LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – A year ago, Pat Kelsey approached the Kentucky Derby with his head spinning. He was learning names, shaking hands and trying to fill an empty Louisville basketball roster.
Now he’s back – this time with a full season, a contract extension and a city behind him.
“It's totally different,” Kelsey said Friday, before speaking at the annual “They’re Off!” Luncheon that helps kick off the Derby season. “My family's here. We're residents of this city. We all got our license plates moved over, and it's no longer South Carolina. It says Kentucky on it. We're in schools. We have friends.”
Kelsey said his second Derby will feel more like a celebration than a whirlwind. And after Louisville basketball’s spring revival, it’s a moment he’s earned.
In a wide-ranging pre-luncheon news conference, Kelsey spoke with trademark energy and emotion — reflecting on how much has changed since last spring, expressing gratitude for his new contract, and sharing personal pride in a fan base and community that helped bring life back to Louisville basketball.
He also hinted at what’s ahead — a focused offseason, a nearly completed roster, and what he called “goosebumps” as he begins shaping Year Two.
“It's less of chaos and a whirlwind,” Kelsey said. “Our industry, in this business, at the end of the day, pretty much always stays in chaos. And you have to be comfortable in that. . . . The ferocity of last year, with just all the craziness going on, things are a little bit more settled now, because the majority, if not our entire roster -- we'll see how everything goes -- is completely set.”
Being able to build on a foundation that he started instead of one that had been completely decimated, clearly, will be an advantage. And having a good nucleus of players returning, who already have bought into his culture and coaching style, is a natural benefit.
But Kelsey also is looking forward to having more time to plot out his schedule, and to gain insight into the season that just finished.
“It's funny. Like last year, I couldn't -- I shouldn't say I couldn't -- it was hard to watch tape and really go vertical, as I say, with blinders on, on basketball,” Kelsey said. “. . . I'm looking forward to this offseason having more time to really, really dive into the nuts and bolts of system, go back and watch every game 600 times and make mental notes and start building for next year. When I start doing that, I do it with goosebumps on my arm, because I think about the players that we have returning, the guys we have coming in. And I couldn't be more excited.”
Kelsey also will begin next season with a more motivated – and likely, expectant – fan base. Attendance rose over the course of the season, enough to put Louisville at No. 6 nationally in attendance when all was said and done.
And with a roster that was thin from injuries and a bit worn down by season’s end, Kelsey said he appreciated the fan base even more.
“They created one of the best, most hostile environments in all of collegiate basketball down the stretch, and it gave us the boost we needed when we were playing a short deck,” Kelsey said. “Our rotation got relatively short, and, you know, the rigors of the season were on us, but the energy that the crowd gave us every single night was a major, major difference maker.”
With his new contract, approved by the school’s athletic association board on Thursday, Kelsey goes from the lower third of the ACC in salary to the upper third, with a $1 million per season raise making his base salary $3.63 million per year, plus incentives.
“Josh (Heird, athletics director) called me afterwards, and we talked last night,” Kelsey said. “The first thing I said is, ‘I won't let you down.’ He said, ‘I know that.’ And that belief in me means the world.”
With a string of morning receptions and his afternoon speech ahead of him, Kelsey said he expects to dive more into the Derby experience, as he is able.
“It was a bucket list thing for me, but now that I'm a true Louisvillian, it's not just a once in a lifetime thing,” Kelsey said. “I plan on making the Derby a regular part of the of the Kelsey calendar, because it was one of the coolest sporting events I've ever been to. . . . I’m looking forward to going and just really being able to get above the trees and enjoy what a great spectacle it is. It's one of the great spectacles in American sports, and it's a point of pride, obviously, in this city, the entire sports world's eyes are on the city of Louisville for the greatest two minutes in sports. Isn't that what they call it? And just awesome to be a part of that again.”
For Kelsey, there’s a bit of pride in going to the event this time around, having already brought home a winner for the city.
Outside the Galt House, on a flooded street below, Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg was preparing for his own news conference.
“There's no question, the devastation, you know, around our state, you look at over the last several years, even before I got here, our state's dealt with a lot,” Kelsey said. “. . . But you know, Louisville is going to rally, just like the ‘revi-ville’ this year, we rallied. And the leadership is going to lead, and the great people of the state are going to continue to lend a helping hand. And it's going to be a great, great month, and we'll rise above it.”
It has been a consistent Kelsey message from his first day – rally, and rise. As he enters Year Two, the line keeps landing.
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