Enough is Enough.

Column: Following one of the most embarrassing days in recent Louisville men's basketball history, the UofL administration cannot afford to wait any longer to enact a divorce between them and Kenny Payne.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - For most failed relationships in life, whether that be a romantic bond, a friendship, or even a business venture between two companies or organizations, there eventually comes a tipping point in which both parties involved reach the point where the relationship can no longer be sustained. If the relationship in question is a toxic one, there are a multitude of red flags raised along the way before eventually getting to the flash point that actually sparks the separation.

The Louisville men's basketball program and their toxic relationship with head coach Kenny Payne reached that point on Wednesday, Dec. 13.

In a tenure that has been chock full of inexplicable low points ever since Payne's very first game, the Cardinals somehow found a way to not only hit rock bottom, but surpass it to the point where they're probably within striking distance of cracking the Earth's crust.

My good friend Mike Rutherford over at Card Chronicle penned an excellent piece earlier this week talking about Louisville's placement at rock bottom. He kicked it off with this lede:

The thing about rock bottom is that takes it a while to realize you’ve gotten there. And even then, how can you be so sure?

That last sentence almost sounds like a tempt of fate given how Wednesday went. Let's recap the day in case the apathy has completely tuned you out of news regarding men's hoops, which I wouldn't blame you.

As far as the on-court happenings go, it was arguably the worst performance since Payne took over, and that's saying something. Facing an Arkansas State team whose only prior wins on the season came against Alcorn State, UT Rio Grande Valley and UAB, Louisville looked like they didn't even belong on the same court as their visitors. There was almost zero fight and effort on either end of the court, resulting in a humiliating 75-63 loss on their own floor. The score wasn't even that close, either, as Louisville trailed by as much as 20.

For added context, this was the Red Wolves' first win over a power conference team since 2014. This was the Cardinals' first double-digit home loss to a team with a losing record since 1963. It was a game where the boos started early, and the boos rang loud once the final horn sounded. The last time I heard boos that loud in the KFC Yum! Center, the head coach was gone just a few days later.

As bad as the on-the-court developments were, the off-the-court twists and turns of the day were just as embarrassing.

The ongoing saga with guard Koron Davis had been so strange that I wasn't sure it could get any more weird. Well, I must be living in The Twilight Zone, because boy was I wrong.

It started with simple enough statement from UofL at 2:47 p.m., a few hours before the 8:00 p.m. tip-off against Arkansas State, that Davis intended to enter the transfer portal. Considering he hadn't even been on the bench for the last few weeks, let alone seen the court, this development wasn't exactly shocking.

“University of Louisville junior guard Koron Davis has informed the program that he intends to transfer," the first statement read. "We support him and wish him well in the future.”

What was shocking was the fact that Davis later came out and refuted this statement just over an hour later at 3:58 p.m., saying on Twitter that he never expressed to anyone at UofL that he wanted to transfer. 

"I didn’t express to anyone at U of Louisville that I wanted to transfer," Davis wrote. "I never asked to transfer. I enjoy being a Cardinal. The fact an official statement was released giving false information is disheartening and sad."

Louisville would later issue a follow-up statement at 6;38 p.m. saying that prior to the original statement, Davis had actually been dismissed from the program, and maintained a desire to continue his collegiate career elsewhere.

“Prior to the program issuing a statement this afternoon, Louisville junior guard Koron Davis was informed that he had been dismissed from the men’s basketball team," the statement read. "Davis has expressed that he intends to continue his college basketball career and would pursue opportunities at another institution. We wish him nothing but the best.”

In a vacuum this, is already a PR nightmare. But don't lay blame at the feet of SID Zach Greenwell, who sent out both statements. His job in this instance is to put out the statement that Kenny Payne wants. To play devil's advocate, there have been countless instances across collegiate athletics over the years of a player being dismissed from a program, but they are saving face by saying they will transfer. This is just the exceedingly rare instance that the player doesn't go along with it.

What makes this an even bigger embarrassment was not how it was handled Wednesday, which was already done poorly, but rather how it was approached from the jump. For weeks, Davis has been absent from the bench. A source told me that he hadn't even been practicing since before the Coppin State game. It was clear something was amiss.

But instead of dealing with this head on, Kenny Payne was adamant from the jump that he "was not in trouble." Well, if that was the case, then why was he even away from the team in the first place? All he had to do was say it was a "violation of team rules," and move on.

Instead, the Koron Davis saga came to an incredibly messy end, and it was promptly followed up with an even messier on-court performance against a team that Louisville should traditionally not even be close to being competitive with.

A say all this to reach this point: enough is enough. The relationship between Kenny Payne and the University of Louisville has officially become untenable. The divorce between the two parties cannot wait until the end of the season, and it must come now before further damage and embarrassment is dealt.

It's not like there was some hope the relationship could be salvaged. For the last few weeks, we've all seemingly come to the foregone conclusion that Payne is going to be fired at the end of the season. After all, Louisville is a paltry 8-34 under his tenure, including 2-20 against ACC competition and 0-19 in games away from the KFC Yum! Center.

Not to mention that there are zero signs that things are going to get better at any point in time. The product on the court, even with an almost entirely new crop of players, looks almost just as bad as the team that went an abysmal 4-28 in his first year. They show no semblance of a game plan on either end of the court, and are pushed over at the first sign of adversity.

Recruiting efforts have also damn-near come to a standstill. The Cardinals have not only whiffed on numerous targets in the 2024 cycle and aren't even close to being in the running for players that Payne recruited while an assistant at Kentucky.

Plus, even now, Payne continues to dodge accountability like he's Neo in the Matrix. Sure, he might open up a press conference by saying that a loss falls on him and his staff, but he has routinely thrown players under the bus in an attempt to justify the losses that are pilling up.

The most notable recent example of this is how he bungled the Ty-Laur Johnson tights situation, but I could just use nearly every post-game press conference as an example. It also doesn't help that nearly every Kenny Payne presser uses the verbiage that you would probably expect from a day one introductory presser, not one where he's a year-and-a-half into his tenure.

Immediately following their season-ending loss to Boston College in the ACC Tournament last season, Payne scoffed at the notion of potentially shaking up his coaching staff when asked about it by the Courier-Journal's Brooks Holton. Even in his post-game presser after the Arkansas State loss, Payne said he wasn't thinking about his own future despite the outside noise reaching a fever pitch.

“No, not really," he said. "If I live my life by not being true to myself then I probably would. I live my life through faith. I live my life by doing what’s right by my players. When the day is over, I always ask if I’ve cheated my players. Have I cheated Skyy Clark? Have I cheated Tre White? Nine out of ten days the answer is no. I don’t worry about the outside noise.”

It's hard to agree with this sentiment when you actually watch the games play out. Anyone who has watched even a single game since Payne took over would agree that these players - who are talented - are not being put in the best position to succeed. Not even remotely close.

I know that Louisville can save $2 million on Payne's buyout if athletic director Josh Heird wait until the end of the year to fire him. Fiscally, it makes sense to wait. But just a month into a three-month long season, the embarrassment being wrought by this staff has already vaulted the program into national laughingstock status. I shudder to think about what kind of damage can further be brought to the program once this team actually hits ACC play.

I'm not going to sit here and proclaim to be an expert on the Louisville athletic department's financial situation. Hell, they're still paying buyout money to their last coach they had to fire. But at some point, there comes a point where have to bite the bullet and make a decision that is best for the university, and that point came on Wednesday.

Look, I'm usually not the kind of person to be so outspoken about calling for someone's job. Kenny Payne the person seems like a great guy, and I wanted him to succeed here given his status as an alum and what it means to so many people - especially to Louisville's Black community and the disillusioned Crum-era fans - to see a guy like him in the lead chair.

But like I said earlier, enough is enough. Kenny Payne the person could be the Dalai Llama, but Kenny Payne the coach has been an unmitigated disaster from nearly day one. Yes, Payne was undoubtedly given a very difficult hand to work with considering the program was coming off of back-to-back scandals and their first losing season in two decades. However, it's now completely and totally undeniable that the program is in a much worse spot than when he took over. 

It's only a matter of time before the divorce occurs, but Josh Heird needs to sign the papers before further damage is done to the program.

(Photo of Kenny Payne: Matt Stone - Louisville Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleReport
Twitter - @UofLReport
Instagram - @louisville_report

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter