During the last week of fall practice, Kentucky’s new baseball coach, Nick Mingione, wore a plain cotton T-shirt and unadorned blue cap.
He’d been wearing them since the first day when he told his team they’d all be earning their UK gear based on the performance goals he and the new coaching staff set.
But unlike Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski’s recent move to strip the Blue Devils of their logo gear midseason for not living up to his standards, Mingione was setting a new standard for all the players and himself.
“Some of my buddies were teasing me, ‘Hey, you’re the head coach at Kentucky and you can’t get a UK on your hat?