Pat Kelsey talks Transfer Portal, NIL, his ability to 'dominate where his feet are'

New U of L Men's Basketball Coach Pat Kelsey discusses the Transfer Portal and the passion of the fanbase being a huge help, his ability to coach and recruit at this level, the future of NIL, and more...

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're with this radio eight forty whaswe're going to ask our next guest if
he can identify the music he's hearingright now, guest on the phone,
can you hear that music? Dohear the music? Well, that's supposedly
one of your heroes. We weretaking it off of a poll that said
you were a jay Z guy.Jay Z is my guy. There's no

(00:22):
question. If my daughters were listeningto it, and I got little girls
who are now young in high school, they would when he heard the beginning
of it, they may go alittle warf and Annie, but I'm going
jay Z to make sure I stayrelevant, stay cool with my players and
recruits. Pat Kelsey, it isgreat to have you as part of this

(00:42):
Louisville program. I mean, obviouslyeverybody was thrilled with the press conference to
launch this thing. One of thefunniest lines ever has to be assigned to
Josh Herd when he lands at theairport. You've got a shirt with a
tint of blue in it, andhe says, how far is your house
from here? Everybody here gets thatstate right away, there's no question.

(01:02):
So they addressed my shirt and thenI go over to the football office,
and death's over there. Man,he couldn't have been nicer to my son
and I and I sit down andone of the staffers over there saw kind
of some blue stripes in my socks. Then I got blasted for having stinking
blue socks and they weren't even blue, they just had a like stripe on
it. That's when it kind ofhit me, like, it's no joke

(01:23):
around here. This red this redthings for real. It's such a revered
franchise. You know, it's ait's a logo, it's a it's a
statement. Louisville basketball is so muchit's in the bone marrow of people here,
and so you know, we're veryprotective about with you know, putting
it in someone's hands. And we'reso glad to see you emerge as a

(01:45):
guy so passionate about the game andbringing so much energy right out of the
gates. It's powerful, and youknow, we're just delighted to have you
here. So we've got a fewquestions for you as always. First,
we know, you know, we'refamiliar with the guys that we're here with
this last team and they're all inthe transfer portal. Are you going to

(02:07):
keep any contact or are you allowedto keep contact with them while they're in
this transition period because they can return. Yeah. So the way the way
I say it, and I thinkit's important to kind of lay out the
land as to the landscape of collegebasketball in this day and age, and
the way I like to say it, this is great that it's this way.

(02:28):
The student athlete has never ever beenin more more empowered than they are
right now. You know, withinthe with the advent of nil, their
ability to to generate personal income andrevenue for themselves and to get kind of,
as you would like to say,sort of a piece of the pie.
And it absolutely positively should be thatway. The second thing is,

(02:49):
you know the ease of transfer.There was forever in a day to transfer
you could only transfer once and ifyou did, you had to sit out
and then you know, probably inthe l two years, three years,
I can forget what it was.You can now transfer whenever the heck you
want, and I don't know whyyou shouldn't be able to. I think
that's a great rule as well.I mean, heck, I was at

(03:12):
another institution ten days ago and hadan opportunity of a lifetime to go to
a school like Louisville, which isan unbelievable opportunity. So why shouldn't it
be that way for the student athlete? You know, Coaching recruiting basketball business,
I mean, it's obviously about relationships, and relationships are built over a

(03:37):
long time. Most of the youngmen on our roster obviously were recruited by
other coaches. You know, theymade the decision which I totally totally respect
and get elsewhere to enter the transferportal. They have to do what's best
for them and their family. Andme, being a new coach come in

(03:57):
and I might have might you know, not registering, I might not correlate
with with every student athlete. SoI obviously have to do what's best for
Louisville basketball as it moves forward withme at the help. So we've worked
through a lot of those meetings overthe last couple of days, and uh,
you know, I like where thingsare at from a recruiting standpoint.

(04:17):
My staff is busting their tails aswe obviously pour through the transfer portal on
a daily basis, evaluate prospect,identify, and then go after with everything
we got. And you know,I'm excited over the next four or five
weeks as everything falls into place toput a championship caliber team together and get

(04:41):
rocked in on building this team.Yeah, I feel like people are enjoying
these little pieces that we're hearing aboutTerrence Edwards Junior. Obviously, you're bringing
a couple of guys in from Charleston, Rain Smith and James Scott. We're
you know, we don't know,we don't know much about them. We're
learning quickly, and everybody's online,right, well, this guy can do
this and he likes ham sandwiches orwhatever. It is finding out everything they
can about each guy. And that'sthe passion of this program. You're gonna

(05:03):
you're gonna see every day, dude, it's always basketball season. It really
is. I can't mention specific playersobviously from a rule standpoint, but but
yeah, and I mentioned this onanother interview as well. Uh, the
passion of the Louisville fan base isa major factor for us in recruiting.

(05:27):
That is true. Like, obviouslywe sell the heck out of it.
I mean that it hit me betweenthe eyes when when when I got off
that plane, there's cameras in myface and there's live feets going all over
around Louisville. I walk into restaurantsand people break out into the go Kards
chant. A guy starts getting recruitedby us and just gets bombarded by Louisville
fans on social media. I mean, some of these home visits you do.

(05:49):
When that comes up, it's abig smile on those guys' faces,
and they feel it. They feelthe love, they feel the passion that
is Louisville basketball. There's no questionabout it, right. I Mean we
have, you know, weather incidents, We have all kinds of things that
go on in this city that peoplewould be talking about. But if I
walk into a store and I'm wearinga cardinal on my chest, someone says
right away, what do you thinkof the new coach? I mean,

(06:11):
that's their first question. So it'severybody's all in. They just want to
know and want to see this thingmove up, because, frankly, Pat,
it's been a dumpster fire for longenough. And I'm not slamming on
Kenny. I'm just talking about thechallenges from the NCAA, the other things
that have come up that have justdragged all of us down, and it's
like being stomped on for months andnow we feel like you're our guy.

(06:34):
You're wearing the boxing gloves. We'reputting you in the ring to bring this
thing back. Well, yeah,you know, I appreciate it. You
know, Coach Bain is an iconhere at the University of Louisville, national
champion, you know, and Ihave so much darn respect for him.
And when you talk to people inthe department around the community, they talk

(06:57):
about his character and his humility andthings like that. So much respect for
him. As it pertains to,you know, the mission as we move
forward. Yes, it's too torestore, right. I came up with
this little slogan called revival and thelast part of the word is the V
I l l E the revive illif you will. And you just feel
it simmering, right, You justfeel it bubbling at the surface, and

(07:25):
when when it hits, this placeis going to explode like it's never exploded
before. And I used it happens. I'm not a big sleeper, obviously,
I'm a human being, so Igot to get some sleep every night.
But when I go to bed atnight and I'm staring at that ceiling,
you know, I envision what it'slike when it hits and it's coming.

(07:48):
I'm so happy and proud and excitedto be at the helm of this
elite, tradition, rich organization.And you know, I won't sleep well
until we're back at the top ofcollege basketball, excited about the challenge.
Okay, Ian Vertriees is also hereat work with me, And you have
a question for coach, Yeah,a coach, Welcome to the Ville.

(08:09):
First off, but I kind ofwant to know about that transition that you're
going through. And a lot ofbig programs like Louisville, when they get
a new coach, people start toworry, you know, oh, we
got to go get another power fiveguy. Well, not everybody starts as
a power five guy. They hadto come up from the mid major at

(08:30):
some point. Most of the time. What is that transition like because people
worry, you know, can yourecruit at this level? I'm guessing coaching
is coaching no matter what level you'reon. But how has the transition been
for you from Charleston to Louisville?Is it is it really that much different
or is it kind of one ofthose things where the resources that you have

(08:52):
now might make some of that stuffa little easier than it might have been
there. Yeah, I mean jobas a head coach, when you're at
the helm of an organization, whetherit was at when I got my first
head coaching job twelve years ago,it was at the College of Charleston.
Has figured out a way to beelite where you're at and to win where
you're at and dominate where you're at. When I say and have done that,

(09:20):
you know, we have a greatwinning tradition. We have a recipe,
we have a way, we havea DNA, we have a culture,
we have a process that we reallyreally believe in. You know,
you mentioned high major experience. Imean I think that's a little bit of
a misnomer to say I don't havethat experience. My first eight years in
the business were at Wake Forest,and you know we during that eight years

(09:41):
there and I was started as directorof basket Operations. I said it at
my press conference. Skip Prosser hiredme when I was twenty eight years old
as the assistant coach at the wakefor at wake Forest when there was only
nine programs and twenty seven total spotsas an assistant coach and at the time
or in the greatest tradition of basketballconferences, ever, and you know,

(10:05):
I had a ton of success recruitingmultiple McDonald's, all Americans. We recruited
a ton of pros during that time. It was the greatest run in the
history of Wake Forest basketball. Iwas the associate head coach at Xavier,
you know, as you know,that's a premier program as well in the
country. Had a lot of successthere. So you know, although as

(10:28):
a head coach, that's where I'vebeen the last twelve years. We've crushed
it where we're at, which iswhat we talk about all the time.
Kill it where you're at, whereyour feet are playing it. But you
know, to have a decade atthe power five level, you know,
I can't tell what fans what tothink and how to feel, but I'd
sleep like a baby that we knowwhat the crap we're doing and we're gonna
get this thing done. You're listeningto Pat Kelsey's new head basketball coach at

(10:52):
the University of Can I say,Can I say crap on the radio?
You've already said it. It's alreadyalready said it. It's done this Terry
miners again, coach, Let's talkabout the nil you mentioned. Obviously,
it's a different universe now than itwas two years ago. So each year
we're going to ask people to throwsome love in for the NFL, the

(11:13):
NIL, the five oh two circle, And are you worried at all?
If there's there's going to become aweariness factor with this because we all heard
what Nick Saban said. Kids arecoming in and saying what am I getting?
And it's kind of scary. It'sgotta be for all of you coaches
in every sport. Yeah, youknow, I think a term I use
a lot is the advantage of nochoice. As I told my staff at

(11:37):
the front of the NIL sort ofrevolution, as you will a couple of
years ago. We're going to runtoward it. You know, there might
be I'm not trust me, I'msure is heck not saying Nick Saban is
a get off my lawn guy byany stretch. But you know what I
mean. I mean, if you'regonna if you're gonna sulk and pout and
complain about it and say woe isme? And this is this, this

(11:58):
isn't well, your butt's gonna getrung and over And if it's not going
to get run over, you betterjust get the crap out of the way.
I said it again. I'm sorry. So so yeah, I'm sorry.
I'm done with I'm done with thatfor you. So so I just
think you have to you have torun toward it and you embrace it.
Are their concerns, like you mentioned, are there things that you think,
you know, it could be hinterest, a potholes that yeah, I mean,

(12:24):
ship happens. And this was aseismic shift, the biggest mix shift
in the history of our industry.Nobody knows yet exactly how this whole thing's
gonna before our eyes. And ifyou don't embrace it and run toward it,
then then again you have no chanceto be successful. The weak thing
about this university our administration, Joshuh, the phenomenal passion owners of Louisville

(12:50):
basketball as they get that, look, you got to win. First of
all. It's important that that youknow, we put a wing on the
floor, we build this thing,gain momentum, continue to have people get
excited and they see success what theyare going to see. And again,
man, from the bottom of myheart, I think Louisville fans what they've

(13:11):
done, whether it's a major contributionof a million dollars or if it makes
you if it pushes you a littlebit to do fifty. Every single contribution
matters. But what I want Louisvillefans to know, and I want Cardinal
Nation to know, is we're goingto be a program that, you know,

(13:31):
that has a sense of gratitude.I have some of the best facilities
in college basketball. I almost getfall over every day when I walk in
there and I see, you know, I see the dormitories and the practice
facility, the Young Center, andyou know, we're going to be a
program that wins and wins the rightway. It has a humility about us

(13:52):
and appreciation for the blessings that wehave as being a part of this tradition
rich program, right, Coach,And you don't have to build it from
from your imagination. I mean thosephotos in your office, those are real.
That's not AI generator. That's ajammed Young Center, people screaming,
the miracle on Main Street, allthese things that have happened in there with

(14:13):
twenty two thousand screaming people and otherpeople who can't get in. So the
fan base is there, it's amatter of wooing them to come home.
There's no question. I mentioned kindof the analogy of it's boiling, right,
it's simmering at the surface. Andobviously it's been challenging and it's been

(14:35):
tough the last couple of years,but the passion of Louisville basketball has never
ever gone away. You know,I look at like, you know,
NC State as they make this run, right, and God bless them like
they were they were they were Theywere hung out the dry with the last
couple of games in the season,and people were talking about the coach being

(14:56):
on the hot seat. And thenyou know, they the team Alvani,
they come together, they get ona roll, and here they are playing
in the stinking Final four. Andit hit me when they panned up into
the crowd and CBS shows NC Statefans, which is a proud fan base.
I mean, trust me, I'mvery biased, and I don't think

(15:16):
it holds a candle to the prestigeand the passion that Louisville basketball has.
But man, that's a program that'swon a national championship, that's been down,
you know, not down and out, but down, and people are
literally literally terry crime, I meansobbing, holding each other. It's families,
it's generations, and that's what's here. That passion is what's here with

(15:41):
Louisville Basketball and people. People wanthope, They want to be able to
believe, they want to be ableto see progress, they want to be
able to believe in something. Andthat's what we're working tirelessly around the clock
to do, to give hope,to build a winner, and to put
this program back in its right whoplace as one of the premier programs in

(16:03):
the country. Well, your energyand passion for this shows and everywhere I
go people are telling me how excitedthey are about this. So we're just
looking forward to letting you do yourthing and then and just keep talking to
us, let and form the publicbecause we have been in a communications void
and so it's nice to have aguy like you who doesn't mind talking about

(16:23):
what's going on. Yeah, howcool is how cool? Is it?
Like? I mean, I'm textingwith Daryl Griffith, I'm texting, I'm
communicating with Lani Ali. Jack Harlowecalls me the other day, Spider Mitchell,
Are you kidding me? Yeah?Those are your friends. Like,

(16:44):
yeah, I guess my kids thinkI'm cool now because Jack Harlowe calls me.
That's right, that's right. Thoseare your name and and and you
were hitting some jay Z at thebeginning. I appreciate. Yeah, well
we're not gonna object if he's sittingcourtside, by the way, So yeah,
I'll through out the invite. Yeah, bring your friends, we'll get
we'll get my guy Jay there atsome point. All Right, we'll be
talking soon, fellas. Fellas,I really appreciate you having me on.

(17:07):
Okay, car up, we'll betalking to you soon. Thanks so much,
see you, Pat. All right. Pat Kelsey new head coach for
the University of Louisville basketball team.