Report: Kenny Payne, Louisville steal key Duke assistant for first major hire

In hopes of restoring Louisville‘s men’s basketball program, new head coach Kenny Payne is off to a pretty strong start at his alma mater. While Payne has already convinced three Cardinals’ players to return for next season, the coach is now starting to assemble his inaugural staff – and he has made his first hire.

According to Marc Spears of ESPN, Payne has hired Duke assistant coach Nolan Smith to be his associate head coach at Louisville. Smith – who also played for the Blue Devils – is a Louisville native, as his late father, Derek, was a standout for the Cardinals.

After a successful run on Mike Krzyzewski’s staff at Duke, Smith is now set to return home and help Payne build back Louisville’s program – which took a step backwards under former head coach Chris Mack.

Smith, 33, played four seasons at Duke from 2007-2011 – averaging 13.4 points over the span of his career with the Blue Devils. He was selected 21st overall in the first round of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers and played a couple of NBA seasons before taking the overseas route.

Smith joined Duke’s staff in February of 2016 as the special assistant before being promoted to director of basketball operations and player development in March of 2018. He became an assistant coach under Krzyzewski in April of 2021.

Louisville basketball loses fourth player to NCAA Transfer Portal

While three players under former head coach Chris Mack have already publicly announced that they’re coming back to Louisville to play for Kenny Payne, four other players have decided to take the transfer portal route – with the latest addition being guard Noah Locke, per On3’s Matt Zenitz and Jamie Shaw.

Locke, a 6-foot-3 guard, averaged 9.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game for the Cardinals last season after transferring from Florida – where he put up 10.6 points per game in 2020-2021.