If he is not fired, I will leave the Louisville Cardinal head coach…
If he stays on as head coach of the Louisville Cardinals, I’ll quit.
The individual spoke under anonymity because Payne and Louisville officials had not yet met.
Following the Cardinals’ 94-85 first-round loss to North Carolina State in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Tuesday, the coach claimed he had not been told his status with the club.
When asked to argue for a third season, Payne restated a number of the issues he had raised in his March 2022 presentation, including the need for time and help to restore his alma mater and the desire to know “who jumped on and off the Titanic.
“We talked about it; I gave a specific time,” Payne said many times before adding, “We sort of forgot that.” Thirty or forty years, I said. And that suits me well. I still think it needs that to solve this application, just as I did back then.
The Cardinals had lost eight straight games, with Payne going 8-24 overall and 3-17 in the ACC. Under the former Cardinals player, Louisville has just five ACC wins and is 1-28 away from home.
The six-year deal Payne is under expires in 2028, and it requires an $8 million buyout by April 1. Incentives were added to his $3.35 million annual compensation.
He briefly played in the NBA before launching a coaching career that included two years with the New York Knicks and ten years as an assistant under John Calipari at Kentucky.
Payne’s first head coaching position did not benefit from his background as a recruiter and post-player developer. Last season, Louisville started 0-9 on their way to an unprecedented 4-28 record, a program record for losses.
This season, the Cardinals have dropped games against teams they were supposed to beat and have continued to struggle on both ends of the floor. Last autumn, after a sluggish start that included double-digit defeats to DePaul, Arkansas State, and archrival Kentucky, talk about Payne’s future intensified before the Cardinals rallied to defeat Pepperdine. Payne would coach into the new year, according to athletic director Josh Heird at the time.
As the losses accumulated, attendance at their 22,090-seat home stadium plummeted to little more than 25% of its capacity.
