Kenny Payne Sets Good First Impression With Current Louisville Players

Payne was officially named the head coach of the Cardinals on Friday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A new era of Louisville men's basketball is here. This past Friday, former Cardinal and longtime Kentucky assistant coach Kenny Payne was officially named the program's next head coach.

His introductory press conference featured a who's who of noteworthy and influential figures in attendance, including numerous former Louisville players and coaches, mayor Greg Fischer and governor Andy Beshear.

While most of Louisville's current roster was out of town on spring break, a trio of current Cards were in attendance: El Ellis, Dre Davis and Jae'Lyn Withers.

The presser was not the first time meeting their new head coach. Just beforehand, the three spent "45 minutes to an hour" talking to Payne in the locker room at the KFC Yum! Center.

When asked about his first impression of Payne, Davis simply replied with "Wow," with Ellis also saying that he "liked what he had to say."

During his press conference, Payne continuously preached a message of humility that he had been chosen to lead his alma mater. He conveyed this exact same message to Ellis, Davis and Withers.

"He's really just been down to Earth, just trying trying to get to know me, trying to get to know us, asks us how things went," Ellis said.

Instead of using the meeting to tell the players what kind of program he would be running, Payne took the opportunity to try and relate to the player regarding the hardship they had just endured. Louisville went 13-19 last season, and mutually parted way with Chris Mack in January.

"Having the meeting that we did was the right way to go about things," Davis said. "Not to come in and say, "this is what I want to do," but more so just saying I understand what you've been through."

Ellis and Davis finished the 2021-22 campaign as Louisville's third and fourth leading scorers, respectively, at 8.7 and 7.4 points per game. Withers struggled through much of the season, putting up only 5.8 points, but finished strong down the stretch.

All three have the opportunity to enter their names into the transfer portal, something that isn't uncommon in college basketball following a coaching change. Louisville has already seen one player enter the portal in reserve big man Gabe Wiznitzer.

But for the time being, the trio - and the rest of the team - are committed to building a relationship with their new head coach, and are playing out the process.

"I'm just going to try to build the best relationships I can, and right now, I'm going to try to build that relationship with coach Kenny," Ellis said. "I'm just going to take it day by day, continue to talk to him, and maybe I don't have to enter the portal. If I build a great enough relationship there, I probably don't need it."

(Photo of Kenny Payne: Scott Utterback - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)

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