Louisville finally brought an end to the disastrous two-year tenure of Kenny Payne on Wednesday, a day after the Cardinals lost in their conference tournament to NC State. Payne, a Louisville alum who was John Calipari’s right-hand man for many years with the Kentucky Wildcats, will go down as one of the worst scandal-free hires in college basketball history, taking one of the sport’s most storied programs and going an unfathomable 12–52 across two seasons on the job. That record doesn’t even count Division II exhibition losses to the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears and Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers that added further embarrassment.
Related: It’s Time for Louisville to Get Its Men’s Basketball Coaching Hire Right
Despite that, Louisville will be the most coveted job to open this cycle. Its history, facilities and resources are top notch, and the ACC’s relative weakness at the moment makes it possible to turn this program around and win quickly.
Here’s a look at 10 potential candidates for the job.
Scott Drew, Baylor Bears
This is the necessary swing for the fences for Louisville athletic director Josh Heird. It’s hard to imagine Drew taking the job given Baylor just built a new arena, has landed one of the best recruits in the 2024 class in VJ Edgecombe and is just three years removed from winning a national title. That said, he’s perhaps the only name that’s at all realistic who seems like a lock to win big. Hiring a former national champion who has experience building a program from the ground up would be a slam dunk.
Raymond Carlin III/USA TODAY Sports
Jerome Tang, Kansas State Wildcats
Tang hasn’t had the best second season at Kansas State, but the turnaround he pulled off a year ago in his first season with the Wildcats was ridiculous. Being able to sell the vision of immediately making the Cards relevant again is powerful, and Tang’s personality could help reignite a Louisville fan base that has fallen into apathy during the Payne era. It’s worth gauging whether he’d consider a move.
Eric Musselman, Arkansas Razorbacks
This season hasn’t been Musselman’s best, but the track record overall at Arkansas is undeniable. Two Elite Eights and a third Sweet 16 in five years is outstanding, and Musselman’s success navigating the transfer portal in Fayetteville gives him a proven model to deploy if inheriting a rebuild at Louisville. Plus, he has a palatable buyout of just $2 million. I wouldn’t bet on this one happening, but Louisville could do worse.
Mick Cronin, UCLA Bruins
There are $16 million reasons why this won’t happen. Cronin’s buyout is massive, and it would be unprecedented for a school to pay such a figure for a basketball coach. But Cronin’s ties to the region run deep, and he’s another proven winner. Still, without the buyout being negotiated down or eliminated altogether, this is likely a non-starter.
Chris Collins, Northwestern Wildcats
If Louisville is set on hiring a sitting high-major coach and can’t get its top targets, Collins would be an interesting potential consolation prize. He’s set to take Northwestern to back-to-back NCAA tournaments at a place that had never danced prior to his arrival in Evanston. Leaving the Chicago suburbs (where he grew up) for a pressure-cooker job might not be all that attractive, but he’s an interesting option who hasn’t been talked about much for the job.
Lamont Paris, South Carolina Gamecocks
Paris is in the conversation for National Coach of the Year for the job he has done in his second year at South Carolina, turning around the Gamecocks into a top-tier SEC team after finishing at the bottom of the conference a year ago. He’s also a potential name to watch at Ohio State, or he could sign a long-term extension at South Carolina.
Dusty May, Florida Atlantic Owls
Plenty of industry speculation has May taking the Ohio State job this spring, but his name is worth mentioning for this vacancy as well. His Final Four run at Florida Atlantic is one of the more impressive feats by any coach in recent memory, and he has followed that up with another strong season that will have the Owls in their second straight NCAA tournament. It’s at least worth gauging his interest.
Sam Navarro/USA TODAY Sports
Josh Schertz, Indiana State Sycamores
Schertz and the Sycamores have been the darling of the college hoops season, and he’ll be floated for essentially every job this cycle. Lower-tier high-majors or even top-tier mid-majors like the Saint Louis Billikens seem like more likely destinations after ISU lost to Drake in the Missouri Valley final, but if the Sycamores get an at-large bid and make some noise in the NCAA tournament, Schertz could be in play here. The pitch: Hire a high-level X’s & O’s coach like Schertz and equip him with the elite resources of a place like Louisville, and you might win just as much as you would with a more established name.
Related: Reviving Indiana State Men’s Basketball Through A Cult Hero and Former D-II Coach
Niko Medved, Colorado State Rams
Medved and Schertz are similar candidates, though Medved comes with a track record of rebuilding three different Division I programs and has done strong work at Colorado State. His middling conference record this season in the loaded Mountain West might scare Louisville away, but his team beat the Creighton Bluejays, Colorado Buffaloes, Washington Huskies and Boston College Eagles in the nonconference and could be a Cinderella come NCAA tournament time. Make a run in the dance and Medved becomes an interesting option.
Darian DeVries, Drake Bulldogs
It’d be quite the rise for DeVries, who grew up in a town of just over 1,000 people in Iowa to holding one of the biggest jobs in the sport. In the past, he has been selective about what jobs to take, but this is a hard one not to have interest in. He’s won 20 or more games in each of his six seasons at Drake, and this season might be his most impressive coaching job yet, winning 28 games and claiming the Missouri Valley tournament title after losing several key pieces to graduation last offseason.
