After two embarrassing seasons for the Cardinals, the College of Louisville fires Kenny Payne from his publish because the Males’s Basketball Head Coach, Director of Athletics Josh Heird introduced earlier on Wednesday.
“Kenny has given an awesome deal to this college over a span of almost 40 years, and he’ll at all times be a valued member of our Louisville household,” Heird stated in a press release. “After we introduced Kenny residence in 2022, nobody had a stronger perception than me in his potential success, however it’s turn into clear {that a} change is required to assist this program obtain what is predicted and attainable.”
“Whereas it’s at all times tough to make a training transition, that is the suitable one for our program. On behalf of myself and everybody concerned with our males’s basketball program, I wish to thank Kenny for his dedication to UofL. I want him and his household the easiest of their future.”
Payne finishes his tenure with a humiliating 12-52 document in two seasons, together with 5-37 within the ACC. He went 4-28 in his first season, following it up with an 8-24 document this season. Arguably essentially the most embarrassing statistic of all of them is Louisville, underneath Payne, completed with extra exhibition loses than wins away from the KFC YUM! Middle. Louisville had by no means misplaced an exhibition sport earlier than Payne’s arrival.
Payne is a beloved alum of the college and its basketball program, taking part in underneath head coach Denny Crum from 1985-1989. He helped the Cardinals win their second ever nationwide championship in 1986 as a freshmen, and would go on to attain over 1,000 profession factors and turn into a primary spherical NBA Draft Decide.
Followers and former gamers pushed for Payne’s hiring in 2022 after the departure of Chris Mack. His recruiting prowess and popularity for being among the finest assistants within the nation have been hopeful indicators that he might carry again Cardinal Basketball to its rightful place among the many nationwide panorama. Payne was employed on March 18, 2022, and is now fired almost two years later.
Louisville is without doubt one of the greatest and winningest applications of all time, and would be the greatest job out there this teaching cycle. There will likely be a large candidate pool, containing names similar to Baylor’s Scott Drew, Alabama’s Nate Oats, UCLA’s Mick Cronin, FAU’s Dusty Might, Kansas State’s Jerome Tang, and Indiana State’s Josh Schertz.
The nationwide seek for a brand new coach “will start instantly” in keeping with Zach Greenwell of Louisville Athletics.
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