Louisville's Pat Kelsey Named ACC Coach of the Year

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville men's basketball head coach Pat Kelsey has been named the ACC Coach of the Year, the league announced Monday.

Kelsey led the way with 47 votes, while Duke's Jon Scheyer finishing as the runner-up with 25 votes, Clemson's Brad Brownell claiming third place with eight votes, and Stanford's Kyle Smith earning one vote.

It's Kelsey's third time capturing a conference Coach of the Year award. The Cincinnati, Oh. native won it in 2021 while at Winthrop, then last season in his final year at the College of Charleston before taking the Louisville job.

Coming over after three years as the head coach at Charleston following Louisville's dismissal of Kenny Payne last March, Kelsey inherited a Cardinals program that was at the lowest point in its 110-year history. In two years under Payne, UofL went just 12-52 and 5-35 in ACC play. Additionally, every scholarship player from last year's team either graduated or entered the portal.

Kelsey and his staff immediately got to work following his hiring on Mar. 28. In just under two month, Kelsey had completely flipped the roster, bringing in 12 transfers and one true freshman. The portal class ranked as the No. 1 class in college basketball, per On3.

It was a rocky start to the year for Louisville. Not only did they begin the season at only 6-5, starting forward Kasean Pryor (knee) and reserve guard Koren Johnson (shoulder) both suffered season-ending injuries, while reserve forward Aboubacar Traore (arm) was knocked out for six weeks.

Since then, the Cardinals have exploded. They've since won 19 of their 20 games since their 6-5 start, currently sporting a 25-6 overall record with an 18-2 mark in ACC play. They clinched the No. 2 overall seed for this week's ACC Tournament, and were alive for the No. 1 seed up until the final hours of the regular season.

The 17-win turnaround by Kelsey from last season's 8-24 team is not only the best in program history, it's one of the best in the history of D1 men's college basketball. It's tied for ninth-best overall, and sixth-best for teams not coming off of the 2021-22 season - which was significantly impacted by COVID. Iowa State's 20-game turn around in 2021-22 holds the record.

(Photo of Pat Kelsey: Sam Upshaw Jr. - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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