Kenny Payne Believes He 'Was On The Right Page' at Louisville

The former head coach of the Cardinals makes his first public comments since being fired.

Mar 12, 2024; Washington, D.C., USA; Louisville Cardinals head coach Kenny Payne looks on from the bench against the North Carolina State Wolfpack in the second half at Capital One Arena. / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When the head coach of a major collegiate athletics program is dismissed from their post, customarily, we usually hear some form of final communication from the dismissed party. Whether it be in the form of a statement or a press conference, more often than not, we usually that coach give some sort of final goodbye.

It's been over two months since Kenny Payne was fired as the head coach of the Louisville men's basketball program, and in that time, we have heard no such goodbye. His last public comments came after the Cardinals' season-ending loss to Boston College in the ACC Tournament, where he essentially threw both his players and UofL fans under the bus.

70-plus days later, Payne has finally broken his silence.

Payne, reunited with John Calipari as the associate head coach at Arkansas, recently sat down for an interview with the Razorbacks fan site Hogs+. In a 96-second clip posted to Twitter/X by Hogs+, Payne discussed his firing at his alma mater.

What proceeded was yet another instance where Payne failed to take any sort of accountability whatsoever, saying that he "was on the right page" at Louisville.

"I'm at Louisville, that was my alma mater. We decided to part ways - they decided to part ways - so you question yourself as a coach," he said. "And then when it's over, the conversations that happen around the country. Numerous NBA teams, numerous college teams and programs say, 'Kenny we want you to be a part of what we're doing. We know exactly what happened.' And then you realize, you know, you really was on the right page."

Of course, as we all know by now, Payne's tenure at Louisville was nothing short of an abject disaster. The second-year head coach, who had previously never been a head coach at any level, finished with just a 12-52 record with the Cardinals. This includes 5-35 in regular season ACC games, 1-28 in road/neutral site games and 0-19 in Quad 1 NET games.

In his first year at the helm during the 2022-23 season, the Cardinals were one of the worst teams in high major basketball, getting blown out on a near-nightly basis and regularly setting new program records for overall futility. They finished just 4-28 overall and 2-18 in ACC play, more than surpassing the program's previous record for most losses in a single season of 20 from the 1997-98 season. UofL finished the 2022-23 season at No. 290 out of 362 Division I teams by KenPom, dipping as low as 305th.

Heading into the 2023-24 season, there was some hope that Louisville could experience a bounce back. Over the offseason, the Cardinals were able to flip the roster, bringing in No. 6 high school recruiting class and the No. 29 transfer portal class per 247Sports, and were able to avoid major punishment in their ongoing NCAA/IARP infractions case.

However, year two under Payne was also plagued by consistent failure. Louisville finished with an 8-24 overall record this past season to clinch back-to-back 20-loss seasons for the first time in program history. They struggled to put away teams in their weak non-conference schedule (309th in D1), and once again clinched dead last in the ACC after going 3-17 in league play. They dipped as low at 221st in KenPom before finishing at 185th.

Payne was officially fired on Mar. 13, with Louisville hiring Charleston head coach Pat Kelsey to replace him just over two weeks later on Mar. 28.

All 12 scholarship players from Louisville's 2023-24 roster entered the portal after Payne was fired, but Kelsey and his staff have done a masterful job on the roster construction front. He is bringing in 12 D1 transfers and one high school prospect, with his portal class ranking No. 1 nationally according toOn3.

(Photo of Kenny Payne: Geoff Burke - USA TODAY Sports)

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