Report: Charleston's Pat Kelsey, Louisville Agree to 5-Year Contract as New MCBB HC

The University of Louisville has reportedly agreed to hire the College of Charleston's Pat Kelsey as its next men's basketball coach.

According to ESPN's Pete Thamel, Louisville "has agreed in principle to a five-year deal" with Kelsey.

Kelsey, 48, has been at Charleston for the last three seasons. He's led the Cougars to two straight NCAA tournament appearances and posted a 75-28 record.

Before heading to Charleston in 2021, Kelsey spent nine seasons at Winthrop. The Eagles made two NCAA tournaments under Kelsey and went 23-2 in his final season with the program.

Kelsey has not won a March Madness game in four tries and will have an uphill battle rebuilding the Louisville program after the disastrous Kenny Payne tenure. Payne went 12-52 in his two seasons as Cardinals head coach, the worst two-year stretch in program history since Lawrence Apitz went 2-33 from 1938-39 to 1939-40.

Louisville has been in a downward spiral since the unceremonious exit of Rick Pitino in 2017. David Padgett served as a lame-duck coach in 2017-18 after Pitino's ouster before Chris Mack took over the program for a disappointing four-year stretch. Nothing compared to the complete collapse under Payne, who went 4-28 in his first season before an 8-24 mark in 2023-24.

Kelsey was not Louisville's first choice as Payne's replacement. The program went hard at Baylor's Scott Drew and Florida Atlantic's Dusty May before landing on Kelsey. May chose an offer at the University of Michigan, while Drew chose to stay at Baylor.

Eight Louisville players are already in the transfer portal, so odds are Kelsey will be looking at another rough year or two ahead before he can turn things around.