LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — He praised Denny Crum, Rick Pitino and Kenny Payne. He quoted Malcolm Gladwell, William Shakespeare and Ralph Waldo Emerson.
He gave thanks to his family, his friends, his mentors, his players and a cast of thousands. He asked for the score from the Cincinnati Reds’ opening day baseball game.
He flashed L’s up and made the necessary inspiring reference to the University of Kentucky. He was absolutely, positively as over-caffeinated as advertised.
Pat Kelsey commanded the stage for 50 minutes and 59 seconds during his introductory press conference as the University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Thursday afternoon at the Planet Fitness Kueber Center.
I can’t tell you one thing that Kelsey could have done to improve his performance.
“He wasn’t good, he was great,” said U of L women’s coach Jeff Walz, who blended into the crowd of several hundred people and enjoyed every second.
“He said a lot of good things,” said Charles Jones, one of the Cards’ signature players during the program’s glory years in the 1980s.
“Pat’s a dynamic guy,” said the guy who hired him, Josh Heird, the Cards’ athletic director. “This guy has some substance to him. I think that was evident today.”
Pat Kelsey had a dream last night. It started with him meeting St. Peter at the gates of heaven. It ended after he walked past John Calipari's house. He explains: pic.twitter.com/9tYC1FCF2B
— WDRB News (@WDRBNews) March 28, 2024
Time to check the scoreboard:
Pat Kelsey 1, Pat Kelsey Skeptics 0.
Does that mean that Kelsey is a cinch to roll in from the College of Charleston and make Cardinals’ basketball great again?
No, it does not, even at a price tag of $2.3 million per season for the next five years.
Chris Mack came here from Xavier six years ago with more substantial credentials than Kelsey. In the two seasons before Mack changed jobs, he coached Xavier to the Elite Eight in 2017 and then earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament in 2018.
Mack had game.
It just wasn’t game that translated to game here.
Kenny Payne followed Mack into the position in 2022. Despite endorsements from Hall of Fame coaches like John Calipari, Larry Brown and Crum, Payne won 12 games over two seasons before he was fired on March 13.
You never know.
I think Kelsey is a splendid hire. Eleven straight winning seasons and five conference tournament championships in a dozen years as a head coach speaks to his ability to build, recruit, organize, motivate and strategize.
The basketball coaches and analysts that I’ve called for their thoughts on the Kelsey hire have nearly unanimously said that he will win at Louisville.
But, you never know.
Kelsey is moving up in weight class. The Atlantic Coast Conference has four programs competing in the Sweet Sixteen of the men’s tournament, more than any conference in the country. It’s stuffed with programs that aspire to win.
One more time: You never know.
But here is what I do know after Kelsey’s thunderous introduction:
The man can motivate. He can entertain. He can inform. He can sell. He can work a crowd, with his message, with his gestures, with his body language. Winning stuff.
In his opening act as the Cards’ coach, Kelsey did the things he will need to continue to do to get the KFC Yum! Center more than half filled again. A substantial group of people who have checked out on Cardinal basketball will check back in.
The best things that Kelsey said?
Where do I begin?
That Heird asked him to text at least three prominent Louisville fans on Wednesday night after he accepted the job. Kelsey texted eight. Would have texted 20.
The coach was back on the phone texting Heird for more information at 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning.
“I don’t think Pat sleeps,” Heird said.
That Kelsey wanted to be here “bad,” and that he went nearly sleepless Tuesday night after Heird told him that he was likely to offer the job but that the athletic director wanted to sleep on it.
On Wednesday morning when Heird told Kelsey that he wanted to launch a Zoom teleconference to resume their conversation, Kelsey asked for 10 minutes.
After some brief chit-chat, Heird said, “I want you to be the University of Louisville basketball coach.”
“Did you just offer me the job?” Kelsey said.
“I did,” Heird replied.
“Is it OK if I tell my wife?” Kelsey said.
“It is,” Heird said.
After brief screaming ensued, Kelsey sat in front of the camera again and told Heird: “I can promise you that I will not let you down. I will not let you down.”
There’s more. Kelsey made certain to praise Payne and tell him that he was always welcome to return to the program, despite his bruising exit from the job. That was a first-rate move that was appreciated by several of Payne’s friends that were in the crowd.
To the doubters, who wonder if Kelsey can recruit at the high major level, Kelsey said, “Meet my wife Lisa. I’m just happy she hasn’t gone into the transfer portal. The good news is that I was her third choice and it’s worked out well.”
And when asked when Louisville basketball would be ready to win again, Kelsey kept it simple and direct:
“I’ve worked my whole life for this. Here we are. Let’s go.”
You never know. But Pat Kelsey took a dynamic first step toward uniting Louisville basketball again.
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