Five Potential Head Coaches for Louisville

Five Potential Head Coaches for Louisville

Time Stamp: March 13, 2024 5:24 PM
Source Node: 2514102

The Louisville men’s basketball program is one of the most prestigious in the nation. Three national championships, 10 Final Fours, 14 Elite Eights, and nearly 2,000 wins makes for an impressive résumé. Not to mention the state of the art facilities including the KFC YUM! Center, and one of the most intense and loyal fanbases in the country.

The coaching carousel is always fun to watch every year as a college basketball fan, but no one will have more fun this cycle than the Cardinal faithful. After the firing of Kenny Payne earlier today, Louisville is the best job available and will compete with anyone for any candidate.

Here are five coaches that could potentially take over the Cardinals program.

The Home Run Hire

Scott Drew, Baylor

There is no coach Louisville could get that would be better than Scott Drew. Known as the carpenter of the greatest rebuild job in college basketball history, Drew has done the unfathomable at Baylor by winning a national championship in 2021 and competing for conference titles every year in the Big 12.

Drew is a midwest guy. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, went to Butler, and was at Valparaiso from 1993-2003, with that final year at head coach. He’s been at Baylor for over 20 years now, and while it may not end up being a factor that sways him, returning to his geographical stomping grounds might intrigue him.

However, the truly meaningful factors are those of NIL, fan support, facilities, history, money, and winning. Drew would find every one of those factors better in Louisville than in Waco. The marriage between one of the best coaches and one of the best programs in the nation would never end in a divorce. It is a match made in heaven. Louisville is prepared to make a giant swing for the 53-year-old and make him one of the highest paid head coaches in the nation and have a NIL package that ranks close to the top 10 in the country, according to WDRB News in Louisville.

There is comfortability in Waco, and anyone in their right mind can understand why he would not want to do the rebuild job again, even if it is Louisville. But given the status of a program like Louisville, anyone in their right mind should also understand if he wanted to coach the Cardinals. In the new state of the sport, rebuilding isn’t has hard as it was in 2003, especially with the NIL and prestige of Louisville.

It might be a long shot, but it is not impossible.

Good Hires

Dusty May, Florida Atlantic

Arguably the best young coach not in a power conference, May has had an impressive past couple of years at Florida Atlantic, featuring a Final Four run last season and finishing second this year in their first season in the American Athletic Conference.

May is likely the leading candidate for the Ohio State job, which opened up after Chris Holtmann’s firing back in February. It was rumored that Indiana could let go of former player Mike Woodson to hire May who graduated from Indiana in 2000. So, as May’s alma mater, it is no secret Indiana is likely the dream job for the 47-year-old. However, with the return of Woodson for the 2024-25 season, May might be interested in another historical power about two hours south of Bloomington.

FAU is going to be in the NCAA Tournament again this year, with most of the pieces they had in last year’s Final Four run. If the Owls make another run, May will be one of the hottest coaches on the market and will be poised to take a step up. If he decides to take that step, Louisville may have a bright future ahead – pun intended.

Jerome Tang, Kansas State

You know what they say, if you can’t get Scott Drew, go get his former longtime assistant. Jerome Tang is a fun, feisty and great coach, and is made for a job like Louisville. After an amazing first year at Kansas State, Tang has been one of the fan-favorites this season after it was clear the Kenny Payne show was going to be awful again. Many think Tang would be an amazing hire to take over the Cardinals program.

In his first season as a head coach last year, Tang took over a Kansas State program that had not finished over .500 in the Big 12 since 2018-19. He lead them to an 23-8 (11-7) record, a 3-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and a trip to the Elite Eight with a roster that featured two All-Americans in Markquis Nowell and Keyontae Johnson. It was one of the best turnarounds in recent memory, and there is no reason he couldn’t do the same in Louisville.

Nowell and Johnson were both additions from the transfer portal, and Tang used the portal again this year to get attractive players like North Texas’ Tylor Perry and Creighton’s Arthur Kaluma. While this season hasn’t been as pretty as last, the Wildcats still have a chance to make the NCAA Tournament. Do that, maybe win a game or two, and Tang would be a very attractive candidate to take over.

Mick Cronin, UCLA

The most interesting candidate in the entire pool is Mick Cronin. People would ask “why would someone leave UCLA for Louisville?” It is a fair question, but with context it makes sense for Cronin and probably only Cronin. You would be hard pressed to find someone else who would be willing to leave UCLA and crawl across the country to come to Louisville like Cronin.

It is widely known that Cronin wanted the job in 2018, and again in 2022. He’s from Cincinnati, went to the University of Cincinnati, coached at Louisville under Rick Pitino in Pitino’s first couple of seasons, did well at Murray State, and was a great head coach for Cincinnati for 13 years until he took the UCLA job. He is the midwest guy who thrives there and loves it there.

Louisville is his dream job, and he’s made a Final Four and plenty of NCAA Tournaments. Sounds like a no-brainer right? Well, he has an enormous buyout. It is $20 million until March 31 before dropping to $16 million. There is a rumored loophole for the buyout, which would be huge for both parties if Cronin ends up being the guy. The fan support behind Cronin is shaky as well. It seems like a lot of fans either love or hate the idea of Cronin. Regardless of what anyone thinks, Louisville could do a lot worse than Mick Cronin. The best part about him is that he wants to be there.

The Gamble

Josh Schertz, Indiana State

Schertz has had a great season this year at Indiana State. The Sycamores won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship and nearly winning the conference tournament. They will (hopefully) get an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament and have a chance to make some noise in March. Robbie Avila is one of the most intriguing players this year in college hoops and has the stuff of March Madness legend. He has proved to be a great up-and-coming coach and likely has a bright future ahead of him.

The gamble is that you just hired and fired a first time head coach, and while Schertz does not fit that specific criteria, he has never coached a Power Six program and only has three years of Division I experience at a program that has four total NCAA Tournament appearances. Could he come into Louisville and bring the Cardinals back to national prominence within a couple of years? Sure, it wouldn’t surprise me. The question is if Louisville and its fans want to take that risk.

If Schertz and co. make a run in the NCAA Tournament, and Louisville swings and misses on some candidates, look for Schertz to potentially come to coach the Cardinals.

Other Names

Darian DeVries, Billy Donovan, Eric Musselman, Nate Oats, Lamont Paris, Kelvin Sampson, Shaka Smart, Will Wade.

Stay tuned for more college basketball news, among other sports and esports news!

You can “Like” TGH on Facebook and “Follow” us on Twitter for more news from TGH columnists! You can also follow Zach on Twitter as well!

“From Our Haus to Yours!”

Time Stamp:

More from The Games Haus