Heird: "...we knew that this was going to be another rebuilding year..."

[shadow force]

He said he’s in frequent communication with Payne.

"I'm just continuing to try to communicate and say, 'Hey, what can we all do individually or collectively to get this program where we all expect it to be?'" Heird said. "I'm well aware that this program, this fan base, isn't into moral victories. And so, after every game, I feel like every day, it's consuming, what I'm doing right now. And I know it's consuming Kenny and his staff, as far as how do we get better? How does this basketball program get back to where we all expect it to be? And that expectation is a high bar, but nobody's going to run from that. And we're going to do everything we can to get this program back where we all want and expect it to be."

"On the basketball side, we knew that this was going to be another rebuilding year, so we were pretty conservative on our budgeting there, but we're not going to meet the expectations that we had there."

 

[shadow force]

I really hope that isn't code for "Kenny Payne is getting year 3." But who knows at this point?

 

[KozmasAgain]

If KP gets another year then we need to get rid of Heird when we get rid of KP.

 

[the artist FKA zipp]

A lotta words. People do that when they don’t know what to say…

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

In the Spring there will be clarity. No more word salad, and no more confusion.

They are going to tell you what it is. If he's removed, we turn the page. If he is not removed after another brutal record, then you have to come to grips with the reality that he's here indefinitely, and then choose your next move as a fan.

I can never root against the Cards. So whatever happens, I'm rooting for this program despite all it's issues. So if KP is here, I'm rooting for him.

 

[KozmasAgain]

I will root for things to get better I just won’t be supporting the basketball program financially.

 

[UofLouisville]

To me those words are pretty ominous.

 

[UofLouisville]

I didn't read anything other than OP title. Anything other than "We have decided to go in a new direction" is meaningless

 

[BPGhost]

A lotta words. People do that when they don’t know what to say…

Lol - I guess the irony of your post escapes you…😂

 

[Knucklehank1]

He will not be coaching here next year. I guarantee that.

 

[UofLouisville]

He will not be coaching here next year. I guarantee that.

I hope so.

 

[Thecycle27]

My take away it reinforces my belief this was always a 3-4 year plan. Josh basically confirms year 1 was a transition/bridge year. Year 2 was to get it back on the rails. Year 3 NCAA team.

It is a lesson in leadership. I firmly believe they convinced themselves they were getting hammered by the NCAA. They end up sacrificing year 1 instead establishing a really high competitive standard. They decided to play the victim leading to 4-28.

Year 2 schedule very soft to help get it back on the rails which is a good plan. Totally mismanaged roster by going young no proven veterans with NIL-Transfers. Youngest team in country after going 4-28. Play terrible in the non conference and getting beat up by veteran ACC teams.

The KP compounds all this in his Press Conference’s acting like Louisville is Akron. Even his supporters threw in the towel at that point.

At the end of the day they were giving him time to implement his plan his way and it failed.

 

[2330859]

UL simply does not have the resources to terminate Payne, and pay a replacement. “kick the can down the street” is a popular way to avoid making a tough decision; something synonymous with lack of leadership.

 

[Thecycle27]

Let’s assume the plan all along was to be in the NCAA tournament by year 3. Which I am good with the question becomes does the administration believe they will be a NCAA tournament team next year?

There is nothing to suggest that is going to happen. However; with the right additions you can make an argument they could accumulate enough talent to be a tournament team. That is why this year has to be driving Heird nuts. It was literally set up to give KP year 3. KP botched it.

 

[OldhamCard335]

No signed recruits, no winning record, no real fan support and no change in KP’s coaching. Yet some believe year 3 would be better. How?

 

[Thecycle27]

Let’s be clear I don’t think he isn’t getting a year 3 because everything you stated.

I am very interested to see what Knox does. I fully expect him to commit to UK. However what if he commits to Louisville? Most will say doesn’t matter he can’t coach. To people making a decision with the goal of making the tournament in year 3 it does matter. Who knows with all the back channel stuff going on and KP’s silence maybe he has 3-4 guys lined up in the portal.

Knox committing to Louisville would be interesting and as funny as hell.
.

 

[KozmasAgain]

If they thought it would take 3 or 4 years to rebuild then why did they get rid of Mack? He was winning 18 or 20 games a year. We would have been through our rebuild by now.

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

Mack quit. He wanted to secure the buyout. They accepted his resignation, and negotiated. The fact that he's coaching nowhere tells you his heart isn't really in it at this time, so it probably wasn't in it back then either. He lost support from his superiors, and took his ball and went home. Got his pay day.

Now, the overall question is, what if the goals of the powers that be are nowhere near the goals of fans? If he is getting a year 3, then it's just confirmed fans and powers aren't on same page. The fans care about wins.

But powers that be may care about other things. Things like, no FBI, no NCAA rules problems, they may just want to get away from all that image stuff that's borderline criminial or even criminal depending on who you ask. So if that's a goal, hey KP is delivering. They may also want to be inclusive, and they may want a former player angle. These are things not on the majority of fans "lists", but could be a thing.

We have no idea. But some answers are coming in the Spring. He's giving them no out. The wins aren't there. They are trying to spin double digit losses as moral victories, insulting stuff yeah. But we're getting a lot of word salad and the local media is spinning. 1 game winning streaks, moral victories, this is year 1, etc, etc, etc. Lots of excuses. No results.

 

[Cardiac Red]

In the Spring there will be clarity. No more word salad, and no more confusion.

I can never root against the Cards. So whatever happens, I'm rooting for this program despite all it's issues. So if KP is here, I'm rooting for him.

You're a better man than me..

 

[Cardiac Red]

Mack quit. He wanted to secure the buyout. They accepted his resignation, and negotiated. The fact that he's coaching nowhere tells you his heart isn't really in it at this time, so it probably wasn't in it back then either. He lost support from his superiors, and took his ball and went home. Got his pay day.

Mack got torpedoed by Bendapuddy's micro management. I don't blame him one bit for quitting, it was constant turmoil.

 

[Thecycle27]

He still quit midseason and hasn’t coached since.

This game today pretty much seals the deal.

 

[Cardiac Red]

He still quit midseason and hasn’t coached since.

Who could blame him under the circumstances. I'd take him back right now tell you that.

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

Today is a clone of that TX Tech game year 1. KP has given his bosses no cover. None.

 

[the artist FKA zipp]

Lol - I guess the irony of your post escapes you…😂

How much data did Josh present?...

 

[the artist FKA zipp]

I posted in a nearby thread that clowns are already posturing midyear for another bad financial report in a few months.

Interesting that men's basketball is front and center which, although obvious, suggests to me that they're preparing for a showdown over Payne.

Not talking about basketball, talking about money...

 

[KozmasAgain]

That’s funny Mack lost support from the administration with a winning record and KP has support.

 

[BPGhost]

How much data did Josh present?...

Dunno. Much like your word / data salad posts, I gave up on it when I realized he was using a ton of words to really say nothing.

 

[the artist FKA zipp]

Dunno. Much like your word / data salad posts, I gave up on it when I realized he was using a ton of words to really say nothing.

You just don't understand what you read. Not my problem...

 

[Thecycle27]

That’s funny Mack lost support from the administration with a winning record and KP has support.

Define support? Just curious.

 

[Cardiac Red]

Define support? Just curious.

He was undermined and micro managed by Bendapuddy..

 

[Ipartiedwithhopgood]

The guy that hired Mack exited. Mack was pushed to change the staff. He then got a suspension to start his final season.

It was far from a supportive culture for him. This place has been a f'n mess for so long it's pretty easy to lose track of things that happened. And we have had so many problems it's easy to trivialize some of the less sensational problems, but they are still problems.

 

[BPGhost]

You just don't understand what you read. Not my problem...

Lol - yeah - that’s it. 😂

And actually, were that the case - it would be your problem. You are the one attempting to get a message across. If it’s too jumbled, too boring or, to rife with your own personal agenda for readers to get through it - that’s on you.

I would have thought as a former strip mall, junior college educator you would have realized that.

 

[bigloucards]

There’s absolutely no excuse for putting up a whopping 13pts in a half. He shouldnt have gotten a 2nd half let alone a third year

 

[the artist FKA zipp]

Lol - yeah - that’s it. 😂

And actually, were that the case - it would be your problem. You are the one attempting to get a message across. If it’s too jumbled, too boring or, to rife with your own personal agenda for readers to get through it - that’s on you.

I would have thought as a former strip mall, junior college educator you would have realized that.

As someone with experience, I can attest that it’s hard working with a stalker of a former strip mall, junior college educator…

 

[2330859]

Three year plan? There is no plan; as having a plan would suggest there was some strategy by this Administration. This is a school suffering from one bad decision after another from a line of leaders without a hint of accountability.

The President and the BoT members of this Public University are all College educated, yet their performance in terms of leadership would suggest they never took a Business or Accounting class in preparation for their respective jobs.

If I, or for that matter any private business was run the way these idiots are leading this school ; the consequences would be bankruptcy.

 

[Thecycle27]

It was an atrocious hire. It does make everyone question the process. We can debate why KP was selected. I won’t go down that rabbit hole because the leadership at the University was in flux at the time. It was a perfect time for key boosters-community leaders to throw around their influence.

There was a plan there just wasn’t a plan for these results. When it comes to the basketball program the University and Athletic Department decided to play the victim. KP is managing the program like it is a victim. Leaders never play the victim. The players and program didn’t need healing they needed leaders.

Here is the question why is the leadership lacking at the University and Athletic Department only as it relates to basketball? All the other sports are thriving. If leadership is bad it is usually across the board.

 

[glassmanJ]

Let’s be clear I don’t think he isn’t getting a year 3 because everything you stated.

I am very interested to see what Knox does. I fully expect him to commit to UK. However what if he commits to Louisville? Most will say doesn’t matter he can’t coach. To people making a decision with the goal of making the tournament in year 3 it does matter. Who knows with all the back channel stuff going on and KP’s silence maybe he has 3-4 guys lined up in the portal.

Knox committing to Louisville would be interesting and as funny as hell.
.

funny, but yet sad in that i do not think we've ever signed a player that was also being recruiting by uk.have we? we all get hyped thinking someone will but the reality is playing for uk gets you way more national exposure and it gets you into the nba. currently there are 28 players in the nba playing for 20 different teams. last year in the final 8, seven teams had a uk player. it used to be said cal had no players win a title in the nba, now it's rare a title isn't won w/o a uk player on the team. RP never put guys in the nba and we've never really gotten 5 star recruits after DC was forced to retire. our best nba players we're 3 and 4 star recruits who gotten better, ie Spida and Terry. you can be a bench player going against 5 star guys at uk and get drafted due to you just being there. never been the case for us. why would knox come here over uk? they'll be able to pay him jsut as much thru NIL and he'll get drafted even if he only plays 10 min/game there over playing 30 here.

 

[luv2hit63]

It was an atrocious hire. It does make everyone question the process. We can debate why KP was selected. I won’t go down that rabbit hole because the leadership at the University was in flux at the time. It was a perfect time for key boosters-community leaders to throw around their influence.

There was a plan there just wasn’t a plan for these results. When it comes to the basketball program the University and Athletic Department decided to play the victim. KP is managing the program like it is a victim. Leaders never play the victim. The players and program didn’t need healing they needed leaders.

Here is the question why is the leadership lacking at the University and Athletic Department only as it relates to basketball? All the other sports are thriving. If leadership is bad it is usually across the board.

You answered your own question in the first paragraph. “Community leaders throwing around their influence “
Josh had no choice. Unfortunately it didn’t work out. Now everyone is suffering except KP.

 

[OldhamCard335]

So, Heird said, “ We’re going to do everything we can to get this program back to where we all want and expect it to be”. So Josh, please don’t overlook the obvious.

 

[UofLouisville]

So, Heird said, “ We’re going to do everything we can to get this program back to where we all want and expect it to be”. So Josh, please don’t overlook the obvious.

Right? Don't blame it on the uniform style or the shoes don't fit right.