Louisville Cardinals' men's basketball team’s head coach Kenny Payne's future looks uncertain after their 94-85 season-ending loss to NC State. Louisville finished the season with an 8-24 overall record and 3-17 in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
According to ESPN, Kenny Payne will be dismissed as a head coach within 24 hours despite signing a six-year contract (worth $3.35 million annually) in 2022. Payne had played briefly in the NBA before having coaching stints as an assistant at Kentucky and the New York Knicks.
Payne spoke in his defense after the loss, saying that he was not alone responsible for the dismal performance of the team:
“When I walked into the program as the new head coach, I talked about [how] I needed everybody on the same page. We sort of forgot that. I talked about how I’m not gonna let you blame me. I’m not standing up here by myself. I need all of Louisville with me. We sort of forgot that."
Kenny Payne added that he had asked for time to build the foundation of the program:
“I gave a specific time, [and] I said three or four years, and I’m good with it."
Kenny Payne gives a sneak peek into the current mood at Louisville
Payne was recruited with high hopes as a former national champion of the 1985-86 NCAA title-winning Louisville team. But the poor performances for two seasons seem to have dented those aspirations.
Payne described the negative energy around the team at the moment, owing to the current results, saying:
"[It’s] unfair to them. They deserve to play in a program where people are uplifting them to be better, not fighting and tearing them down to make them question how good they are, and you make my job impossible."
Payne shared that he had not talked to the athletic director Josh Heird by Tuesday night.
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