Walz on Falling Short: 'We're Not Going to Change Anything'

The head of the Cardinals isn't going to change his style or approach when it comes to trying to capture the program's first national championship.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There's no denying the impact that Jeff Walz has had on Louisville women's basketball.

When he was hired as the head coach of the Cardinals on 2007, the program was in a much different state than it is now. They had just 11 NCAA Tournament appearances in their 32 year existence, just four total wins in the Big Dance, and had never made the Sweet 16.

Now, Louisville is a certified powerhouse in women's hoops. In the 15 years under his guidance, the Cardinals have missed the NCAA Tournament just twice, and one of those instances was due to COVID. Including this season, Walz has taken Louisville to 11 Sweet 16's, seven Elite Eights and four Final Fours.

It's hard to find many knocks against a coach who - sporting an overall record of 401-109 - is the winningest coach in the history of the program, and accounts for 41.7 percent of their 961 total wins.

But over the last several years, a select few Louisville fans have found one quarrel with Walz: "he can't win the big one."

Walz has taken the Cardinals to two appearances in the national title games, both times falling short to UConn in 2009 and 2013 in the middle of their insane run during the early and mid 2010's. With the amount of success that Louisville has had under the Walz, the one thing left for him to truly chase is the program's first national title.

And that chase is going to continue for at least another year. On Friday night, the Cardinals ran into the buzzsaw that is Aliyah Boston, Dawn Staley and South Carolina, falling 72-59 in the Final Four.

Louisville, and Walz, now head into the offseason facing a question that gets ever so louder with each passing year that they come up short. Can they break through the apparent glass ceiling and deliver the program a title?

But if you ask Walz, he already has the model for success. He doesn't feel like he has to alter anything if he eventually wants to win the big one.

"We're not going to change anything. I don't think there's any reason to change anything," he said after the loss to South Carolina when asked what his game plan to get back to the title game is.

"We've been to four Final Fours in 15 years. I don't think that's too shabby. Do we want to win a National Championship? Of course we do. But again, I'm just telling you, you've got to get lucky. You've got to get a few breaks to go your way."

Walz singled out their overtime loss to Mississippi State in the 2018 Final Four when talking about needing breaks go your way. As someone who frequently questions to officiating in women's college basketball, he specifically referenced the infamous no-call on Myisha Hines-Allen at the of end regulation.

"In '18, I thought that was probably our best shot to win one, and unfortunately we didn't get some breaks. I'll leave it at that," he said. "Damn, if you watch the last about 20 seconds of the game, you'll see that we didn't get many breaks. It's the way it is. I don't know why we'd want to change things."

Earlier in the week, Walz also touched upon the their two title game appearances. He called the UConn teams that defeated Louisville in 2009 and 2013 not only two of the best teams in Huskies history, but "probably the top five best women's basketball teams, ever."

"Part of it comes to when you get to the Finals, where are you playing, who are you, and for us it was just two bad years," he said.

Given the powerhouse that Louisville has turned into under his watch, he's not going to let anyone try to undermine the program's accomplishments.

"I listen to people talk about other coaches who have a dynasty going and they've been to four Final Fours. So have we. It just all depends what your narrative, what you want it to be," he said. "If your narrative wants to be that we can't win the big game, so be it, that's what your narrative is going to be. 

"But if you want it to be that this is a program that had never been to a Sweet 16 for 32 years of it and now we've been to four Final Fours? That's what I'd go with. But that might not sell papers, it might not get clicks. So you can either tear kids down or build them up. I choose to build them up. And unfortunately it might not get as many clicks as you all want."

Louisville concluded their 2021-22 campaign at 29-5 and 16-2 in ACC play, just shy of their fifth 30-win season under Walz. The Cardinals do lose starters Emily Engstler, Kianna Smith and Chelsie Hall, but do retain Hailey Van Lith, Olivia Cochran plus several other meaningful contributors, and bring in a loaded five-woman recruiting class.

(Photo of Jeff Walz: Matt Krohn - USA TODAY Sports)

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