Coach Pope comes in. An infusion of energy in itself. That’s what he is. We’ve been kind of feeding off each other with that. Around town I think it’s really caused a lot of excitement around the university. Just Kentucky in general. Not that it is needed any more, because Kentucky, they’re fanatics,” Brooks said.

“It’s been a blessing to be able to be a part of it, the excitement, what it is. A little pressure because you want to make sure you do your part. But you want those type of situations.”

Brooks said he had seen Big Blue Madness on TV but experiencing it was “totally different” from watching it on TV.

“The floor was unbelievable. Kudos to our marketing department going out and making that happen. I need to talk to Mitch(Barnhart) to make it full-time in Memorial. That would be sweet. It was a lot of fun,” the coach said.

“As far as the intro, it did go viral. The outfit, I didn’t pick it out, but it was daughter-approved. I was like I’m just picking up stuff, and I’m like, This okay? They were like, That’s fire. I guess that was okay. It worked out pretty well.

“A lot of people are trying to ask me where we got that from. It wasn’t a whole lot of thought that went into it. Just people around me made it happen, made it special.”