"I loved you first": Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey pens a heartfelt birthday wish for his daughter Ruthie

Coach Pat Kelsey will lead the University of Louisville’s men’s basketball program this year. He is just the seventh overall coach to take the helm of the program in over 50 years and has already spearheaded summer practices.

As his Cardinals create significant offseason buzz, Kelsey took some time to congratulate her daughter Ruthie on her 17th birthday. The coach shared a collage of photos of Ruthie over the years on Instagram, alongside with a heartfelt message. His other children, Caroline and Johnny, are also seen in one of the pictures.

“Happy 17th birthday to my sweet and beautiful Ruthie (Bear Bear). I loved you first 🎶 ❤️,” Kelsey captioned his Instagram post.

Pat Kelsey is a notable program builder with a nearly 70% winning record throughout his coaching career. Moreover, he has also been associated with the NCAA for nearly 30 years, beginning from his playing days.

He played high school basketball with Roger Bacon for three years before helping Elder High School to the 1993 Division I state championship. As a 5-foot-8 guard, Pat Kelsey began his collegiate journey with Wyoming and then returned home to play three years for Xavier.

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Pat Kelsey's coaching record

Even though his playing days only saw him sorting 122 points and 131 assists through 88 games, Kelsey utilized his business administration and marketing degree for an assistant coaching role at his alma mater Elder. In 2001, he became head of the basketball operation at Wake Forest under his ex-coach Skip Prosser and garnered an assistant role in the coming years.

He worked alongside players like Chris Paul, Al-Farouq Aminu and Jeff Teague and led Wake Forest to multiple NCAA Tournaments and a 100-59 record from 2003 to 2009.

He then returned to Xavier as an associate head coach, leading them to NCAA Tournament bids each year and a 50-17 record.

This enabled Pat Kelsey for his first head coaching role at Winthrop, where he mounted his only losing season. There onwards, he led the program for seven more years, crafting an 186-95 overall record of two NCAA bids, four Big South regular season titles and three Big South Tournament championships.

He then transitioned to Charleston in 2021. He started slow with a 17-15 record but has only suffered 12 losses since then, a 58-12 in the last two years.