LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Pat Kelsey era has begun at the University of Louisville and his energetic spirit is already being felt throughout the community and “Card Nation.”
His positivity and willingness to coach at Louisville was felt throughout his jam-packed press conference on Thursday.
Kelsey recalled a funny moment with athletic director Josh Heird before flying to Louisville for the official announcement of his hiring.
“Coaches don’t like turnovers – whether it’s football or basketball. Turnovers are a bad thing. Josh picked me up in an aircraft this morning in Charleston, South Carolina about 10:27 and I committed my first turnover – hopefully it would be the last for the day. I walk up to him and I’m tucking my shirt [and I] had the slightest, I’m talking the slightest tint of blue. And he goes, ‘how far is your house from here?’
Needless to say, it would inspire Kelsey to lose everything blue after seeing the sea of red at his introduction.
“Every piece of blue has been eliminated from my wardrobe,” he said Saturday on X. “The revival has begun. The ReviVILLE has begun. The passion in the minds and hearts of Card Nation is like no other.”
Despite Kelsey not having the biggest name in the coaching world, fans feel his high energy can propel the program forward after a tumultuous two years.
Kelsey met with Cardinals basketball staff on Friday, laying out what we could expect from him as a coach.
“Where do you think most people are? If there’s few over there in the losing and there’s few over there in the winning – where are most teams, most people, most organizations, where [are] they at? Somewhere in the middle,” Kelsey said. “It’s called the mountain of average. I ain’t interested in that. One percent. One percent – that’s where you’re fighting to be. If you want to be special and want to be elite – 1%. If winning was easy, everybody could do it. But the fight to be in the 1%, there’s a way to go about it. That’s how I rock. I love my players. I back my players, I will do anything for them, but I hold them accountable.”
Kelsey is eager to begin a new era of Cardinals basketball and has already landed his first transfer.
Reyne Smith from the College of Charleston is officially joining the program.
The 6-foot-2 guard from Ulverstone, Australia averaged 12.8 points per game during his junior year with the Cougars.
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