Kenny Payne will keep his job at Louisville "into the new year," evaluation ongoing

Louisville is firmly committed to Kenny Payne — at least through the holiday season.

Amid job security questions with the Cardinals moving to 5-7 on the year following yet another loss to bitter in-state rival Kentucky, Louisville athletic director Josh Heird finally went public Friday. There, he made it clear the on-court results have been “extremely, extremely frustrating” and the evaluation process continues regarding Payne’s future with the program.

But for now, he’s sticking with KP.

“Kenny and I have had a number of conversations throughout the last week, and Kenny is going to serve as our head coach as we move into the new year,” Heird said, via Eric Crawford of WDRB. “And I’m going to do what I do with every one of our programs, which is evaluate what’s happening throughout the season.”

BREAKING | Amid struggles, Louisville AD Josh Heird says Kenny Payne will remain as basketball coach https://t.co/rQtX5LJWle pic.twitter.com/qdEcxEc4Vj

— Eric Crawford (@ericcrawford) December 22, 2023

Heird admits — as all of our eyes can see — Louisville is “a long way” from being great and those are his expectations for Payne or whoever is coaching the team.

“I want this basketball team to be great,” he said. “And it’s a long way from that right now. So I absolutely understand (fan) frustrations. I live it. You know, this is my job … I want us to be a great basketball program, and I’m going to work every day to try to get us back to that point. And I have confidence that we can.”

Until then, conversations will be ongoing with Payne about the trajectory of the program under his watch. Heird clearly expects things to change for the better one way or another.

“I feel confident that Kenny knows where I am, relative to the evaluation of the program,” Heird said. “And that, I think, is one of the things that is hard for anyone to understand. We can’t all be involved in every conversation. But I think I’ve done a good job of being extremely honest with our head coaches. And that sure isn’t going to change, as long as I’m in this position. So, Kenny and I continue to have dialogue, and he understands where he is relative to the head coaching position here.”

John Calipari spoke out in support of Payne following Kentucky’s 95-76 win inside the Yum! Center, telling the Cardinals to give his former assistant time to “do what he does.”

“He’s got a really young team and you got to let him go do what he does. The players love him because they play for him. They never let go of the rope,” Calipari said. “And I’m watching and I feel for him, and you know, but, shoot, we went through it a couple years ago. The people get mean and nasty. They do, and that’s what you have to deal with in this profession. Anytime I text him, coach your team, that’s what I send him. Just coach your team. All the other stuff doesn’t matter.”

Coach Cal guessed that Payne would “have this program within a year where everybody wants it.”

“It’s just the growing pains are miserable. We went through it. Went through it,” he added. “… I feel for him. He’s gonna be fine. And I’ll tell you that when they love you that much, and how they’re responding to them, it’s just a matter of time. And again, I watched the games. I know they lost a couple of bad ones. We did too. We did too. Like I said, I’ve watched the tape, these guys are doing good stuff. 

“I would just say stay with him and let him do what he does. Players love them. Kenny’s like my brother.”

It appears he’s going to get another shot to do that. How long that lasts? Only Josh Heird knows that answer.