Marching Into Madness | Chapter 1: Ride or Die

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Hey, do you understand how you got a freaking hit and then go pursue the ball?

Do you understand that this guy's 4000 ft tall and he's 9'6?

Hey, our run to offense has to be insane.

Running to the corners, hugging the sideline, pushing that ball, pitch ahead, touch the paint, get the dominoes falling.

They're trying to do the same thing.

We got to declare ball, freeze.

What you're looking at here is the hard work it takes to build a winning college basketball team, long days, loud ideas, and a coach that makes coffee nervous.

I've been healing the game better than Dan Day, type of hero that the villains and their friends say, truly worthy of the crown, never dead way, hyperbolic rat be the best way.

Welcome to Louisville, Kentucky, a team in a town where the only thing bigger than bourbon is basketball.

But unfortunately their program hasn't aged as well as their booze.

We just sold a fucking tape.

Shoot that.

Ful, Ryan, shoot it.

You have any space, spray it.

But there's a new sheriff in town, and he goes by the name.

Pat Kelsey, he's 100,000 fucking% all day.

I have a lot of flaws and faults, but the one thing that the Lord gave me an unbelievable abundance is energy.

That's one of my talents and my gifts, and, and I try to use it.

bullshit.

Before landing in Louisville, this mid-major Darling was doing the Charleston hustle, getting his dance card punched every damn year.

Some say he was crazy to leave all that sun and fun.

Some even say insane.

They needed somebody like really energetic who could make people believe again.

punch, but I guess I That's for family.

Take a guess what we'll do.

We won't want to fight.

It's that thing everybody can relate to.

Working hard, feeling doubted.

But you show up anyway.

If you can come out swinging and come out fighting.

The city falls in love with you.

If you live in Charleston, man, it's, it's easy to love and hard to leave.

As a kid we grew up going to the low country for vacation and now I drive in and I drive over the.

The Daniel Island Bridge and I drive over the Revenel Bridge and you look to the left and you look to the right and you see one of the most beautiful settings in the entire country.

I can't believe that Matt Roberts and Doctor Xu actually pay me to work here.

It's, it's pretty cool.

It's a beautiful place, special.

And just kind of like are you guys here Thursday for the big fundraiser, the, the fundraising thing?

Yeah, we want to follow you around to that, watch you shake.

That's a big deal.

Like we got, we gotta raise a couple $100,000.

Well, we can't, we can't wait to see you turn it on.

123, family, job, job, Benny.

Go, everybody back.

2 years ago, Coach Kelsey and his family were firmly committed to Charleston.

And Charleston was committed to them.

Everybody at a hoop, shoot 2 and rotate, getting better, competing in your mind.

Winstreaks 20 games long, back to back conference titles, and NCAA tournament appearances.

They're a Cinderella team and their glass sneakers seemed to fit.

Somebody asked me, coach, did you get any wink wink interesting calls after the season?

I said, yeah, I got a really interesting one.

It was my wife about an hour after the buzzer sounded.

She said, we're not going anywhere.

It can be a real slippery slope going back through old photos with your ex.

We tend to only take pictures of the good times.

Besides, who the heck wants to stare at their younger, sexier six pack self?

Let's just say it can sting a little.

And leave you wondering why you ever broke up.

Expectations.

That is stuff that we cannot control.

It's, it's the present, man.

It's living in Charleston.

It's this fellowship.

It's our friendship.

It's us being able to play the game we love that's joy, and I promise you at the end of the day it is going to be a magical story.

I, my boy.

Let's put our dancing shoes on.

It was an exciting time in my life.

It was an exciting time for our family.

And I just remember walking in here in an empty arena looking around and thinking and dreaming of the possibilities.

We are ready for a new challenge and a new adventure.

Play hard and love your teammates.

The Cougars and PK went together like biscuits and gravy.

A match made in heaven.

But in life all great things must come to an end.

These are hard speeches.

It's hard.

It's hard.

You hate to say goodbye to the dudes you love that really impacted this program, but I wanted to make sure I addressed how excited I am and how fast my heart beats about the opportunities that we have with the people in this room that are coming back.

Because Charleston's a winning program.

We're gonna do it again next year and we're freaking advancing.

This team that's coming back next year has a chance to be freaking special.

Special.

Man, if that ain't a sign, and it seems like it's not just that sign that's rolling out of here, we're in high level hands .

You know, as soon as those games end, I always feel like another clock starts and I just sort of wait to see what's gonna happen if they're gonna stay or if they're gonna go.

How soon after you guys got back did things start happening like days, hours, like on the plane.

On the plane, yeah, I could feel it.

I knew.

Unfortunately it's just human nature to not want to order off the same menu every day.

A man like Coach Kelsey can't live on biscuits and gravy, he craves for something sweeter.

With a lot more dough.

We found the absolute best guy for the job.

Johnny, Ruthie, Caroline, Lisa, we're so excited for you to be part of the Cardinal family.

And Pat, it's an honor to introduce you as the head coach of the Louisville men's basketball program.

Nobody's gonna turn down millions of dollars, you know, you gotta do what's right for your family, and they're set.

They made the right decision for their kids and their grandkids.

Temptation comes in many forms.

Cardinal Red can be hard to resist.

At Charleston, marching into madness was never a sure thing.

Hey Jimmy.

Can you turn the arena lights on for me?

At a Power 4 program like Louisville, let's just say having to lace up those dancing shoes is a hell of a lot more likely.

This is my office.

Yes, your office.

Who gives a single fuck, this motherfucker sucks.

Charleston, don't fuck with you anymore, traitor.

It all came out on Twitter as like my flight was taking off, um, from Denver to Charleston and then I saw it and I'm like, Alright, so when I got, when as soon as I got back I kind of just knew I was gonna leave as soon as the coaches were leaving, so put my name in the portal, then kind of went from there after that.

Family on 3, OK, right, one day you're all on the same team, and the next day 123, you're not.

Like this is a place that I kind of planned on being for 2 years.

And then now that it's going I remember talking to my mom I was like, wherever I go next is definitely not gonna be like Charleston.

Good.

Good?

Um-hum.

All right, you know, when I first met you guys, I was, you know, just getting to Charleston, uh, just kind of getting acclimated, getting adjusted to the new team, PK.

That I go like this, what's that mean?

You will never know what comes from this if you don't take that risk.

You don't know like you could get screwed over, you could go somewhere and you hate it, you could like, you don't know.

OK, here's what we got.

Give me, uh, Chucky fat and give me, uh, um, Kobe right here.

OK.

One guy up, the other two kind of out.

Yeah, I mean, after the knee injury, I remember the news about PK hits and then I remember I called my mom.

I'm like, oh my God, like what am I gonna do?

I got a new coach coming in probably that I don't know.

You know, even if I did hit the portal, you know, I got this knee injury, so no one's really might pick me up within like an hour later, PK's talking to me and saying like , hey, like don't worry, you know, I really want you to come with me if you want to, and you know, from there it was a no brainer.

When they make a basket, freaking clapbacks, how fast they go in, ball speed, pitch ahead, pierce the pack, hoop, hoop.

If they're able to stop these days, the big mean greens what buys a ticket to the big dance.

Money talks, people walk, but carousels aren't just for head coaches anymore.

In this new age of NIL, everyone's tall enough to ride the ride.

Look the score.

You can go a little lower.

Take this thing down as far as you need.

I don't feel like Flo Rider right now just getting super low with it.

I mean, I'm good either way.

I'm versatile.

You guys tell me where you can go like that.

I remember Ashley telling us that she figured it out on the plane ride.

Like back from the NCA that something was up.

Yeah.

Like, When did, when did it start and when did it start getting real?

Damn , you guys are getting insider information right here on scores.

Our clapbacks got to be sick.

I mean sick.

I mean out of the net in ahead, pierce the pack and freaking cook.

Pat Kelsey in general, prior to getting this job, he had been year in and year out one of the hottest names in coaching to move up to the power 4 level.

So I don't know if it ever started because I don't know if it ever stopped.

Then there was one Sunday night I remember this like it was yesterday, um, we were texting our staff group chat and and like PK was texting us about different things.

And so I just like man what's up with Louisville and just threw it out there and he was like Charleston still signs my checks.

I'm not worried about Louisville because again that's how he thinks like next thing process oriented, but the elephant in the room was this is real like you're going at some point somebody's gonna pluck you for uh a level of job that matches the level of winner that you are.

Hold up Patrick, you can't get caught up on the freaking screen.

Like you gotta get over and chase it.

They're not getting screened like that.

I, I don't know if you guys have it, but we were playing Towson in the conference semis.

Finish your game.

Even if he goes left.

I had been begging him and Cass to run this play up.

It was just this action that we run, and I, I kept saying like get just give me one , just give me one play.

And for whatever reason this end of the game PK and Caz both agreed they're like, alright, fuck it, let's do it.

Oh What Oh Finish your game.

We run the play.

Ante scores on a wide open layup.

And so PK put his hand out and he was like, Man, you knew that was gonna work.

I said, man, we're gonna win a fucking national title together.

I said, we're gonna do this.

And was dead serious.

Still believe it to this day.

So when he called me, I said the same thing to him.

I'm like, P, we, we're going to win a national championship together.

So for this to happen, I wasn't surprised because again, I know, I know who my boss is, I know who my guy is, like, he is the best.

Man, this is destiny.

Like this is how it's supposed to be.

Pat Kelsey called and his longtime crew of loyal coaches answered, where there's commitment, there's sacrifice, but no one's commitment has been tried and tested as much as his real ride or die.

All right.

So Pat, before he became a coach, he was a used car salesman, and Pat says I was a Vegas cocktail waitress when we met, which is not true.

I was working the high school Monte Carlo night like I was serving beer with my friends.

So he called me and I was like, well, I have a boyfriend, so I'm not interested.

Well, then we talked for like 2 hours and then I was like, oh, well, maybe I do like him.

Did he sell you ?

Did he sell you on the idea?

What was his pitch?

Did he sell me?

I don't know if there was a pitch.

I don't know.

Um, obviously he sold me because here I am.

The goal from day one was I want to be head coach of a Power Five conference.

Like, yes, I was kind of excited to move and do other things, but once we had kids it was just.

I think, I think I would just love if we just stayed in one place.

That's what the plan is staying in one place.

We're not moving.

We're gonna win a national championship and.

For better or worse, for better or worse, for, for good, we're good, we're.

You know, people don't understand in the coaching profession when, you know, you change jobs so quickly and you move the impact and the effect that it has on your family.

See you.

You good?

Yeah, OK, love you.

Bye.

Bye.

Like Johnny didn't really care.

Like he was pretty good with the flow.

I mean, he had his moments of like, I miss my friends, but otherwise, like the basketball aspect of it, he was like, this is unbelievable, kind of like Pat was.

Spin dribble, he comes up back door.

Go it, sell it, sell it.

And the other thing is, listen, next time, next two times.

Baseline out of bounds.

We're not going to run 3.

We're going to run high line.

Listen to me, John.

John, listen to me.

Underneath our inbounders and our two guards that are up against the press will be here.

Does that make sense?

Wait , which way are we going?

Well, you know, it doesn't matter this way.

You're right.

It has been everything I hoped for of reaching this level, the pinnacle of my career and and and all that, but it's tough too, it's tough on a family, uh, when you move from a place that you're happy where your kids have friends and their, their, their roots are deep.

Sorry, I'm just trying to determine what this stuff is, yes.

How often do you have the guys here?

So it just depends.

Thanksgiving, always have the whole team.

Yeah.

Yeah, it does, we do.

Um, well, both of my parents are one of 5, and we have tons of cousins on both sides, and we're the only ones that live out of town, so it's kind of like.

Sad, but like it's fun here we like it.

You and your dudes.

You know those are the moments sometime when you, you, you, you, you don't doubt but you sit there and go, man, I, I, I can't believe what I did to these little girls, these high school girls, and I put them through this.

Lise, what did they call that when you threw the thing and you went declare or something?

Remember at the , uh, at the fundraiser?

Yeah, heads tails.

All right, who, who.

Thank you so, so when I say declare you either gotta, you either gotta go like that heads or that tails, and you can't lie.

Don't change.

It's definitely tough for them now, but I'm hoping.

And I think, I think it will.

I mean they're learning about themselves and just getting through challenging times.

I think it will benefit them later in life.

Ready, declare.

Hell.

It's between the two.

Past dresses every day.

Just try to enjoy the present.

All right, let's go.

We're ready?

Do you know how to get to this week?

You need to enjoy now because you're never gonna get it back.

Life's about these special moments and embracing them, right, not looking too far in the past, not looking too far ahead.

I think it's important to celebrate successes and those things.

But it's about the next thing.

It's about the next thing.

Coach, good luck to you.

To compete against.

Good luck to you.

Good luck.

OK, good seeing you.

Hey buddy, how you doing, man?

I love your son, man, that's awesome.

The expectation and the lights is what you signed up for.

When you're in this profession, which is like a drug, I mean, it's addicting, just winning and, and just doing what we do, you don't second-guess Louisville.

I can't say that it was ever like uh did we make the right move because we wouldn't have made this move if it wasn't the right move.

We're not in Charleston anymore, Toto.

We're in the hallowed halls of the Yum Center where the banners hang like ghosts and some of the most unforgiving spotlights in sports burn bright.

22,000 sets of sellout eyeballs locked on one coach Pat Kelsey, expecting him to walk on water and turn water into wine.

And you thought you had performance anxiety on your wedding night.

You know, human beings, when we take on a challenge, um, you're never sure.

But for better or worse, right?

You're never sure that you're truly, truly ready.

0000.

There's over.

Take a deep.

Getting into the flow There is that trepidation to go, holy crap, what did I just do?

This is a big, big animal.

I just know you're always one second away from all that praise and all that buildup and all that love to be, you're just not playing like us.

On the offensive and defensive and the way we practice, right?

play how we practice.

I'm gonna use the term that my dad used to say all the time to me when I would take on a new challenge.

Just go out there and screw up a few times.

I know one of the most exciting times of my professional life is coming up, uh, and we're gonna work our butts off.

We're not gonna get much sleep, but we're gonna embrace it, man, and we're gonna enjoy this journey.

Let's go shock the world.

of Ain't no All the I'm walking.

A I'm walking.

All Ain't no.

I'm walking.