Louisville falls 80-64 to VA Tech, be honest, did anyone think Kenny Payne would be THIS bad of a head coach ?
- Thread starter Uncle Adolph
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He did somewhat better this year win total wise but it’s been constant drama. I can’t see him with a job this time next month.
Let's hope they give him one more year.
I never bought into the hype that they'd be instantly good and would just start reeling off wins as if Ptino just left. But, I thought they'd be a .500 team last year and win 20 with an outside shot at making the dance this year.
KP is probably ruined as a head coach unless he's willing to start over at a much lower level as in not D1. I look for him to land a P5 assistant job or head back to the NBA as a career assistant.
KP is probably ruined as a head coach unless he's willing to start over at a much lower level as in not D1. I look for him to land a P5 assistant job or head back to the NBA as a career assistant.
Ouch, but think about this for a second. What do we do here? Because is he not running anything that we have done in practice for like 15 years? Did he only recruit and be a father figure to players? It’s so hard to believe after all their time in coaching he’s THAT bad.
To be honest, I said it day one. Even when UK fans would discuss him taking over for Calipari, I would always push back. I said KP is a number 2 guy at best. I could see it clear as day when he’d take over for Calipari, he was just happy to be standing there. Never looked like HC material. I said he’d bomb at Louisville when he accepted the job. Our recruits made him look a lot better than he was.
I also think he’s one of the most overrated names we’ve ever had. Not because he’s the worst, but we really overrate him as a 2 guy too. He didn’t recruit much for us and I don’t buy into a lot of the development talk.
Case of a guy that did well with the connections he had, then the liked factor took over. And Calipari knew he’d bomb out that’s why he promoted him to get the job. The last thing Calipari wants is a competitive coach at Louisville in the situation he’s in. Losing to them on top of the sluggish seasons would be too much.
I also think he’s one of the most overrated names we’ve ever had. Not because he’s the worst, but we really overrate him as a 2 guy too. He didn’t recruit much for us and I don’t buy into a lot of the development talk.
Case of a guy that did well with the connections he had, then the liked factor took over. And Calipari knew he’d bomb out that’s why he promoted him to get the job. The last thing Calipari wants is a competitive coach at Louisville in the situation he’s in. Losing to them on top of the sluggish seasons would be too much.
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Kenny Payne should have entered the head coaching ranks in his early-mid 40s at a mid-major level school. KP is in over his head with this job coming off the mess that he inherited. Not exactly an ideal situation for any coach starting out, much less an unproven one that was already in his 50s. I thought there might be a shot of him landing decent talent like Penny Hardaway & Juwan Howard have done but was wrong.
They are 25-69 in the last three seasons. Will likely soon be 25-71. The last three seasons:
8-22
4-28
13-19
8-22
4-28
13-19
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I really like him, but I have never been impressed with his coaching ability, even before he took the Louisville job. Many always said he was a great coach, but without ever being around the staff and practices, how can you ever really know?
He's done a great job at shutting down future arguments for an assistant to take over for whoever is the coach of Kentucky
and that's a good thing
and that's a good thing
Louisville is so bad right now that Indiana fans are like "we need to do this and do that, or risk becoming another Louisville."
I never thought he’d be successful as a head coach. I didn’t think he’d be this bad though. Some guys are great assistants, great recruiters, but not head coach material. Vince Marrow is another of those guys imo. Great in the role he has but not made to be a HC.
The one from Cal’s coaching tree that did surprise me was Orlando. I thought he was going to be successful HC but was wrong about that.
The one from Cal’s coaching tree that did surprise me was Orlando. I thought he was going to be successful HC but was wrong about that.
We thought Covid was bad, ughhh. I mean it was but that’s like living it over and over and over.
I think they need to give him 5 more years to see if he can turn things around. Firing him would set them back 10 years.
Some guys are built to be assistant coaches, nothing wrong with that
True, but I will say, he was never a great recruiter here. That’s alarming to me because if you’re going to hire from the Calipari tree you might want to make sure the coach was at least part of amassing talent with Calipari.
Also alarming to me the amount of people who don’t realize Payne did not like recruiting. It seems like most Louisville fans don’t realize this fact either. The guy really wasn’t a recruiter for UK.
Payne is a Calipari guy who was here during a time when OAD athletes ruled the landscape. It’s astonishing to me how many people still think he’s responsible for developing those bigs during that era too.
What Louisville has done is expose just how little Payne understands about coaching in basketball, and I don’t think that stops as a head coach.
I did think he would be able to recruit. He can't even do that. But another case of he is one of our own so lets hire him.
I'm not sure I agree with that. Kenny was named the 2nd best recruiter in college basketball by 247 when he was at UK. Other coaches speak highly of his recruiting:
“Obviously Kenny is known as a great recruiter, but many people don’t see how he holds guys accountable and pushes buttons to get the best out of them. Kenny is super connected and is at the forefront of what Kentucky is getting done on the recruiting trail. I think it’s truly amazing! He’s got a great way about him.” – SEC assistant
What makes you say he wasn't a great recruiter?
I didn’t think he was going be winning the acc and going to FFs, but I thought he’d at least be competitive. Never expected 12 total wins in 2 seasons. I really thought he’d do a good job building a team through the portal, but that has been a major fail.
Kenny needs time.
Microwave society.
Give him time.
Firing him will set Louisville back twenty-five years. They wish they could go back ten.
Microwave society.
Give him time.
Firing him will set Louisville back twenty-five years. They wish they could go back ten.
Has any of Cal's assistants had any success on their own? That should tell you something.
I really had no great expectations with KP at UofL but I didn't expect nearly anything this bad. Mack left a mess but it's hard to defend how bad KP was out of the gate. UofL, despite what they might think, is not a blue blood but despite what UK fans, it's right there on next tier of 10 or so programs. They have a passionate fanbase for basketball, playing in top notch facilities. For someone who has a reputation as a great recruiter, he had a head start to hit the portal, get desperately needed guards and with the enthusiasm for a new coach and someone of his reputation, Louisville easily could have been the destination for a lot of high-end kids looking to transfer but he sat back and did nothing. It was inexplicable and a wasted opportunity because after that first year the enthusiasm was gone and he was already seen as dead man walking. His career was already over before they played their first game.
1986 will always be a stinger. The sympathy meter is at level zero in the Neue household at the Cards demise. I do hate it for Nolan Smith though.
He couldn’t recruit the first year with possible probation coming their way. Then He had such a miserable year that He couldn’t recruit the second year! It was a no win situation! I feel for Kenny but not for UL!😜
The dude literally doubled his win total from year 1 to year 2. 100% increase in wins. How many active D1 coaches have ever achieved that?
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