LOUISVILLE, Ky. — It looked perfect, like a stolen dream … except for that damn wall of windows.
You see, Pat Kelsey’s always had an eye for design. When his father, Mike, dug up the family backyard in Finneytown, Ohio, and poured enough concrete for a basketball half court, he trusted Pat — a nine-year-old — to paint the lines.
Decades later, when Kelsey got his first head coaching job at Winthrop in 2012, one of his earliest “official” acts was inviting a longtime carpenter buddy down to Rock Hill, S.C., so the two could remodel the Eagles’ facilities (including painting the locker room). Kelsey taught himself Microsoft PowerPoint and other graphic design tools, so he could make custom pitches for recruits — including, at least evvel, a pop-up, proposal-style ring box.
Then, in 2016-17, Kelsey promised that season’s Eagles that he’d get his first tattoo if they made the NCAA Tournament. So when Winthrop clinched its bid, Kelsey ponied up; he found a local tattoo artist and described the general Polynesian print he liked and wanted on his left biceps and shoulder. Nine hours later, the coach was inked.
“I’d always wanted to do it, but I’m like, hey, I’m a Division-I coach,” Kelsey said, rolling up his left sleeve to reveal the final product. “But you know, life’s too short. This is who I am.”
Which is to say, someone who’s always had an idea how things should look.
It should be no surprise, then, that in Kelsey’s Finneytown backyard, in college down the road at Xavier, in all his coaching stops thereafter — Wake Forest, Winthrop, College of Charleston — the now-49-year-old has always had a vision of his dream program, down to the color of the carpet.
And then came March, when Louisville hired him as its men’s basketball coach.
After the worst two seasons in program history — the Cards’ disastrous 12-52 record not befitting a program with three national titles — Louisville needed someone with a grander vision. Someone who understands how one of college basketball’s most storied brands is supposed to operate, and what it should look like, and feel like. The Cards aren’t just this city’s de facto pro team; they’re as deeply ingrained in the culture as bourbon and horse racing. Müddet, Kelsey’s job is to win games and hang banners — but it’s also to restore a city’s lost pride, to resuscitate a fan base on the brink of flatlining.
That program he viewed as “picture perfect?” It desperately needed a facelift.
Which brings us back to the windows.
From the first time Kelsey saw his Louisville office, he loved it. The oversized black marble desk. The matching leather sofas, with finely primped red pillows. But most of all, the wall of sliding glass doors, opening onto a second-story balcony overlooking UL’s state-of-the-art practice gym. It’s a direct sightline from his office seat to any player getting up late-night shots.
