LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Pat Kelsey is poised to be announced as the new University of Louisville men's basketball coach Thursday after a two-week search that included some twists and turns.
UofL fired Kenny Payne March 13 after winning just 12 games in two years. The school reportedly zeroed in on Dusty May, former Florida Atlantic coach, but he chose Michigan last weekend over Louisville and others.
Richard Pitino, son of former Cards coach Rick Pitino, was deemed a legitimate candidate on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
Louisville ultimately decided on Kelsey, who spent the previous three seasons at College of Charleston. Here's what you should know about the new man in charge.
From the Queen City
Kelsey, 48, was born in Cincinnati and helped lead Elder High School to a state basketball championship in 1993. He began his college career at Wyoming, but later transferred back home to play three seasons for Xavier.
He returned to Elder in 1998 to begin his coaching career. He served as an assistant there until 2001.
In 2004, Kelsey became an assistant at Wake Forest and remained there until 2009. He returned to Xavier as an assistant where he worked for former Louisville head coach Chris Mack.
Success as a head coach
Winthrop hired Kelsey in 2012. He won four Big South regular season championships and three conference tournament titles, and went to the NCAA Tournament in 2017, 2020 and 2021. However the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
His teams lost in the first round the other two seasons.
He posted a 186-95 (110-46 Big South) record in nine seasons.
Kelsey left in 2021 to take the Charleston job. After going 17-15 his first year, he posted 31 wins in 2022-23 and 27 this season. He led the Cougars to the NCAA Tournament both years, but lost in the first round both times.
In 2017, Kelsey accepted the head coaching job at Massachusetts, but later backed out of the deal and returned to Winthrop.
Kelsey won Big South coach of the year in 2021 and Coastal Athletic Association coach of the year in 2024.
Players Kelsey has coached in his career include 12-time NBA all star Chris Paul, NBA veteran Ish Smith, and two first round draft picks in James Johnson and Al-Farouq Aminu.
Personal
Kelsey graduated cum laude from Xavier in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in business administration and marketing. He and his wife Lisa have three children.
He is known as an energetic coach who is capable of doing 75 pullups. His practices are often high-energy and fast-paced.
In 2012, Kelsey received attention and praise for his passionate and emotional response to the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. After coaching a game at Ohio State, he spoke for several minutes about the tragedy:
"The last thing I wanna say is I'm really, really lucky. I'm gonna get on an eight-hour bus ride and I'm gonna arrive in Rock Hill, S.C., and I'm gonna walk into my house and walk upstairs. I'm gonna walk into two pink rooms, OK, with a 5-year-old and a 4-year-old laying in that pink room, with a bunch of teddy bears laying in that room. And I'm gonna give them the biggest hug and the biggest kiss I've ever given them. And there's 20 families in Newtown, Conn., that are walking into a pink room with a bunch of teddy bears with nobody laying in those beds. And it's tragic."
You can watch his full commentary below.
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