The University of Louisville officially announced the hire of Pat Kelsey to lead the men's basketball program in a press conference at 3:30 Thursday afternoon. The 48-year-old Kelsey, who hails from Cincinnati, Ohio, comes to the Cardinals after previous coaching stops at Winthrop (2012-2021) and College of Charleston (2021-2024) in which he has compiled an overall head coaching record of 261-122. Before embarking on his head coaching journey, Kelsey served as assistant coach for 5 years (2004-2009) under the famed Skip Prosser at Wake Forest University, before moving on to an associate head coaching position at Xavier University under former Louisville head coach Chris Mack (2009-2011).

Kelsey led College of Charleston to the NCAA Tournament each of the past two seasons, finishing with records of 31-4 and 27-8. When asked how he planned on rejuvenating the program after a 12-52 overall program record the past two seasons, he stated "As soon as this press conference is over. We got to speed this thing up. I got work". As a lifelong Cardinals fan, it is refreshing to hear motivated coaches talking about getting to work immediately on securing commitments from players in the transfer portal and re-recruiting players left over from this past season's Louisville roster. In Kelsey's own words, "If you don't plan on winning, don't put on your shoes".

Louisville fans, buckle up. This is going to be a fun ride.