4/19/24: Mo Egger with Pat Kelsey

University of Louisville Men's Basketball Head Coach Pat Kelsey joined us on ESPN1530. 

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
It is twenty nine minutes after fiveo'clock ESPN fifteen thirty on Maegger. When
we last chatted with Pat Kelsey,he was getting ready to coach his Charleston
team in the NCAA tournament, Andabout a week or so after that,
he is announced as the new headbasketball coach at the University of Louisville.
And we sat out loud that day. Well, we've had him on at

(00:21):
Winthrop, We've had him on atCharleston. We've got to get him on
now at Louisville and lo and beholdhere he is. What's going on?
Hey? Mo, it's an honorbe here man, excited to be here
in the hallowed halls of Elder HighSchool as well? Yeah, not bad.
Is this the first moment you've hada chance to like sit down over
the last on an airplane or inmy car? That's about it. But

(00:42):
yeah, it's been it's been awhirlwind. Yeah, but great. How
do you even begone? World one? How do you even begin to describe
what the last three weeks have been? Like? Yeah, you know,
somebody people talk about all the timeabout drinking out of a like you're drinking
out of a fire. Hose witha straw. So there's a little bit
of that, but what what whatI think right now, the way we're

(01:03):
going about is like we're chewing onWe're eating the fire hose. You know,
I'm not worrying about sipping out ofa straw. So my staff's doing
an unbelievable job and you know,implementing our culture, roster management, talent
acquisition, getting our roster set hereover the next month or so, and
love where things are at. Yeah, so it's it's roster construction, talent
acquisition that it would seem to meto take priority. But you got to

(01:26):
assemble a staff. You got yougot the players who are incumbents, Like,
how do you how do you evendivide your time? Yeah, you
know, initially one of the firstthings we did was obviously take time to
meet with all the individuals on thecurrent team. Then you know, obviously
get our staff in. Lucky forme, I have the best staff in
the country, the staff that Ihad at the College of Charleston. I

(01:48):
wouldn't trade for the Boston Celtics oryou know, the LA Lakers. So
the majority of those guys came.There's some different positions that some guys have
been put in hired a few fromthe outside, but that was an easy
decision. You know, those guyswere a big, big, big part
of the success that we had.Somebody told me a long time ago in
business that you don't have to bethe smartest one in the room, but
you better have the smartest room.And the guys that we went to war

(02:14):
with the last several years at Charlestonhelped build one of the best mid major
programs in the country. And thoseguys got well deserved promotions to come to
Louisville and excited to build a championshipprogram. So the portal is reality for
every coach men's, women's You've gotto navigate it. It's what strike me

(02:34):
is a little bit more difficult whenyou're changing schools. Just kind of walk
me through the process of you lookin the portal, there's a player,
we're interested, Let's get him oncampus. How's that work? Yeah,
you know, it's it's different.For years and years and years, recruiting
was a multi year process many times. Right, you start building, you
still do right, You build cultivaterelationships with young players and as they work

(02:58):
their way up, you know,you watch them in the spring, you
watch them in the summer, youget them on campus for unofficial visits,
and then you know, you eventuallyclose them sign them. But now,
in the portal world, a threeyear process sometimes come down comes down to
a three day process or a threeweek process. So obviously it's very important
to comb through the enormous amount ofnames in data and figure out who fits

(03:23):
first of all, from a metricsstandpoint. You know, I'm a big
baseball guy. I love Moneyball,not the movie, the book. I
read the book way before the movie. And we've done a really good job,
I believe, you know, duringour time for the last twelve years
since I've been a head coach ofeven before the transfer, portal transfers were
still a reality, and because ofhow numbers translate at the college level versus

(03:46):
high school, you have that wealthof data and if they hit certain metrics
that moves them on to the nextphase of the evaluation process. Obviously,
you have to find out what makesthem who they are, what makes them
hick, the intangibles, So youhave the measurables and you have the immeasurables.
We love guys with great toughness,competitiveness, basketball IQ. They make
people around them better. They haveadaptability, which is it's fourth and three

(04:11):
play breaks down, can you getthe first down? And you got to
make a lot of calls on that, but you got to do it quickly
because at the same time that sameprospects being hit by twenty five, thirty,
forty fifty other schools. Obviously getthem to campus, have a great
visit and try to close in theIn the nil world, observers from the
outside and maybe some from the insidewill say, well, what players want

(04:32):
to know is what am I goingto make? And maybe that's the case,
maybe it's not beyond that. What'sthe first thing they ask you?
Well, you know, the firstthing you want to do is let them
know who you are as a person, right, and you know that.
They obviously want to know style ofplay, right. They want to know
how you're going to develop them.They want to know how you're going to

(04:55):
use them. They want to knowthe construction of your roster, who you
have, you know, where doyou see me fit? You know those
type things. Coaches can't negotiate numbers, you know, they're not allowed to
talk to a prospect and start talkingabout numbers. You're allowed to tell them
certain things. You're allowed to tellthem what NIL deals your current guys have.
Right, But there's you know,there's other individuals and collectives and things

(05:20):
like that that can talk to theathlete about those type of things. But
it's obviously moved toward more of aprofessional sports model. I'm a firm believer
that, you know, it's stillthere's still purity in college of basketball.
There's still nineteen twenty twenty one,twenty two year old kids that are in
the formative years of their life andyou can help move the needle in their
heart, make them better people,better professionals, better fathers, better husbands.

(05:44):
That'll never change, you know withme. But there's no question that
NIL in the transfer portal have createda seismic shift in our industry. And
if you're not willing to adapt andrun to it, you're going to get
run over. This is one ofthe premier jobs in college basketball. And
I've said, just living here inCincinnati, I think it's always fun when
Louisville's good, because I think thereare a very few metropolitan areas where college

(06:08):
basketball is number one, clear cutnumber one, And to me, that
describes the city of Louisville. Sojust kind of take me through grasping the
enormity of the job. It's ajob with such immense responsibility. You have
a lot of work to do,you have a lot of people who are
invested in your success. And notthat those things weren't the case in your

(06:30):
other stops, but it is abigger deal in Louisville and at the University
of Louisville. So what's taking onall that? Like, Yeah, you
want to be somewhere where it reallyreally matters, right, I mean the
places that I've been throughout my career, basketball was the deal, right,
So at Xavier basketball is the deal. And fan base there is passionate fan

(06:53):
base at Louisville's passionate. You're right, they're probably one of the most passionate
fan bases in all of college basketball. You mentioned the metropolitan area of Louisville.
There's one point two million people inmetropolitan Louisville, and you're right,
it's the biggest in the entire country. Did not have a major professional sports
team. The major professional sports teamis the University of Louisville. And guess
what In the state of Kentucky,they're extremely knowledgeable in the game. So

(07:16):
you got one point two million assistantcoaches out there, right, and that's
good. You know, you don'twant to be somewhere where it doesn't matter
you in any job. You wantto connect with the alums. Louisville's got
a sizable I know Peyton seem isgoing to be yeah on your staff,
which is really cool, above andbeyond the portal and reaching out and assembling

(07:39):
of staff. What has it beenlike in terms of your outreach to all
those former Cardinals? Yeah, theprogram. Yeah, there's a lot of
them, and it's a it's it'san crazy impressive list. I mean you're
talking three national championships, right,Seventy seven draft picks, twenty four first
round draft picks, so that goingin, well, I knew there was

(08:01):
a lot. I know the specificsnow because I make sure I tell recruits
that I think bringing Peyton on boardis a big deal. I met him
the first day I got on campus. He walked into It's amazing, Like,
he doesn't look like the most decoratedplayer in the history of the program.
I mean he's little, he's tallerme, which isn't isn't hard to

(08:22):
do but kind of just carries himselfas an unassuming guy and couldn't have been
nicer. I'm like, hold on, you're Peyton Siva, you know,
twenty thirteen national champion, and he'sbeloved right not only in the fan base
and in the community, but unbelievablyrespected, as you can imagine within basketball
alumni as well. I get youon usually in March when you've won a

(08:46):
conference tournament, and we talk aboutwhat's next, and then we you know,
we spend a few minutes on theReds. And as I was thinking
about this this morning, I'm like, man, coach has probably not watched
one inning. We've played eighteen games. It's like, is that pretty close?
Yeah? Pretty close? Before it, before I left Charleston, I
think Opening Day had happened, andmaybe one other game. I didn't get

(09:07):
the watch opening Day because it's inthe afternoon and I was working at Charleston
trying to get guys out of theportal. But I remember watching a couple
of winnings. I checked the scoreevery night, and it They'll come a
time when life will settle down alittle bit and I'll be able to,
you know, drink a cold beerin the back porch, and and and
uh and and turn on turn onthe game or turn on the radio broadcast.
All right, well, we're rootingfor you. It's awesome that you're

(09:28):
closed for the home. Great thatyou get a chance to spend a few
hours on the West side of Cincinnatitonight. There's nothing like it. This
is home. Being back here isunbelievably special to me, one of the
most special nights of my life.You've you've joined me after you make the
tournament at Winthrop and at Charleston.So if you win the ACC tournament or
if you make it as an atlarge that week, it's mark mark it

(09:50):
down. All right, We're goingto make it happen in my blood,
my purple blood. And did youreally get rid of all your blue stuff?
Purple tonight? Purple tonight red whenI boil the parking good stuff.
Coach, congrats on the gig,rooting for you. Always appreciate your generosity
with us. Thanks Moe, goodseeing your buddy appreciate it. Head coach
at the University of Louisville. Backin town for the annual Elder Sports Tag