Why Mark Pope's $25,000 SEC fine was money well spent for Kentucky

Mark Pope felt like his team was sold down the river by the officials Saturday night in Neville Arena, and he didn’t hide it.

At the podium, Pope tried to keep things measured while he sat at the podium. He spoke about control, about refusing to let outside forces dictate who Kentucky is or how it responds.

“We refuse to give control to people that are outside of our program. Regardless of how personal it might get, or how bad it might get. We refuse to give control to fans, to anybody else… Regardless of how disgraceful things are, we don’t give away our power.”

That was the message he wanted on record. Accountability. Toughness. Moving forward.

But it was what came after he stepped away that forced the conference to act.

As microphones kept rolling, Pope turned to Mitch Barnhart and unloaded.

“Mitch, if those motherfers try to fine me, screw them. I didn’t say a word about how they cheated us.”

And in the most Mark Pope way possible, he actually said motherfers, not the full word. It didn’t matter. The mics caught it. Reporters chuckled. The SEC didn’t. But Pope sent a message, one he knew the mics would pick up.

Today, Jon Rothstein reported that Pope had been fined $25,000 by the SEC for his postgame comments.

Good.

Honestly, Pope should wear that fine like a badge.

Sometimes a coach has to eat a technical. Sometimes they have to get tossed. And sometimes they have to write a check. That’s part of the job when you believe your team just got railroaded.

You can’t let your players feel like they’re alone out there against the other team and the referees. You can’t let them think the whistles don’t matter or that nobody upstairs has their back. Standing up, even when it costs you, sends a message not just to your locker room, but to the officials, too.

Refs are human. They miss calls. It happens. But respect matters, and so does letting it be known that you’re not going to quietly swallow it when things tilt too far one way.

Pope didn’t cross the line at the podium. He crossed it in the hallway. And sometimes, that’s exactly where a coach has to do it.

If defending his guys costs $25,000, I believe that’s money well spent.