How Milt Wagner's Hiring at Louisville Impacts D.J. Wagner's Recruitment

Wagner return to the Cardinals could play a vital role in the recruitment of his prized grandson.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When Kenny Payne was hired to be the next head coach of the Louisville men's basketball program, it was widely speculated that fellow former Cardinal Milt Wagner would be joining Payne to be an assistant on his staff. While Wagner did not end up being one of Payne's three assistant coaches, he did end up joining his staff.

On Tuesday, Payne officially introduced Wagner as Louisville's newest Director of Player Development and Alumni Relations. He's the fourth hire to be officially announced by Payne, joining his three assistant coaches Nolan Smith, Danny Manning and Josh Jamieson.

"I shouldn't have to introduce this guy. This is Louisville basketball right here to my right," Payne said during Wagner's introductory press conference. "I'm fortunate enough to be in a position to surround myself with, not just people that I have had relationships with, but the best of the best. For this university to bring back Milt Wagner, and me being the person that's starting it, it's pretty special for me."

Obviously, Wagner's addition to the staff is a big one. In program history, he ranks sixth all-time in scoring with 1,834 career points, was a starter on Louisville's 1986 championship team, and helped the Cardinals reach three Final Fours. He also has prior assistant coaching experience, working at Memphis, UTEP and Auburn over a 15-year span starting in 2000.

But as Louisville fans know by now, there's another potential benefit to bringing on Wagner. His grandson, D.J. Wagner, who plays for the same high school that his grandfather did at Camden (N.J.) HS, is the near-unanimous No. 1 player in the Class of 2023.

Now that the eldest Wagner is officially back home at Louisville, how does that impact the recruitment for the youngest Wagner?

First of all, you have to think that this does give Louisville a slight edge in the highly-publicized recruitment over arch rival Kentucky. That's because there is a precedence here with the Wagner family.

Back in 2000, then-Memphis head coach John Calipari famously hired Wagner as an assistant coach on his staff, in part as a play to land top-ranked recruit Dajuan Wagner, who was Milt's son. It worked, with the middle Wagner playing a season for the Tigers before being selected at No. 6 overall in the 2002 NBA Draft.

Of course, the Wagners still have that long-standing relationship with Calipari, who has been at Kentucky since 2009. But, the family also has strong ties to Payne, considering he and Milt both won a championship at Louisville in 1986. Hiring a Wagner to get a Wagner worked once, and it's likely the tactic can work again.

Now here comes the most important question of all: can Louisville actually recruit D.J.? The short answer: Yes, but maybe not officially yet.

The NCAA has a rule in place where schools cannot recruit a prospect if they have a relative on staff that is not an assistant or head coach. Bylaw 11.4.2 states that "an institution shall not employ (either on a salaried or a volunteer basis) or enter into a contract for future employment with an individual associated with the prospective student-athlete in any athletics department noncoaching staff position or in a strength and conditioning staff position."

How does Louisville circumvent this? While Wagner does have a role on Payne's staff, he is technically speaking a university employee and not an athletics employee. So, everything is squared away, right? Well, not entirely.

Immediately after Wagner's hiring, social media was filled with rampant proclamations that D.J. was either "definitely eligible to be recruited by UofL" or "definitely not eligible to be recruited by UofL", depending on which side of the rivalry you sat on. As it turns out, neither side is correct.

After Payne's introductory press conference of Wagner, one that included a couple questions regarding his prestigious grandson, a Louisville spokesman told the members of the media present that a recruitment of D.J. has not yet been officially green-lit by the NCAA.

UofL compliance will have discussions with the the NCAA later down the line, and being able to recruit D.J. shouldn't be an issue, but as of right now, Louisville doesn't really know if they can yet. This right here would also explain why D.J. has been relatively quiet when talking about Louisville, and hasn't actually received a scholarship offer yet.

Payne could have hired Wagner as an assistant to his staff, but he said in Wagner's introductory presser that it was never on the table, and that he wanted Wagner to "get his feet wet" first after being out of coaching since 2014. Wagner himself, as expected, also offered no comment on his grandson.

Even with the grey area surrounding this recruitment, and the fact that Kentucky is still very much a major player in it, the Cardinals are still in a very good spot for Wagner. Across both 247Sports and Rivals, he has seven Crystal Ball predictions to Louisville.

"While this situation is continuously evolving, my expectation at this point, based on what I’m hearing, is that Milt Wagner joins Payne’s staff at Louisville and his grandson follows him there at some point," 247Sports' Adam Finkelstein wrote back in April. "It’s far from a sure thing, but enough that I’m making my first Crystal Ball selection in favor of the Cardinals."

(Photo of D.J. Wagner: Peter Ackerman - USA TODAY NETWORK)

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