Cougar Nation converges on Nashville for Fan Fest

MT. JULIET, Tennessee — Cougar Nation showed up in full force for the BYU Fan Fest in Tennessee on Saturday to meet with BYU coaches and athletes. 

Football head coach Kalani Sitake, men's basketball head coach Mark Pope and athletes and staff members from BYU sports teams spent three hours meeting with Cougar fans at Charlie Daniels Park in Mt. Juliet just east of Nashville.

Watch: BYU Sports Nation two-hour special from Fan Fest

The Fan Fest featured members of the BYU football, men’s basketball, women's basketball and women's soccer teams as well as Cosmo and the BYU cheer squad.

Fans not only were able to interact and get autographs and photos with the BYU coaches and student-athletes but also enjoyed other Fan Fest festivities such as balloon artists, free face painting, inflatables games, and more. The BYU Store was on site to give fans the chance to take home their favorite Cougar apparel. 

BYUtv and BYU Radio/Sirius XM 143 also brought the Fan Fest to all of Cougar Nation across the nation, broadcasting live from the event a special two-hour episode of BYU Sports Nation. Sitake, Pope and many of the Cougar athletes, including quarterback Zach Wilson, appeared on the show to talk about the Fan Fest experience and offer insights on their respective teams heading into their 2019-20 seasons.

Nearly a dozen members of the BYU football team participated in the Fan Fest. The football team will return to Tennessee in September for its first road game of the 2019 season, taking on the Tennessee Volunteers of the Southeastern Conference in Knoxville on Sept. 7.

This is the seventh-straight year BYU Athletics has conducted Fan Fest events in various locations across the country. Fan Fest provides fans the opportunity to meet BYU coaches and athletes in similar fashion to the annual August Cougar Kickoff held each year in Provo for local fans.