Big Moves At Kentucky And Louisville
Pat Kelsey may not seem like a slam dunk hire now but he may be exactly that in a few years.
As we get ready for Sweet Sixteen action Thursday, the state of Kentucky has temporarily commanded a lot of the basketball world’s attention.
First, the drama at Kentucky over John Calipari’s future is over: for better or worse, he’ll be back.
BBN was very unhappy after Kentucky left the tournament early again. Since Covid stuck, Calipari missed the tournament entirely in 2020-21 (as always, we say give a pass for Covid), and then went out in the Round of 64 in 2021-22, the Round of 32 in 2022-23 and the Round of 64 in 2023-24.
And worse, in 2022 the Wildcats lost to Saint Peter’s. In 2023, it was Kansas State and this year, of course, it was Oakland out of the Horizon League.
None of this went over well, needless to say, with Kentucky fans insisting that only championships are worth their time - and don’t even get into SEC tournament play.
But his buyout is north of $30 million and Calipari has a lifetime contract and that makes getting rid of him much more difficult.
There were rumors tying him to the USC job (if Andy Enfield leaves) but that’s likely over now: Kentucky A.D. Mitch Earnhardt announced Wednesday he’d be back next year.
If you want to know how this has gone over, check X: Kentucky fans are not thrilled to say the least.
There are a couple of major problems for Kentucky right now. First, the SEC is vastly more competitive than it has ever been. Second, Calipari's has long focused on young players and between Covid and NIL, which keeps players around loner, the game has gotten much older lately. And third, who could replace him?
The Kentucky job comes with impossible expectations. Think of the best coaches in the game right now. Short list: Bill Self, Tom Izzo, Kelvin Sampson, Mark Few, Scott Drew, Tony Bennett and Dan Hurley.
Self has won two national titles with Kansas. Izzo has one won - in 2000. Drew has one with Baylor, Bennett has one with Virginia and Hurley won last year. Sampson has never won one.
None of them are likely to take the Kentucky job, largely because of the expectations.
Where do you turn? And specifically on short notice?
It’s a tough situation.
Meanwhile, about an hour and twenty minutes away, Louisville made a mess of its own search but may have come out fine anyway.
Somewhat like Kentucky, expectations are a bit crazy. After realizing Kenny Payne wasn’t going to work out, Planet Louisville was thinking Drew for starters. That didn't work out. Then Dusty May didn’t work out. Mick Cronin was a candidate until he wasn’t. Billy Donovan was probably a pipe dream.
Ultimately it came down to some lesser candidates, guys like Indiana State’s Josh Schertz, South Florida’s Amir Abdur-Rahim and Charleston’s Pat Kelsey.
And Wednesday, as Calipari’s star continued to dim, Kelsey’s rose a good bit higher as Louisville chose him to succeed Payne.
It seems like a bit of a comedown, doesn’t it?
But it might not be.
Kelsey is not well-known nationally but people in the Southeast who pay attention are pretty familiar with him.
He was an assistant at Wake Forest and later took over at Winthrop. He finished 186-95 record at Winthrop and went 75-27 at Charleston. His career record is 261-122 and his winning percentage is .681.
And he has personality and energy. No one knows how he’ll do, but we can promise you this: he’s going to hit the ground running. He’s going to work really, really hard.
People may focus on his lack of wins in the NCAA Tournament, but he’s no worse than Calipari lately. But they need to focus on this: the guy got Winthrop to the NCAA tournament twice.
It’s not an ACC team or anything. Getting Winthrop to the tournament is really difficult. He was only at Charleston three seasons and in one year, the tournament was canceled.
In the last two years, Charleston finished 31-4 and 27-8. That’s 58-12 - at Charleston.
Again, it’s not an ACC-level team. If he had stayed there longer, he might have built an incredible program.
He’ll make an immediate impression at Louisville and he has all the resources he lacked at Winthrop and Charleston. And if he is a huge success, no one will think twice about Drew or May.