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
ninety 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 little gin Blossoms? That's a match Bucks twenty well, match Bucks twenty
man. Yeah, I got to give some credit to our producer Austin.
He picked that one. I'll 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 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'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 of months, two and a half months, but you
know, you know, Louke Hancock was that practice, I don't know,
a week and a 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, right once a day when all of a sudden it hits me,
I'm the head coach at the University of Louis. That's pretty cool.
That is pretty dang cool. And you know, it's the city's been awesome
to me and my family. Who's who's not here full time yet, but
they'll be coming here really, really soon. Finally found a house and uh,
you know, the moves starting to be more of a reality. Get
them all up here and that 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 some gifts.
So I got this trophy case of big time bourbon and which I don't
know if it'll ever get drink, 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 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 your 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. And I told 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 sinsant Bengals and Reds,
and I have completely one hundred percent irrational Bengals in red sil answers.
I have a lot of answers that that I thought, maybe, you know,
David Bell and Zach 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 race the fact that basketball
matters here this much. Loewellman's basketball coach Pat Kelsey is our guest here on
Sports Talk seven ninety. You put together 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, very 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 and 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
qu questions, and those things really matter to us. You know, I
think the ultimate intangible guy, ultimate intangible guy I met today and Russ Smith
who was on campus and came to our workout today and Jesel pets 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 know. Proud of Peyton for that was pretty
good. Taytan'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 to be some things
that you weren't expecting me. They're they're they're all they're all doing an unbelievable
job. They're they're egal eager learners to our system. I mean, there's
a very veteran team. These are guys that have come in decorated right from
winning programs that have that have been a part of championship programs, gone to
n cua A tournaments and older guys that that I don't want to say set
in 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 in dock neated, 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 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 Kran Johnson and Canai Ruth had both
got in the campus. So it's just good to have to have all your
guys here. Pat Kelsey's our guest 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 can 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 work
in the late great Skip Prosser, who was my college coach and brought me
into the coaching profession before he 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 gonna 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 Kelse 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. You're, you know, 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 foremost with I'm starting
first and foremost with Louisville's own Jack Harlow answer. You know I'm gonna go.
If I'm staying in the hip hop genre, I'm going with jay Z,
I'm going 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'd 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, the old school. I'm I'm versatile
man, I can bob and we and 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 it sounds like you know I'm
tricking you. I'm tricking a little bit that I think that would be That
would all that would do was just make the the resale ticket prices even more
expensive. That would be a heck of a group to add to to one
of these music festivals around here that Brian he sings the Revival something I know.
Yeah, so 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 hit you? Obviously? The revival is is the tagline
to think. I like to think I have a low 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 to sing Rock to Hill
because it's in Rock Hills, South Carolina. At Charleston, we 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 V I L L E at the end
of vill So, uh, shout out to coach my credit for that one.
Shout out to my guy Kloe. 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,
Denny Crume, you know, I don't know. I don't want to
leave somebody in there, and I get it. I'm kind of putting in
which, Hey, you gave a good answer. You one of your one
of your guys, Gud'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 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 clisine. 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. It's just 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 take takes ownership, right, they take pride in Skyline kind
of being their thing. All Right, I lied one more question, and
this is what I should have asked earlier. Johnny ballgame. Obviously, you
mentioned 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, you know, figure within the Charleston basketball program during
during your time there. Is he is he ready to do the same thing
for the villa? Yeah? I mean, Johnny, I mean he's just
he's he's just the typical eleven year old boy, right, I mean,
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, this
is a 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 possable AU programs.
That's awesome. We'll see you 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 and in a
few months or and whatnot. So again, thanks so much, coach,
and we'll talk to you down a line. Hey, Nick, thank you
man. Enjoyed it all right, take care again. That's Pat Kelsey.