Report: Charleston’s Pat Kelsey, Louisville Nearing Contract to Become New MCBB HC

The University of Louisville is reportedly nearing a deal to hire College of Charleston’s Pat Kelsey as their next men’s basketball coach.

College basketball insider Jeff Goodman reported the news, noting a deal will happen barring a “last-minute breakdown in negotiations.”

Kelsey, 48, has been at Charleston for the last three seasons. He’s led the Cougars to two straight NCAA tournament appearances and posted a 75-28 record overall.

Before coming to Charleston in 2021, Kelsey spent nine seasons at Winthrop. The Eagles made two NCAA tournaments under Kelsey and went 23-2 in his final season with the program.

Kelsey has not won a March Madness game in four tries and will have an uphill battle rebuilding the Louisville program after the disastrous Kenny Payne tenure. Payne went 12-52 in his two seasons as Cardinals head coach, the worst two-year stretch in program history since Lawrence Apitz went 2-33 between 1938-39 and 1939-40.

Louisville has been in a downward spiral since the unceremonious exit of Rick Pitino in 2017. David Padgett served as a lame-duck coach in 2017-18 after Pitino’s ouster before Chris Mack took over the program for a disappointing four-year stretch. Nothing compared to the complete collapse under Payne, who went 4-28 in his first season before an 8-24 mark in 2023-24.

Kelsey was not Louisville’s first choice as Payne’s replacement. The program went hard at Baylor’ Scott Drew and Florida Atlantic’s Dusty May before landing on Kelsey. May chose an offer at the University of Michigan, while Drew chose to stay at Baylor.

Eight Louisville players are already in the transfer portal, so odds are Kelsey will be looking at another rough year or two ahead before turning things around.