Who's the kid here? Who's the kid here? Are you kidding me?
Now? Here's Nick Coffee? All right, let's get it started. Ladies
and gentlemen, welcome into a Thursday edition Coffee and Company, fuel by Thornton's
here on Sports Talk seven ninety A warm Thursday eighty seven is not like crazy
when it comes to heat. But we've been really, really spoiled in the
last i don't know week or so seemingly with nice cool temperatures for early June.
But the heat is going to be here soon once again, and I'm
not happy about it. But again, it is a beautiful day. I'll
take that. And we've got a busy three hours with you guys coming up
here in thirty minutes. At three thirty, we are going to welcome in
Pat Kelse, Louisville basketball coach. He'll be making his Coffee and Company debut.
I'm sure a big honor for him. But in all seriousness, I'm
looking forward to to chatting with him. And you know, I'm gonna try
to make this conversation interview whatever you want to call it. I mean,
technically it's both right, it's an interview, but we will have a conversation
throughout the time that I get with him, but I'm gonna get to some
basketball stuff obviously, get his impressions on the personnel that he's brought in.
I mean, the guy built a brand new roster thirteen scholarship players added since
he got the job, so I'm sure he's still learning a lot about these
guys, but just some early impressions, right, because if you think about
the process of recruiting players in the portal, and we'll get his thoughts on
this, it's such a fast moving thing for a lot of these guys,
right, they're gonna get hit up by countless schools, even if they're not
guys who at that point in their career have put together like a really good
stat line. But I'm just curious, like when you get to see these
in a previous world, when you were recruiting, it was all high school
kids, right, Like, you weren't out looking in the portal. You
had to go recruit high school kids when you were building your roster. The
new additions every year, ninety nine percent of the time were guys that you
watched in high school, so you probably watched them play many times in aau.
In fact, you probably watched them grow. Right, If you're a
high level recruits, you're getting recruited by the time you're probably a sophomore in
high school, and then by the time you're a senior. That's a big
gap. I know I certainly looked a lot different whenever I was fifteen and
when I was seventeen. So you have years of seeing these guys kind of
develop and you know a lot about them, especially if it's somebody you prioritize
as a recruit. Well, in the portal, you can go watch film,
right, and you can ask around about coaches that ask around, maybe
coaches that you know have some familiarity with this player that you're recruiting. But
I'm sure this day, especially this year, in this team, because the
portal gets bigger every year, and again Louisville is in such a unique situation
where they had to build a brand new roster. I'm sure these guys since
arriving and going through whatever off seasontice and workouts they're allowed to do. Like,
I bet some of these guys have some tools in the bag that maybe,
like Pat Kelsey wasn't even aware of. So again we'll get his thoughts
on a lot of things, but also we'll get to know him a little
bit better. I hope he is okay with me asking questions that have nothing
to do with basketball. I mean, I'm not going to make it entirely
about that, but you know, I want him to be comfortable. I
want fans to you know, get more excited, which is why he's doing
all these interviews right to you know, engage with fans and let fans hear
what he has to say about the program. These are things that we,
I think have always known were really important. Nobody would tell you. It
doesn't matter like your cod you know, regardless if you're winning or losing,
Silence is never the answer for a program like Louisville. Now, if you're
winning at a high level, you can get away with it. But when
you have a fan base that is this passionate, that cares this much,
and to be frank, we're crazy. We are crazy people when it comes
to Louisville basketball. I hope that Pat Kelsey sees that as a re source.
Right, he sees this as as a pro to the Louisville job.
Right, these people are crazy, which means they're going to be there.
They're going to be packing the Um Center. But you know, engaging with
fans is really important. And I mean we learned the last couple of years
that you know, losing the way that the previous regime lost and really no
fan engagement, not living here, never purchasing a home here. I mean,
that's not the way to go about it. And so far Pet Kelsey's
done the exact opposite, and clearly, as you can tell, it's gotten
fans super excited. So again, coming up in about twenty five minutes now,
we're going to talk to Coach Kelsey and we'll take you up till six
o'clock. That's what we do here. We appreciate you hanging out with us.
Whatever time you can give us, it is certainly appreciated. Just know
that if you are out and about, you can take us with you.
Listen live on the Out Radio. Have listen live at seven to ninety Louisville
dot com. And if you want to be a part of the show,
we're not going to open up the phone lines probably until little later on in
the show, but feel free to text in anytime. Questions, complaints,
compliments, insults, whatever you have, send them our way. It's the
l and n Federal Credit Union text line five h two six five three zero
seven ninety and uh, We're gonna have some fun today and I'm looking forward
to it. We've got Austin back in the saddle after a day off yesterday.
It's up. What's were you? Were you off yesterday or did your
other priorities here at iHeart take you away from me? Yeah, other priorities
separated us. We had earth Wind and Fire and Lionel Ritchie at the Young
Center last night. That explains it, because I saw downtown was kind of
popping. Yeah, I mean it was. It was lively downtown. Yes,
to leave the crowd a lot. I mean, I guess the running
joke would be, of course, Linel Richie is a little bit older crowd,
right, Yeah, you know, everyone still knows a lot of at
least you know the hello, the uh, especially earth Wind and Fire,
earth Wind and Fire and absolute vibe. Yeah. Miss Joy went and she
said earth Wind and Fire blew her out of the water. So I love
to hear that. Miss Joy needs more night out, more nights out.
Yes, she does taking in concerts, just you know, letting her hair
down, if you know what I'm saying. So that's what she did.
Yeah, was a good crowd because again it looked like, yeah there's been
there have been a fire. I leave here like six thirty or sometimes like
six fifteen, and I'm heading out of downtown. There are events at the
Yum Center every now and then that I wouldn't know that there's an event because
there's not like a whole like you know, for example, Louisville basketball the
last couple of years. I don't say that to joke, I'm being serious,
but yesterday, you know, I could tell, hey, something's going
on downtown because there's a lot of traffic and it's always good for downtown whenever
you can have you know, of course, concerts bring people, you know,
to give business to all the local businesses down here, and of course
I'm sure people travel in to see I mean, we're talking little Richie earth
Win in five. Yeah, it's good stuff as you talk about soul music.
And right right across the way PBR they had a whiskey jam. They're
doing that every day every month, every second Tuesday of the month, and
it's just like some young and upcoming country music stars. Morgan Wallin's been there
before, Luke Combs has been there before, really a block. They all
got their start at the Whiskey Jam that's done around all these Live Nation bars
and stuff like that around the country. So that's where they started. So
you might might be able to see some people. Yeah, that would be
your opportunity to see someone before they potentially become like a megastar. So good
stuff, all right, So where I wanted to start before we take our
first break here coming up before too long, and then wait for Pat Kelsey
to give us a call, which I always get. I always get a
little paranoid right before someone comes on the show, like, you know,
the Louisville basketball coach for the first time, because technical difficulties really don't exist
as much as they used to. But I have had a run of bad
luck with some coaches on this show, and it frustrates me. But I
think each and every time it was no one's fault. It's just terrible timing,
terrible luck. So I don't anticipate that's gonna happen. I'm gonna believe
in the power of positivity. He knows the hotline number to call, he
will call it and will be good to go. But I've had mac on
a couple of times and we had issues. I remember I had sadderfield on
the show during the pandemic to where I was doing it from home. You
never, we never knew we were going to get. When it comes to
connectivity at home, the remote broadcast you know technology that we use, it's
usually pretty pretty solid. However, when every single live show we had was
all using our access units and connecting remotely, I mean, I don't know
enough about the technology as far as how this all works, but that can't
like whenever we would have random issues, I'm just going to assume that everybody
doing it at the exact same time was a factor in that. So again,
I'm going to believe in the power positivity. But I always get and
there's nothing worse than really, you know, because I've known for about a
week and a half or so that we were going to have Coach on,
and I knew earlier this week what time it was, and I've been mentioning
it on the show, but I haven't promoted it much on social media until
the last twenty four hours or so, and that's probably, you know,
something I should have promoted a little bit earlier. But I always get worried
that here I am telling everybody, hey, you better tune in. We're
gonna have coach Kelsey on. I'm sure you're going to want to hear it,
and then like it not happened. Like sometimes it would be completely out
of my control. It would be no one's fault. But like, that's
just something I try to avoid. But again, we're believing in the power
of positivity, good vibes and will make this happen. Coming up here in
about twenty minutes or so. All right, So, I don't know if
this interests people the way it interests me as somebody that is a college basketball
super fan college football superfan. Right, I love all sports for the most
part. I love everything that comes with the sports culture. But the sports
that I really know the most about, meaning not that I know more than
anybody else, but the sports that I follow, right, that I have
interest in, that I really care about, that I would be following and
consuming just this if I didn't do this for a job, I'd still be
all in on college basketball and college football. So with so much change in
recent years with NIL and the portal, and now even more change on the
way with this recent settlement, that's going to allow and essentially require I mean,
it's not a requirement, but you're going to have to pay money to
these student athletes as a university or you won't get good players. And at
that point, is it even I mean, it's almost like you're admitting to
yourself you're not really trying to compete if you can't find the money to pay,
because that's I mean, it's kind of already the way it is now
with nil, but I think it's actually going to be even a bigger headache.
But anyways, there's already been a lot of changes in recent years,
and now there's a big change coming where again the universities are going to be
allowed and essentially be required to pay athletes themselves if they want to win.
So I'm curious and just interested. I don't know, I feel like this
is kind of a nerdy numbers thing that people wouldn't really find entertaining. For
sure, maybe they would find it to be informative, but getting creative and
trying to find new revenue streams in order to keep your bank accounts healthy enough
to cover all the costs that come with college athletics. It's already expensive enough
to run these programs, and obviously the high level programs in the Power for
Power five leagues, they generate enough revenue with their football and some with basketball
to where they can cover all the expenses. Well, now you got roughly
twenty two or twenty million, you know, twenty million or twenty two million
dollars. That again, like you're going to have to come up with that
somehow, and for some it'll be easier than others. So again I find
it interesting to see what schools and conferences are going to be doing to try
to make it to where you can you can afford to, you know,
to to compete hit the high level of college athletics. So I've said this
for a while. Now, Brett your mac he's the Big twelve commissioner.
You used to work for Rock Nation, and somehow he parlayed that into being
the commissioner of the Big twelve. And the Big twelve, if you remember,
they looked like they were going to be left for dead. I really
thought of the Power five. If there's gonna be one league that's gonna get
gonna just disappear, I thought it'd be the Big Twelve. Turns out it
was the Pac twelve. And the Big twelve. Let's be real, they're
not elite when it comes to brands in football. Losing Oklahoma and Texas,
that's a big, big hit for them, and there was really no possible
way for them to go replace the value that those two programs brought them when
it comes to viewership, brand recognition, all that kind of stuff. But
I think they did as best as they as best as they could, and
they wisely accepted the ESPN deal that the PAC twelve turned down, which eventually
led to the PAC twelve dying. But I feel like your Mac maybe because
he does I'm sorry, your Mark. Maybe it's because he is it your
Mark or Mac. I think it's your Mac. Either way, I should
get his name right since I'm gassing him up and giving him a lot of
credit here. But yes, his name is your Mark, not your Mac.
Apologies unless there's a typo here from the one and the only Brett McMurphy,
who I doubt would have a typo because he's he's too good. He
doesn't have typos. So this guy, maybe it's his background that is not,
you know, one of an administrator in college athletics. I mean,
I don't know what the background is for every commissioner, but this guy came
from Rock Nation to now being the commissioner of the Big Twelve. So I
feel like he thinks outside the box, right, and he's doing that and
the ACC commissioner. Maybe there's maybe there's some things happening right now that we
don't know about, some things in the works, But I don't I don't
give Jim Phillips the benefit of the doubt that he's out there, you know,
being creative, trying to create solutions for this financial gap that you have
compared to everybody else. And oh, by the way, you got more
money these schools are going to have to pay. And your commissioner, you
would think he'd be out there trying to again be creative, find solutions,
and Phillips, I just have no confidence that he's doing that. So here's
the latest with the Big Twelve. They are in discussions with All State,
of course, the insurance giant, for a thirty to fifty million dollar annual
deal with with All State for the naming rights of the Big Twelve. Which
this is kind of weird, but hey, I applaud them for trying to
find ways to bring more revenue to their league to again close the gap between
the SEC and the Big ten, because those two leagues clearly are going to
be making way more money when it comes to the revenue from their TV deal,
and that gap is only going to get bigger as it stands right now.
Well, if the Big twelve is shilling out fifty million among all their
league members annually, that's going to close that gap substantially. It's going to
make it pretty competitive. So that's a huge deal. And if it means
you have to become the All State twelve Conference or Big All State Conference,
do it? Who cares about the name. I mean, we'll probably still
call it the Big twelve. But I think this is a creative way to
yes, sell out, But you have to sell out, you do unless
you know you have other ways to where you can just magically come up with
more money. So I think this is a good idea. Conference USA apparently
is doing the same thing, which doesn't mean that theirs is probably more for
just survival because you know COLL and USA. I mean, where is that
league even right now when it comes to the the you know, the power
rankings as far as conference value, I mean, surely they're behind the Americans.
Still, they're probably behind the Mountain West. I mean, so anyways,
Conference USA, the number has not been reported as far as what they're
they're potentially going to sell their naming rights for. But Global Uh let's see
here. Yeah, the I'm trying to find the Global Life is the company
that Global Life Conference USA could potentially be the name of Conference USA. And
again, if that, if all you have to do is kind of,
you know, brand yourself with their logo and really attach yourself to that brand.
And they're going to give you a bunch of money to share within your
conference to other league members. Do it? Why would you not? I
think the thought of you know, selling out it could be like a prideful
thing for people that they just you know, they hate what it's come to.
But look, you got to do these kind of things or it won't
exist. I don't mean that the sport won't exist, but these are the
kind of things that you have to do if you're not in the SEC and
you're not in the big ten, these are the things you have to do
in order to survive. I don't think you would ever, you know,
completely just go away and disappear. And like these schools in these leagues wouldn't
have football and basketball programs. I don't think that is something we need to
be worried about. But if you're fearful of it being really two worlds of
college athletics, the big ten in the SEC on their own planet being the
big dogs, and then everybody else, like I fear that, I mean,
I'd still pull for Louisville regardless of where they are, and I'd follow
them and be a fan because there's nothing I can do about it. But
this is the kind of thing you can do to where you can kind of
keep up with the Joneses. And you know, from a financial standpoint,
you may be getting money differently from different revenue streams, but you're maybe still
able to afford to live in the neighborhood, if that makes sense right.
You may not be living in the best street, you may not have the
best house. You're in ground pool, probably you may not have one,
but if you're still in the neighborhood, that's best case scenario for you.
So with Jim Phillips, I mean I always hear in brag about and I'm
not exaggerating. I think he brags about being third in revenue when it comes
to the amount of money that is shared from the ACC to league members clearly
behind the other two. I mean, he brings it up as if it's
not a bad place to be. Well, you won't be there for long
at number three if you don't find some type of deal like this, because
I'm telling you, if the Big twelve starts sharing fifty million annually with all
their league members to go on top of their ESPN deal that they have,
they're going to be making a lot more money than you. And unfortunately,
or maybe you should say fortunately, the ACC stuck together because of this grant
of rights deal. So nobody's bailing because they can't. They're trying, but
I don't think they're going to be able to get out of it. So
it's just a bad look that. The one thing that you could say right
now positively about the ACC as far as longevity in the future is this,
we're all stuck together. At least we're together, right, We're all I
mean, because I don't know of any solutions as far as you know,
how they can add more revenue. There's an incentive based thing in place which
will help. Right if you're doing really well as a league member, in
the ACC, you're gonna get a bigger piece of the pie. But they're
locked in till twenty thirty six. Guys, that's twelve years away. And
from now until twenty thirty six, every other power for league is going to
be re upping their deal, probably twice in that timeframe in making more money,
where every ACC school is locked into the same amount of money when it
comes to the to the grant of rights deal. So you've got to get
creative. You got to find revenue streams, and no surprise, it's the
Big twelve that is trying to find ways to, you know, bring more
money in where I'm sure the ACC is not just sitting on their ass,
but I also wouldn't be surprised if they are. And Jim Phillips inherited this
bad deal. He didn't create it. It was Swafford. And I don't
even think Phillips walked into the ACC at like a great time. There's some
things that are clearly issues that I can't blame him for, but man,
I don't get a big sense of leadership from him. I'm sure he's a
nice man. It's not a personal thing, but I just don't really feel
like he's the guy that can navigate this league in a really really important time.
But then again, to be fair to him, what can he do
they have? I mean, I guess what he can do is again,
get creative, try to find a naming sponsor for your league. Think of
other things you can do to bring revenue that can be shared within the conference.
But as far as the grant of rights deal, I mean, that's
not his fault at all, and there's really nothing he can do about it.
All Right, some other things we'll get into the Big East. They're
also apparently about to be bringing in more revenue, which is good for them,
but man, it seems like it's all going to be chalked up as
a as a gift from Yukon and and and Danny Hurley. So tn T
and NBC Sports are looking into securing some of these games. So the Big
East men's and women's basketball, they already have Fox Sports, but if they're
getting NBC and TNT in there as well, that's just more revenue. I
still think it's not ideal to not have any of your games ever on the
Four Letter Network. But if you're not just on f S one and they
can find you on tn T or even NBC Sports. I mean that could
help you financially, and it could make it to where more people see your
game. I mean tn T only has sports during the tournament and of course
the NBA, but they won't have as many NBA games or any NBA games
next year. So they're gonna have the open you know, they're gonna have
the They're gonna need programming, and that could be Big East Basketball. And
this is something that that that I think most people realize maybe just don't think
about it when it comes to live TV. Just a station that people frequently
more are frequently watching more than your average station is value. Right. So
like if you go to a sports bar, let's say Austin. We walked
into a sports bar right now in Lowell somewhere and they got twenty TVs on
I bet fifteen of them are on one of the ESPN stations, right,
So that matters like that, that's I mean, there's ratings for that.
Like, that's viewership, even if they're not watching intently, it's on.
There's not a whole lot of TVs on FS one, right, So this
maybe wouldn't fit with the sports bar, but I would be willing to bet
that there are more people that just happen to find their television on TNT then
they do FS one. Sure, so that alone can help you. It's
just more visibility. And hey, if this sounds this sounds a little silly,
but I think it could be. I mean, it could be a
real factor. If the NBA completely has no affiliation with Turner and T and
T, which it doesn't sound like they're going to. Charles Barkley has an
out to where he can leave Turner and I guess void his contract if they
no longer have a relationship with the NBA. But I don't know about the
other guys. And if you take that great and talented TNT crew that covers
the NBA and they still want to have a job, and they then shift
to covering big eiast basketball, that is somewhat of an incentive for people to
tune in because the TNT crew they're phenomenal. It's embarrassing how much better the
TNT crew is. And I don't just mean inside the NBA. I mean
everybody from top to bottom, the announcers, broadcasters, sideline reporters, everybody.
They're great, and it's embarrassing how much better they are than ESPN when
it comes to that. So we're loaded the rest of the way. But
again let's go ahead and get a break out of the way and welcome in
coach Pat Kelsey, who said to join us coming up here at three thirty,
So keep a lock right here. It is Coffee and Company. We
are fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven ninety. That's right, Coffee and
Company. You're rolling along here on a Thursday afternoon. Thank you so much
for hanging out with us here on Sports Talk seven nine. And we now
bring in a special guest to making his first appearance here on Coffee and Company,
Louisville basketball coach Pat Kelsey. Coach, how we doing this afternoon?
Hey? Nick? How you doing? Thanks so much for having me on.
Well, how about that intro music? What was that? That little
gin blossoms? That's Max Bucks twenty oh Matchbox twenty Yeah. I got to
get some credit to our producer Austin. He picked that one. I let
him pick the songs and he usually does a pretty good job. So again,
thanks for making some time for us. I know you're extremely busy.
You've been very busy since since you arrived, So I guess I'll start with
this. Have you had much time to kind of, you know, reflect
and settle in and you know, look back on this big change that you
that you've made here taken the job here at Louisville. I know it's been
very hectic since you got here, but just I guess early impressions on your
new home here in Louisville. Yeah, there hasn't been a lot of lulls,
if you will here over the last whatever it is a couple months,
two and a half months, but you know, you know, Luke Hancock
was that practice. I don't know, we can half ago or so,
and he asked me, he said, give me something, give me,
give me one thing. What's been the best thing? And I told him,
you know, I said this on an interview on television the other day,
and I just said, it's that moment probably once a day when all
of a sudden it hits me, I'm the head coach at the University of
LOUISLL. That's pretty cool. That is pretty dang cool. And you know
it's the city has been awesome to me and my family who's not here full
time yet, but they'll be coming here. Really really soon. Finally found
a house and h you know, the moves starting to be more of a
reality. Get them all up here and that that has been the most difficult
part is not having them here with me. But they'll be here soon.
Love the Derby. The Derby was awesome. I'm becoming a bourbon connoisseur a
little bit, drinking a lot. But people, people just keep giving me
some gifts. So I got this trophy case of big time bourbons, which
I don't know if it'll ever get drink but but but no, it's been
awesome. So you've been when you are here in town and you're not out
recruiting, you know, you've been making the rounds and very visible and that
is certainly appreciated by a lot of the fans, that's for sure. But
what are your impressions of us as a fan base, Because we're crazy,
and I get the sense that you're willing to embrace the crazy in us and
maybe look at it as a strength as far as what makes Louisville basketball a
special program. But you know, what do you make of the fans.
I know you've been greeted with open arms and fans are super excited but I
feel like you kind of already know that we're kind of nuts when it comes
to basketball around here. Yeah, I mean it's this state is one of
the greatest basketball states. It's not the greatest basketball state in the entire country.
In basketball really really matters here. You know, those kids are born
with the basketball in their crib. And you know, in the city of
Louisville, is is unbelievably head over heels passionate about about the Cardinals. You
know, I said, somebody's probably said this before, but I thought it
was pretty cool. There's so many college towns right around the country, and
you can find a outside of major city, there's even Power five programs that
that kind of university and a football program and basketball program truly make up that
town. And you know, I saw this up at the Football Center.
I think maybe it's a banner on the football stadium and it says, you
know, Louisville is America's college city, right. I mean, there's over
a million people, I think in metropolitan Louisville, and as we know,
there's no major professional sports team here. And you know, University of Louisville
sports athletics, football, basketball, volleyball, women's basketball. I'm actually go
on and on, really really baseball really matter here, and you know,
I know it and I embraced it. You want to be somewhere where it
matters. You want to be somewhere where there's not apathy. You want to
be somewhere where people are passionate, not told in many people like I know,
there's over a million assistant coaches in town, and everybody's knowledgeable and they
know basketball, and they have their opinions. You know, I've made the
analogy of my fandom, if you will, of the sinsane Bengals and Reds
and I am completely one hundred percent irrational Bengals in red Field. So you
can relate to a lot of answers. I have a lot of answers that
that I thought maybe, you know, David Bell and Zack Taylor could could
could use. I don't think they really give a flying crap about what I
think and what my opinions are. But I'm not a big social media guy.
I am a I am a guy that you know that utilizes social media
to promote our program, promote Louisville Athletics, this city, all that.
But I'm not a guy that's going to do a lot of scroll. And
I do pretty good job of putting blinders on and worrying about what I can
control about what's right in front of me. But gosh darn, you gotta
love and embrace the fact that basketball matters here this much. Lowelloman's basketball coach
Pat Kelsey is our guest here on Sports Talk seven ninety. You put together,
they're a brand new team from scratch. Thirteen players have been added to
this roster since you arrived, and it really wasn't that long ago. Talk
to me a little bit about the process of pursuing players in the portal.
I mean, when you became a head coach at that time, it was
still mostly roster building from recruiting high school players. And obviously you guys still
do that, But when do you know that you can, you know that
you want to pull the trigger and offer a young man in the portal and
say, hey, we want you to come be a part of what we're
doing here. Some guys make decisions without visiting schools. Obviously there's an nil
component, But how much different is that process of kind of going all in
on a player in the portal, you know, compared to doing it at
the high school level. Well, I just think you have to have good
balance on your roster. You know, this was a unique year because obviously
we were, you know, building a roster from absolute ground zero with you
know, zero scholarship players two and a half months ago. So it was
a little bit of a herculean task to build a team that we thought could
be very good, competitive and a team that's gonna, you know, going
to fight for a championship. And and uh, we have a process as
to how we approach obviously, you know, uh, grassroots and high school
recruiting, and a process to how we attack the portal. You know,
we have we have metrics and uh basketball analytics and statistics that we value and
that that equate and correlate to our system. And uh, but then we
also have you know, uh, mechanisms if you will, that measure other
things that truly you can't measure, right the makeup in the DNA, the
character, the competitiveness, the toughness, you know a lot of the things
that you can't measure that we value as well. And you know you have
to peel we call it peel away the onion. You got to do your
due diligence. You got to make the calls and ask the questions, and
those things really matter to us, you know. I think the ultimate intangible
guy, ultimate intangible guy met today and Russ Smith who was on campus and
came to our workout today and Diesel Petz Man like his makeup, his DNA
is so special. Obviously he was severely under recruited. And Peyton made the
point to that. I thought it was great. He said, he came
in with two stars and he ended up putting number two up in the rafters
at the end of his career. That's a hell of a line. You
proud of Peyton for that was pretty good. Tayton's Dayton's pretty smart dude.
And but yeah, so it is a process of obviously looking at statistics metrics,
but then also the immeasurables as well. So with the personnel that you
guys that have added this year, I'm sure you're still learning a lot about
these guys and it's all new for most of them. But you know,
in the brief time you've had some of them on campus, I know some
just arrived. Have you seen some things that maybe pleasantly surprised you about some
of these players maybe some things that you weren't expecting. I mean, they're
they're they're all they're all doing an unbelievable job. They're they're eagle, eager
learners to our system. I mean, they're it's a very veteran team.
These are guys that are come in decorated right from winning programs, that have
that have been a part of championship programs, gone to NCAA tournaments, and
older guys that that I don't want to say setting their ways, but they're
used to a certain way and just being different in terms of, you know,
maybe the way we structure practice or the way that we label or call
or terminology in a certain action that's maybe just different. It's just there's in't
there's an uh. There's a period of adapting, right and adjusting. You've
probably seen the article in the paper just about Eli Foy, our strength coach.
I believe one of our secret weapons. I've been with Eli a long
time and I just know, you know, when when when guys come in
for the first time into our program and they kind of get indoctrinated, if
you will, into our culture. Part of it is just an absolute butt
kicking and beat down in the weight room for a couple of weeks and and
I tell guys all the time, you know you're going to take a step
backward before you take a step forward, and it's when they turn that corners.
It gets to the end of June into July, you really start seeing
the body composition change. They're feeling bounce here, more athletic than they ever
have and by then they're even more comfortable into our system, and then things
really really start to roll. But man, I got no complaints. Those
guys have been working their butts off and it's just nice to have everybody here
as well. Within the last two or three days, final couple guys,
Karin Johnson and Canai Russ had both got to campus. So it's just good
to have to have all your guys here. Pat Kelsey's our guests joining us
here on Sports Talk seven ninety. I know, when it comes to coaching,
there's a lot of different styles, different ways to go about it.
I think coaching at its core is really being a leader, and I'm curious
there's different ways to lead, different ways to go about it. As mentioned,
but other leaders, maybe outside of basketball coaches that you find yourself admiring
maybe things you take from those. It could be a coach of a different
sport, could be, you know, a leader of a corporation. Just
curious on maybe where you get motivation and kind of where you try to,
you know, continue to grow as a coach. Yeah, I mean,
I think part of it is I've just been so lucky and blessed to be
around great men and great leaders throughout my whole life. And you know,
it starts with my father, Mike Kelsey, Hugh's former marine and a businessman
in Cincinnati, father of five, grandfather of what is it twenty four now,
and just the way he leads, the way he works, the way
he loves, the way he builds the cultures that he's created his businesses and
within his family. And then my grandfather. You know, I could say
the same thing. My high school coach, Joe Schoenfeld, He's been an
elder high school for over three decades. Beloved, successful, does it the
right way, Principal, hard working, The late great Skip Prosser, who
was my college coach and brought me into the coaching professional before you tragically passed
away in two thousand and seven, just a few short days before my oldest
daughter, Ruthie was born just just lucky to learn from people that I could
emulate of not only how to act carry yourself professionally, but also but also
personally as well. All Right, I'm going to throw some rapid fire questions
at you, coach. Some of these will be basketball related, some of
these are questions where fans can just kind of get to know you a little
bit, know more about Pat Kelsey, not just the coach, but Pat
Kelsey the guy. Let's start with this. I know you're a music fan.
You complimented our intro music there that we had for you, and I'm
sure you know this. Louisville has a lot of big music festivals that continue
to grow. They're known all across the country. Let's say there's going to
be a Pat Kelsey stage at one of these music festivals, and you are
tasked with booking four acts that are going to be there, the four musicians
or acts that you think would best reflect your musical taste. Who you Who
you booking? You can get anybody. They're gonna be lined up, I
mean, foremost with I'm starting first and foremost with Louisville's own Jack Harlow answer
close. You know I'm gonna go. If I'm staying in the hip hop
genre, I'm going with Jay Z. I'm going to old school a little
bit there, Hall of Famer, the Goat. If I'm going just kind
of down deep in my core, just something I like to pop in and
and and pull up on my on my phone and I'm gonna listen to little
Bruce Springsteen. And then if I'm going country, man, that's a tough
call. Big Zach Bryant, Guy Love, Zach Brown, Little Kenny Chessney,
old school. I'm I'm versatile man. I can bob and weave in
a bunch of a bunch of different genres. Do I sound smart when I
say genre? Yeah? Yeah, you sound you sound musically inclined. I
mean you sounds like you know I'm tricking you tricked me a little bit.
I think that would be that would all that would do was just make the
resale ticket prices even more expensive. That would be a heck of a group
to add to one of these music festivals around here that Brian he sings the
Revival, So I know, yeah, so's my deal? Did that come
to you out of nowhere? Because it really has become sort of your you
know, that's how we know there's some good things on the way. Did
you give that much thought? Did it just hits you? Obviously? The
revival is is the tagline here to think. I like to think I have
a little creativity in me. It's always been sort of who I am in
my DNA, and you know, I went through it. We came up
with the sing rock to Hill because it's in rock Hill, South Carolina,
Charleston. He said our city, right, you know, Louisal basketball is
already just absolutely you know, uh connected with with Louisville basketball and Charleston.
We were trying to so we said our city and I got to give a
little shout out point to the passer to Brian Klohman, my long long time
assistant. He came up with with the revival with the b I L L
E at the end of Ville. So, uh, shout out to coach
my credit for that one. Shout out to my guy klo. That's that's
I mean, it's it's already caught on in a major way, all right.
When you let's just go back to the early part of your coaching career,
obviously from Cincinnati and you're familiar with Louisville, the city and obviously Louisville
basketball. But if somebody brought up Louisville basketball to Pat Kelce fifteen years ago,
who was the first player that would come to mind for you? Is
someone who played here at some point throughout their career? Just the first guy
that comes to mind. I'm gonna I'm gonna tell a little fib here,
and I'm gonna say Peyton Siva because he's my guys on my staff. That's
my brother. Obviously, that whole team was special for us today, all
those guys. But I gotta say, just because I grew up in the
eighties, I gotta say, never nervous Purvis Ellison, that would probably be
the first thing that pops into my mind. But if that's player, but
then you know, obviously Benny Crum, you know, I don't know.
I don't want to leave somebody in there, and no, I get I'm
kind of putting in a tough spot to be honest with you. Which,
hey, you gave a good answer. You one of your one of your
guys, Goud's on your staff. That was the first time you mentioned,
which I think is a safe, safe way to go about it all right,
Uh, we won't keep you too much longer. I have one more
question, though, and this is another spot that I'm kind of putting you
in here, But favorite meal or I guess best meal you've had since you've
been in town. And I'm sure you haven't had a bad one. Ol.
Man, you can't do that to me. I got to I got,
I got, I got friends. I'm building friendships all over the place.
Unbelievable closine. I think that's one of the underrated things about Louisville,
man, is the food scene. There's some great restaurants here and I've been
to a lot of them, and there is no way, there is no
way you're getting me to just name one of them. Man, I'm not
doing it. Hey, I'm Switzerland right now. Man, I'm Switzerland.
I'm staying in the middle. Yeah. That's that's a good way to go
about it. And I'm glad to hear you say that. Because Louisville is
a city. Is someone who's been here my whole life. We do claim
to be a foodie city. And I don't know if it's just because we
feel that way and everybody feels that way, but if you're you know,
I know you're probably eating some of the best spots in town. So if
you believe that that's that's a complement of the city, I do got to
give a little shout out that I can't believe I'm saying this because I'm given
I'm giving them some advertising, but being a Cincinnati guy, there is Skyline
here, which is kind of nice. Little graters. But I just said
I want to name anybody, and then I just named two of them.
Well, it's I think it's a given you. Is there anybody from Cincinnati
that doesn't love Skyline? Uh, they don't last long. Yeah, it's
a staple. Not you're not You're not one of You're not one of us.
Yeah. I've gotten that vibe from a lot of folks from Cincinnati,
and it's good stuff. It's just clearly it's and I love that Cincinnati kind
of takes takes ownership right, they take pride in Skyline kind of being their
thing. All Right. I lied one more question, and this is one
I should have asked earlier. Johnny ballgame. Obviously you mentioned the family has
not all made the move just yet. How excited is he? I don't
know your whole family. I'm sure is really excited. But he became a
notable know figure within the Charleston basketball program during during your time there. Is
he is he ready to do the same thing for the Bill. Yeah,
I mean Johnny. I mean he's just he's just the typical eleven year old
boy, right and he just whatever's in season he's into. He loves who,
he loves to be in the gym. He's the son of a coach,
you know. Josh is awesome. Like Johnny's in town. He lets
him be around practice and be around the practice facility. That's awesome. You
know, it's a very very demanding profession, so meshing the two things,
your personal life and your professional life is really really important or probably never going
to see your family. So but yeah, he's good. He can't wait
to get the Louisville He's been scouting out grade schools and possible AU programs.
That's awesome. We'll see. He can't wait. Well, coach, I
appreciate you making time for us. Again, I know you're very busy.
We're all happy that you're here, excited to get this thing started in a
few months and whatnot. So again, thanks so much. Coach and we'll
talk to you down the line. Hey, Nick, thank you man.
Enjoyed it all right, take care again. That's Pat Kelsey. All right,
very little time left here to wrap up the three o'clock hour. And
the last question that I asked Pat Kelsey about Johnny ballgame, his son who
is eleven years old. As he mentioned, he went viral a couple of
times during their stint in Charleston. You know, he's the son of a
coach and he's a baller himself, So I mean, I think it's pretty
normal, I would say for young kids to be all in watching their dad
coach, and you know, I mean they're part of the family, right.
I don't mean just you know, the coaches family. I mean like
the program's family. Heck, the fan base his family. But there was
a game whenever stony Brook and Charleston played each other, and it was an
overtime. Charleston is up with not much time left in overtime by about five.
And I don't know if it was a code or a player for Charleston
that was complaining to the refs, But as that happened, the TV or
the camera went to the sideline and you can see Johnny Kelsey Johnny ballgame as
they call him, uh do like mimicking like the crying, like putting his
hands over his eyes, like mimicking somebody being a cry baby. And it
was just it was perfect. And then there was some social media content as
well from the Charleston basketball account that had him in practice being miked up.
So yeah, I think you're gonna see the Kelsey family pretty you know.
I mean it's hard to not be you know, out I don't mean alongside
with with Coach Kelsey everywhere they go, but you know, you can't really
be that. You know, hopefully people don't, you know, make it
difficult when they go out to dinner or things like that. But there's a
reason I brought up the whole craziness, right, we're crazy about basketball,
and I think you can be aware of that, but you really don't know
it until you you're here and experience. And I don't mean crazy to where
we're lunatics. I mean we can be lunatics, trust me. But you
know, it's gonna be hard for Pat Kelsey to go get gas or go
to a restaurant, to do anything around Louisville without people, you know,
wanting to picture or really just saying hey, welcome to Louisville, or maybe
you know one to talk ball, because that's how much people care. So
again, if you didn't hear the interview at all or here in its entirety,
we'll replay it for the five o'clock crowd, probably probably start the five
o'clock hour with it. I mean, I'll open the five o'clock hour,
reset some things, and you know, pay the bills, that kind of
stuff, But then we'll get right to it for those of you that might
have missed out on it. All right, quick break coming up. On
the other side, we've got a lot more to get into. We'll continue
the conversation about these conferences that don't have the revenue that the Big ten and
the sec have. They're getting creative. I hope the ACC is doing the
same thing, because you're gonna need money more than you ever have needed money
as a high level college program, given the fact that you're now being given
the bill. I mean by that is, you now have to pay the
players, and if you don't, good luck, you might as well close
up shop. That sounds extreme, but let's be real here, money matters.
So we'll get to that and a lot more. Keep it locked right
here on Sports Talk seven ninety