Louisville basketball has its new head coach, College of Charleston’s Pat Kelsey. Wednesday afternoon Kelsey made a verbal agreement with the athletic department at Louisville to become the new coach of the Cardinals according to mlultiple national reorts. The terms of the contract, a five-year deal, will be approved by the U of L Athletic Association’s Board of Directors late on Thursday.
Before the move, Kelsey served as the coach at Charleston for three years. While there, he compiled some impressive stats, leaving with a 75-27 record and a .735 winning percentage. In the 2022-2023 season, his program won a school-record 31 games ending a 5-year absence from the NCAA Tournament. This year his team went 27-8 and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year, the first time since the 1997-99 seasons.
Prior to his stint with the Cougars, Kelsey spent nine years at Winthrop, where he was the fifth all-time winningest coach in the history of the Big South Conference. He resurrected the basketball tradition at Winthrop, averaging 21 wins per season over nine years. No other Big South program had more wins overall or more conference wins in that time span.
Originally from Cincinnati, Kelsey graduated cum laude in 1998 from Xavier University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and marketing. He began his collegiate playing career at the University of Wyoming, before transferring and playing three seasons at point guard for the Musketeers from 1995 to 1998.
Kelsey is very well respected in the coaching community. Many coaches and analysts have given him high praise. According to Jay Bilas, an ESPN College Basketball Analyst, “Pat Kelsey is a great coach. He is an energetic teacher, recruiter, strategist, and he is a principled leader. Pat is demanding and encouraging, and puts each player in a position to be successful. Players don’t just play for Pat Kelsey, he works tirelessly for his players.”
Kelsey and his wife, Lisa, have three children: Ruthie, Caroline, and Johnny.