Nerve-Wracked Pat Kelsey Calls First Home Game at Louisville an 'Awesome' Environment

The new Cardinals head coach made his KFC Yum! Center debut on Monday against Young Harris College.

Louisville men's basketball coach Pat Kelsey works the sidelines during the team's first exhibition game at the KFC Yum! Center in downtown Louisville, Ky. Oct. 21, 2024. / Matt Stone/Courier Journal/USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Spend any amount of time around Pat Kelsey, and you can deduce pretty quickly that he is a high energy guy, and that he doesn't let his nerves get to him often. In fact, the late Skip Prosser - Kelsey's former boss at Wake Forest, and someone whom Kelsey continues to look up to - once described him as someone who "makes coffee nervous."

This is someone who has coached in multiple conference title games and multiple NCAA Tournaments, and not bat an eye. But this past Monday night against Young Harris College, Kelsey admitted that he might have been "the most nervous I have been as a head coach."

On paper, facing a Division II team in an exhibition matchup is hardly cause to be nervous. But it was more than just that. Nearly seven months after being officially tabbed as the next head coach of the Louisville men's basketball program, this was going to be his first time coaching a game at the KFC Yum! Center - the Cardinals' home floor.

This wasn't the first time he had coached a game with his guys, as Louisville played in a pair of summer exhibition games down in The Bahamas. It also wasn't his first time seeing fans packed at the KFC Yum! Center, considering he saw what that could look like earlier this month at Louisville Live.

Put the two together, and the natural nervousness began to set in.

"I told (athletic director) Josh (Heird) that I have coached hundreds and hundreds of games as a head coach. I have coaches in a bunch of NCAA tournaments and things like that – this preparation today and these hours leading up to this game might be the most nervous I have been as a head coach. I am just being honest.

"It was the culmination of a crazy seven months or so. Just to be out there for the first time, standing out there on those sidelines was so nice. The ovation that we got when we came out was great."

It also didn't help that, in trying to establish a pre-game routine before home games, Kelsey admitted that he was "totally out of sorts." This was partially due to not being familiar with the day-of operations at Louisville, and also, oddly enough, some issues with the showers at the KFC Yum! Center.

“My routine is that after shootaround I just basically go into a hole," he said. "The funny thing is you just get so accustomed to doing to what I have been doing for so long. I was totally out of sorts today. I was trying to figure out my new routine – where I am going to be, where I can be in private, where I can get a shower.  I turned the water on and it took 30 minutes for the shower to get hot. I found out the one next to it is the one that gets hot quicker. That is the stuff you don’t know."

"I usually get my pre-game meal after shootaround, but pre-game meal is at the Kueber Center not here at the KFC Yum! Center, so I was all messed up. My whole routine was messed up. I have a very good sense of how things will be next week. I really appreciate the guys here at the KFC Yum! Center, who busted their tails trying to get the water right in the locker room. They operate with excellence as does our administration as well.”

But once the ball was tipped, all that nervousness quickly subsided, and it was time to get to work. As expected, Louisville rolled past Young Harris to the tune of 106-59, in a manner that was very similar to how The Bahamas games played out. The Cardinals shot a blistering 24-of-56 on three-point attempts, and assisted on 27 of their 40 made field goals.

Afterwards, while Kelsey had plenty to say about his team's performance, he was quick to give a shoutout to the 10,928 in attendance at the KFC Yum! Center that helps subside his nervousness.

“It was awesome," he said. "I think the crowd really, really appreciated how we were playing. Guys were playing hard as heck, they were sharing the ball, they were banging shots, it was exciting.

"It was the first time I heard the Yum! roar. What do they call it in Augusta National? The Tiger roar? The Yum! roar, I’m down for it. I’m hoping to have plenty more as we move forward here, but that was a really cool moment.”

Louisville will wrap up exhibition play next Monday, Oct. 28 at 7:00 p.m. EST against Spalding before tipping off the regular season.

(Photo of Pat Kelsey: Matt Stone/Courier Journal/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)

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