Louisville's Kenny Payne Dedicated to Maintaining Secrecy Within Program

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Kenny Payne era of the Louisville men's basketball program is still in its infancy, and there are still a lot of questions remaining. What exactly will a Payne-coached team look like on the court? How will the rest of the current roster be constructed? Will recruiting pick up once the Cardinals' NCAA infractions case is finally behind them?

But in the three months that he has been the head man in charge, Payne has already firmly established one thing: he will continue to operate on a need-to-know basis within his program, and that is not changing anytime soon.

Speaking at the KFC Yum! Center last week as part of a Q&A with roughly 2,000 season ticket holders, Payne addressed how he has played things close to the vest so far in his tenure, and said he will continue to go about daily business with absolute secrecy.

"I think it's important that people understand what I'm trying to do," he said. "In order for us to take this program and surpass other schools, we're not going to be able to do it by putting it on the forefront. Those days are over.

"In order for us to do this, without people trying to - and I hate to say it like this - absolutely hate on us, and gang up on us to keep us from prospering, we got to work behind the tables and under the scenes."

In recent years, it was not uncommon for information of all varieties regarding the UofL men's basketball program to leak out to social media, message boards and traditional media. Ranging from recruiting battles, staff hires and day-to-day happenings behind the scenes, their seemingly private business usually found its way into the local public conscious.

But so far under Payne, that has been far from the case. Details regarding who Louisville has been targeting out on the recruiting trail for the rest of the 2022 cycle have been few and far between, and updates on who Payne has been in conversations with in terms of building his first staff have been just as scarce.

For example, it was not reported that Danny Manning would be joining Payne's staff as the associate head coach until roughly three hours before it was announced. As for Josh Jamieson's hire as the final assistant, that was not known until 10 minutes before his introductory press conference.

That wasn't by accident. Payne revealed during the season ticket holder Q&A that he interviewed with Manning in Indianapolis, because he knew that if it was done in Louisville, his interest in bringing on Manning to his staff would have gotten out immediately.

"There was not a whole lot of interview process," Payne said. "It was more of, 'listen, Danny, you cannot come to Louisville, Kentucky and interview. I can't have it you do that, it will be on CNN.' So, let's meet in Indianapolis, let's sit down and have dinner, give me your heart, tell me what you've been through, how can you help with these kids, and let's go."

It has been the same story with recruiting. Payne has played that incredibly close to the vest, and information regarding who he and his staff are targeting has, more often than not, come directly from the players themselves - if they choose to speak at all.

"We got to be able to surprise people," Payne said. "Before they know it, we got two or three high-end talent players, that are high character players, in this program. Then they say, 'Oh my god, what happened? How did Louisville do this?' If we let it be known how we're doing this before they get on campus, they're going to hate us. It's going to make my job that much harder."

(Photo of Kenny Payne: Pat McDonogh - Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

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