Stop trying to make us like you, Pat Kelsey

DrewFranklinKSR

Louie The Cardinal wears glasses to honor head coach Pat Kelsey during their game against Duke at the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Ky. on Dec. 8, 2024.

Kentucky and Louisville play the first game of the rivalry’s new era in two days, and Pat Kelsey is trying to make me like him. It’s weird. For years, the head coach of Louisville was an easy villain, from that traitor, Rick Pitino, who is wearing UK blue again, to Chris Mack, who we remember for that trash-talking video from his basement and for recording a private conversation with Dino Gaudio.

But now, Louisville has this Pat Kelsey fella, a little ball of energy in black-rimmed glasses. Kelsey has pulled out all of the stops to save that lifeless program in his first months on the job, including parading around campus to beg students to attend Louisville’s games. Give him credit; he’s out there trying to inject his energetic personality into the fan base.

Last night, Kelsey won a press conference with his response to a question about the emotional and mental challenges he’s faced in getting Louisville ready for games against fourth-ranked Duke, UTEP, and fifth-ranked Kentucky in the span of a week. Kelsey replied, “I mean, we get a bunch of free sneakers. I wear sweatsuits to work. My kids are healthy. My wife’s hot. I got a pretty good life”

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Louisville Basketball Head Coach Pat Kelsey was asked what it’s like to face Duke and Kentucky with UTEP in between them:

"I mean, we get a bunch of free sneakers. I wear sweat suits to work. My kids are healthy, my wife's hot."#CollegeBasketball #GoCards pic.twitter.com/igCL9DdPnw
— The College Experience (@TCEonSGPN) December 12, 2024

Objectively, it’s a great response, even the part after he went all Ricky Bobby with the hot wife comment. And I don’t like it. I miss the days of liars and crooks over there. You know, the good ol’ days when the recruiting room was a brothel, and the head coaches on each side of the rivalry hated each other. Louisville’s ceilings are too clean now. Kelsey isn’t scandalous enough for that seat. To my knowledge, he’s not had one FBI investigation. Remember when he apologized to Louisville fans for calling Mark Pope “a really good dude”?

Kelsey may be too nice for the villain role, but he’s still a good fit for Little Brother in the new era of the Kentucky-Louisville rivalry.