ESPN REPORT: Details on Kenny Payne suspension.
Kenny Payne, the men’s basketball head coach of Louisville, has left the team after two seasons in which he guided the Cardinals to a 12-52 record.
Following the Cardinals’ season-ending 94-85 loss to North Carolina State in the ACC tournament’s opening round, Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 was the first to break the news on Tuesday.
Pete Thamel of ESPN and John Fanta of Fox Sports were among those who subsequently verified the information.
Over the previous two years, the Cardinals were 5-35 in ACC play, finishing last in the league each time.
Payne came to Louisville with an outstanding résumé. In the 1980s, he was a prominent player for the Cardinals, helping them win the national championship in 1985–86. In the 1989 NBA draft, the small forward was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 19th pick overall, and he spent four seasons playing for them.
Since 2004, Payne has been a coach. He began his career at Oregon before moving to Kentucky in 2010 to join John Calipari’s staff. After being elevated to associate head coach in 2014, he left to work as an assistant to Tom Thibodeau with the New York Knicks in 2020.
Payne took over for Chris Mack after two years, after the two of them decided to separate ways in January 2022.
Payne appeared to be a good fit for Louisville on paper. Sadly, the group has reached rock bottom. The team’s record during these two years is the lowest it has been since 1939–1941, when it finished 3-32.
And so Louisville’s coaching wheel keeps turning. The city has experienced a lot of upheaval since the contentious, scandalous, and abrupt conclusion of the Rick Pitino era.
The school is “expected to owe Payne around $8 million” for the buyout portion of a six-year contract signed in 2022, according to Thamel and ESPN’s Jeff Borzello.
Louisville hasn’t played in a playoff tournament for five straight seasons, the longest such streak since 1951–1958.
