On March 13, 2024 the Kenny Payne era at the University of Louisville officially ended.
On March 28, 2024, the Pat Kelsey era at the University of Louisville is officially starting.
Going from KP to PK, the Louisville men’s basketball program – just like those initials – is looking for the start of this new era to be the total opposite of the past two years. Payne, a former player and member of the 1986 Cardinals championship team, accumulated an abysmal 12-52 record during his two seasons as head coach. Kelsey on the other hand has a 58-12 record in his past two seasons at the College of Charleston.
Seems like the opposite is very feasible.
Kelsey, a Cincinnati native and Xavier graduate, started his coaching career at Wake Forest in 2004 under his former Xavier coach Skip Prosser, followed by Dino Gaudio in 2007. In 2009, he became the associate head coach under Chris Mack at Xavier (Mack would become the Louisville head coach nine years later). And just three years later, Kelsey landed his first head coaching job at Winthrop.
During his time coaching the Eagles, Kelsey accumulated a 186-95 record with his only losing season being his first in 2012. He won four Big South regular season championships, three conference tournaments and got Winthrop to the NCAA Tournament twice (would’ve been three if there was a tournament in 2020). He accepted the Charleston job in 2021, and has coached the Cougars to records of 17-15, 31-4, and 27-8 in the past three seasons. Charleston was one of the best mid-major programs last season, reaching No. 18 in the AP Top 25 for a couple weeks, becoming one of the best stories in the country before losing to national runner-up San Diego State in the first round. The Courgars haven’t had as stellar of a season this year, but still dominated the CAA and made it to the tournament. They lost to Alabama this time who is an offensive juggernaut and is currently in the Sweet 16.
The biggest knock on Kelsey’s resume is zero NCAA Tournament wins, and it is a fair critisism to have. However, you cannot deny everything else Kelsey brings to the table, including the motivation to end that losing streak as soon as possible. His energy, his system, and his character are things Louisville fans will be able to latch onto very quickly. It is a big change of pace compared to what the Cardinals have seen the past two seasons.
Louisville is one of the biggest programs and one of the best jobs in the country. After swings and misses on Baylor’s Scott Drew and FAU’s Dusty May – who is now at Michigan – Kelsey found himself in the next crop of candidates just waiting for an opportunity from AD Josh Heird. Now that he has got that opportunity, Kelsey will look to win sooner rather than later to reenergize the depleted Cardinal faithful.
A new and hopefully sustainable an exciting era of Cardinal basketball is upon us. Kelsey’s introductory press conference is scheduled for 3:00 pm inside the basketball practice facility, the Kueber Center. And if I could, I would give one piece of advice to Kelsey that would win over the entire Louisville fanbase.
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