Get to Know Kenny Payne, Louisville's Next Men's Basketball Head Coach
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - A new era of Louisville men's basketball is about to begin.
According to multiple reports, the university is set to hire and officially announce current New York Knicks assistant coach Kenny Payne to be the program's next head coach.
Payne's hiring is expected to be made official on Friday morning. A special meeting of the ULAA Board of Directors is set for 9:00 a.m. that day, with a "special announcement regarding its men’s basketball program" taking place an hour later.
Payne will become the 21st permanent head coach in program history - just the fourth since 1971 - and their first head coach of African American descent. He replaces Chris Mack, who UofL mutually parted ways with back on Jan. 26 after three and a half seasons.
With the hiring all but officially said and done, here's where get to know more about the next man responsible for guiding the Cardinals.
Kenneth Victor Payne was born on November 25, 1966 in Laurel, Mississippi, and played his high school ball at nearby Northeast Jones. During his senior year in 1985, he was named Mississippi's Mr. Basketball, as well as a Parade Second Team All-American.
Recruited by Hall of Fame head coach Denny Crum, Payne took his talents to the University of Louisville. Aided by fellow freshman Pervis Ellison, he helped the Cardinals win their second ever national championship in 1986, although Payne did not play in the title game.
Payne was almost exclusively a bench option for the first two seasons of his Louisville career, but was a regular starter over the final two. As a senior, he averaged 14.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, while shooting 50.8 percent from the field and 42.9 percent on three-point attempts. He was named Second Team All-Metro Conference.
The 6-foot-8, 195-pound forward concluded his Louisville career with 1,083 points, 476 rebounds and 143 assists, and a career shooting percentage of 46.9 percent and 40.1 percent on threes.
Following his senior year, Payne was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 19th overall pick in the first round of the 1989 NBA Draft. He spent three and a half seasons with the Sixers, averaging 3.5 points over 144 total games played, and was waived midway through his fourth year.
He spent the 1993-94 season with the Tri-City Chinook of the Continental Basketball Association, a development league for the NBA. After that, he saw numerous overseas stops, playing in Italy, Japan, Brazil, the Philippines, Cypress, China and Argentina. He wrapped up his playing career in 2000 after a season with Australia's Cairns Taipans.
After his playing career ended, he briefly came back to Louisville to finish his degree, earning a bachelor's of science in sport administration in 2003. Payne then got into coaching in 2004, when he was hired by head coach Ernie Kent to be an assistant coach on his staff at Oregon.
During his five years in Eugene, Payne helped get the Ducks back to national relevance. Oregon made the NCAA Tournament in 2007 and 2008, just their 9th and 10th appearances in program history, with their 2007 trip seeing them make the Elite Eight. The Ducks also won the Pac-10 Tournament that season, only their second-ever conference championship.
In his final two years with Oregon, Payne's ability to recruit began to take a massive uptick. The Ducks' first three recruiting classed under Payne were ranked outside the top 65, but then the final two were both ranked inside the top 15. Oregon's 2008 class features two top 25 prospects in Michael Dunigan and Tony Woods.
After five years with Oregon, Payne made the move to Kentucky to be a part of head coach John Calipari's staff, and spent a decade with the Wildcats. He served as an assistant coach from 2010 to 2014, before receiving a promotion to associate head coach, a title he carried from 2014 to 2020.
During that decade, Kentucky had an incredible run of success. The Wildcats went 295-74 during Payne's time on staff, which included seven trips to the Sweet 16, six to the Elite Eight, four to the Final Four, two National Championship appearances and a title in 2012.
The primary catalyst for this success was Kentucky next-level recruiting ability, most of which was attributed to Payne. The Wildcats secured a top-two recruiting class in every one of Payne's ten seasons, including five No. 1 classes, according to 247Sports. In all, Payne helped UK land 40 composite five-stars, with their 2013 and 2017 classes each having six.
Payne also began to develop a reputation for his ability to mold big men while at Kentucky. He played crucial roles in the development of guys such as Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Towns - who both went No. 1 overall in their respective NBA Drafts - as well as Julius Randle, Nerlens Noel, Willie Cauley-Stein, Bam Adebayo and others.
As a result of his prowess when it came to recruiting and developing post players, Payne quickly became regarded as one of the top assistant coaches in all of college basketball. This came to a head when he was voted to the A STEP UP Assistant Coaches Hall of Fame in 2020.
Before coming to Louisville, Payne did have some opportunities to become a head coach elsewhere in college basketball. He was interviewed by Mississippi State in 2012 regarding their opening, as well as by DePaul in 2021 while with the Knicks.
Payne finally chose to leave Kentucky in August of 2020, joining new head coach Tom Thibodeau's staff in New York. His presence was instantly felt, as the Knicks went 41-31 during the 2020-21 season for their first playoff appearance in eight years. They fell in the first round to the Atlanta Hawks in five games
He was also reunited with Randle, who had signed with the Knicks the year before. Randle had his best season as a professional during Payne's first year in the Big Apple, earning his first NBA All-Star nod after averaging 24.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game.
Payne and his wife Michelle have two children: Alexis and Zan. The latter is currently a redshirt junior wing for Kentucky.
(Photo of Kenny Payne: Michael Reaves - Getty Images)
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