AD of having a hard time Louisville says Payne remaining

Jeff Borzello, ESPN Personnel WriterDec 22, 2023, 01:27 PM ET

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• Basketball recruiting expert.
• Joined ESPN in 2014.
• Graduate of University of Delaware.Amid speculation about an imminent coaching change, Louisville athletic director Josh Heird said Friday that guys’s head basketball coach Kenny Payne will stay in place as the Cardinals get in ACC play.Speaking to local Louisville tv station WDRB, Heird compressed the reports

  — for now.” Kenny and I have had a variety of conversations throughout the recently, and Kenny is going to act as our head coach as we move into the brand-new year, “he said. “And I’m going to do what I make with each of our programs, which is assess what’s taking place throughout the season. “Heird’s announcement comes less than 24 hr after Louisville suffered a 95-76

  loss to rival Kentucky, dropping the Cardinals to 5-7 on the season. Following back-to-back losses earlier this month to 1-7 DePaul and 3-7 Arkansas State, the latter coming at home, speculation swirled that Payne was going to be fired and changed by an interim coach for the rest of the season. That didn’t pertain to fruition, and Louisville bounced back with a 22-point win over Pepperdine before losing to Kentucky. “If you have not made some deposits in the bank, people aren’t going to provide you the advantage of the doubt,”Heird informed WDRB.”… If you have not produced that favorable momentum and made some deposits with wins, individuals are going to state that’s an unfavorable. Results matter. They definitely do. So, to answer your concern of is there a method to turn the temperature down beyond winning basketball games? I believe that’s going to be difficult to do, to be truthful with you. “Payne, who played at Louisville and won a national championship with the Cardinals in 1986 before being selected in the first round of the 1989 NBA draft, was named the program’s

  head coach following the 2021-22 season.In Payne’s initial season at the helm, Louisville lost its very first nine games and ended up 4-28. He’s now 9-35 through 1 1/2 seasons.If Louisville were to make a relocation throughout the season,

  it would owe Payne $8 million, the buyout of what’s remaining on the six-year contract he signed when he was worked with, sources told ESPN.The Cardinals do not play again until Jan. 3 when they take a trip to Virginia.