LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Pat Kelsey, the University of Louisville's new men's basketball coach, landed in Jeffersonville, Indiana, just after 12:30 p.m. Thursday. Seconds after stepping off the plane, he had a simple message for Cardinals fans:

"We're gonna win."

Kelsey comes from the College of Charleston, where after going 17-15 in a rebuild season, he guided the Cougars to a 31-4 record and an NCAA Tournament berth in his second year. They finished 27-8 this year and returned to the NCAA Tournament, where they suffered a first-round loss to 109-96 loss to Alabama.

"This is one of the most tradition-rich programs in the history of college basketball," he said. "There are banners hanging up in the arena for a reason because that's the expectation here. I'm excited about the challenge.

"It's an honor to be here."

Kelsey has a record of 261-122 over 12 college seasons, and he said he's looking forward to bringing those winning ways to Louisville.

"So excited to be here, family is excited to be here," Kelsey said Thursday from Clark County Regional Airport. "It's going to be a great day for Louisville basketball and the Kelsey family."

Louisville athletic director Josh Heird flew to Charleston on Thursday morning to bring Kelsey to Louisville. Some fans have criticized the lengthy process of making a hire, but Heird said Thursday that the search process played out much of the way he expected.

"I know externally it seemed like it was a little hectic," Heird said. "But, quite honestly, I felt like it played out like it was going to play out. I knew that I wanted to talk to a lot of candidates. ... I stuck to what I wanted to do, which was identify coaches that I thought could succeed here and then have conversations with them."

Kelsey needed only two seasons to start winning at Winthrop, which lost 37 of 62 games before he arrived and has won only half of its games in the last two seasons with Kelsey gone.

Colleagues and former players all use the same word when talking about him: Energy. He's been known to jump in to run point for his scout team. His mentor and old college coach, the late Skip Prosser, said of him: "Kels makes coffee nervous." But he has directed that energy into 11 winning seasons in 12 years of coaching and four mid-major trips to the NCAA Tournament.

"One of the most important aspects of this job is who fits this job, who can identify with the fans and ... make everyone understand what Louisville basketball means, what it means to the fans," Heird said. "I feel very, very confident that we identified a guy that is going to do that. I'm relieved after the last 24 hours and I think today is just happy."

His teams have won five of 12 conference tournaments, three in nine seasons at Winthrop, two in the last three seasons at the College of Charleston. Heird hopes that winning tradition can come with Kelsey to Louisville, which won an NCAA Tournament games since 2017.

"It was really cool, when I offered him the opportunity, to see the emotion he carried with that," Heird said. "It's a moment I don't think I'll ever forget. ... He said 'Josh, I just want you to know I will not let you down. I will not let this program down.' You've got to have people like that, especially at a job that's as big as this one is. It's hard and it's going to take a lot of hard work, but he's up for the challenge, and I'm excited about it."

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