Kenny Payne believes 2023-24 should be viewed as his first year at Louisville

Louisville’s game at North Carolina on Wednesday evening brought together two coaches in comparable situations having taken over legendary programs as their very first head coaching gigs. Except, Cardinals coach Kenny Payne believes he had a much tougher hill to climb.

Payne made such comments following the Cardinals’ 16-point loss after a reporter asked him about how Louisville’s timeline under his guide looks like compared to that of Hubert Davis, who is putting together his best regular season by far in Year 3 with Carolina.

“I didn’t inherit the same thing he inherited. That’s first,” commented Payne, who is in his second season with his alma mater. “What I inherited was a broken something, and my job is to clean it up.”

Davis replaced Roy Williams after the UNC legend retired following a first round NCAA Tournament loss ended the 2020-2021 season, taking over a Tar Heels roster that featured then-sophomore forward Armando Bacot, now in his senior season, and Oklahoma transfer Brady Manek. Meanwhile, Payne came in following a 2021-2022 season where previous head coach Chris Mack was fired in late January and lost 15 of its final 17 games.

“To answer your question, I don’t really know exactly. But to me, in my in my world, inheriting what I inherited, this is really year one for me,” Payne explained. “Because this is the first time I get to bring my players in, and start the process of rebuilding a program. Other people may see that differently, I don’t know. But that’s how I feel about it.”

Payne wrapped up his thoughts by pointing across the way to the other sideline, noting that he’d love to have started out with a roster like Hubert Davis had in his first season.

“I wish I inherited something similar to what Hubert inherited, because I think he started out slow, but as the year went on, he had a great year,” Payne said.

Davis returned a solid young core off the final Roy Williams team with guys like Bacot, RJ Davis, and Caleb Love alongside a senior leader in Leaky Black. All four of those guys started in the national title game the very next season.

On the other hand, Kenny Payne arrived in the Derby City with Louisville having finished with a much worse record than the final Williams team at UNC. Plus, the Cardinals lost four of their starters and didn’t return a single player who started more than 15 games the year prior to Payne taking the job.