Don’t like Coal Lodge? How about coal t-shirts?

When the media arrived for Sunday’s interviews, reporters saw a player or manager wearing a blue T-shirt that had three large words printed on the back:

Coal

Cats

Calipari

That alliterative sequence surely would not please critics of UK’s approval last week of a project to build a new dorm for the team and call it Wildcat Coal Lodge. About 30 protesters had to shout to make their voices heard at a UK Board of Trustees meeting last week. Most trustees left the room while the protesters tried to convey their objections.

The protesters said that the burning of coal was damaging to the environment in multiple ways and a symbol of the past.

After the protesters were removed from the board room, the trustees returned and approved the name. Booster Joe Craft collected $7 million in pledges for the construction of the new lodge. But the money was contingent on the name Wildcat Coal Lodge being used.

As for the coal t-shirts, UK spokesman John Hayden said they were a gift from IMG, the radio and television rights holder for UK football and basketball. The shirts were distributed to the students who attended a recent practice opened only to students.