A nightmare period for Louisville males’s basketball seems to be over.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello reported college officers plan to fireside head coach Kenny Payne after a 94-85 loss to North Carolina State within the first spherical of the ACC Tournament on Tuesday night time.
In his postgame presser, Payne appeared to learn the writing on the wall about his destiny as head coach of his alma mater.
“When I walked into the program as the new head coach, I talked about needing everyone on the same page. We sort of forgot that,” Payne mentioned when requested about his future.
“I talked about how I won’t let you blame me, I’m not standing up here by myself. I need all of Louisville with me. We sort of forgot that. I talked about it taking time, and watching who jumped on and off the Titanic. We sort of forgot that. Whether I’m the coach or not, I can look in the mirror and say I gave it everything I had to fix this program,” Payne mentioned.
While it’s true Payne walked right into a horrific state of affairs at Louisville (8-24), which endured a number of scandals throughout earlier administrations, he repeatedly has proven he’s unsuited for the job.
In his two-year tenure, Payne’s Cardinals are 12-52, with only one win away from the KFC Yum! Center. In 2022-23, they went 4-28, and whereas that quantity doubled in 2023-24, there have been too many teaching gaffes for Louisville officers to disregard.
Following a November loss to Indiana, Payne admitted that Indiana head coach Mike Woodson “tricked” him by taking part in zone protection — one thing he did not have his guys ready for.
Just over every week later (after a uncommon win), Payne talked to reporters about guard Ty-Laur Johnson not taking part in within the first half.
Rather than merely saying it was a workforce matter and maintaining the difficulty inner, he threw Johnson underneath the bus by explaining the explanation he did not play within the first half.
“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but we didn’t have the tights he wanted. So he wasn’t sure he wanted to play.”
Some will rightly argue that Johnson was being immature, however recruits watching a head coach publicly make these sorts of feedback will take be aware.
Louisville basketball has a proud historical past of competing for convention and nationwide championships. To regain relevance within the ACC and on the nationwide stage, it wants an skilled program chief.
Payne just isn’t that chief.
Discussion about this post