The Louisville basketball head coaching search is still going on weeks after Kenny Payne was fired. While it looked as if Florida Atlantic's Dusty May was going to be the Cardinals' new coach, he stunned everyone by choosing Michigan instead. Now, Louisville has to look elsewhere and plenty of other names have circulated, including Indiana State's Josh Schertz, who had also been tied to the Saint Louis opening.
On Tuesday, a couple of new names popped up on the Louisville basketball head coaching search: Richard Pitino of New Mexico and Pat Kelsey of Charleston, per Mike Hughes of Cardinal Confidential.
“An industry source, extremely familiar with Louisville’s now two-week search for Kenny Payne’s replacement, told Cardinal Confidential Tuesday morning that New Mexico coach Richard Pitino and Charleston coach Pat Kelsey are the two leading contenders to become the Cards next basketball coach.”
After Dusty May went to the Wolverines, Josh Schertz's name appeared to be a leader for the job, but that might not be the case anymore per this report. Suddenly, Kelsey and Pitino, the son of Rick Pitino, are top contenders for the job in a stunning turn of events.
The report from Mike Hughes also states that McNeese coach Will Wade is out of consideration and Arkansas' Eric Musselman decided to back out from the running, so things have certainly changed a lot in the past few days.
Examining the Louisville basketball candidates
All signs pointed to Dusty May taking the job, even more after Florida Atlantic lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Northwestern. But, that wasn't the case, and Louisville was left thinking of what to do next.
Richard Pitino's resume is certainly worthy of consideration for the job. He has an overall head coaching record of 221-178 which includes stints at FIU (1 season), Minnesota (8 seasons), and New Mexico, where he has been the past three seasons, Pitino was also an assistant at Louisville during the Rick Pitino era from 2007 to 2009 and then again as the associate head coach in 2011-2012. As such, Pitino is rumored to have strong backing from the boosters, so that could help the recruiting landscape shift.
The other name is Pat Kelsey, who is a bit of a lesser known but has emerged on the scene in the past two seasons. He has engineered two magnificent years at Charleston, bringing them to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and a combined 75–27 record in his three seasons at Charleston. Kelsey was the WIntrho head coach from 2012-2021 and went 186–95 during his time there, so he has found ways to win at lesser-known schools with much less recruiting pull than a program such as Louisville.
Pitino is certainly a better-known name and the one with more success, but it all depends on which direction Louisville wants to go in. Both Kelsey and Pitino were bounced from the NCAA Tournament, with Charleston losing to Alabama in the Round of 64 and New Mexico falling to Clemson in the Round of 32 after they won the Mountain West Conference title.
The Louisville basketball coaching search keeps on churning with a few new names emerging, and only time will tell who they want to hire.
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