Padgett, Crean atop list of replacements
Louisville assistant coach makes sense if school hires from within
Rick Pitino was “effectively fired” as the University of Louisville men’s basketball coach on Wednesday in the wake of breaking news that an FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball recruiting included Louisville.
Here are some possible interim replacements for Pitino as Louisville picks up the pieces of its program and tries to start afresh with another NCAA inquiry likely to begin in the coming months.
David Padgett, Louisville assistant coach
It’s hard to imagine that anyone affiliated with the last few seasons would be included in the clean-up process, but Padgett is a former player with a good reputation whose name has not been included in any of the controversies surrounding the program. If Louisville’s administration wants someone familiar with the team to stick around as college basketball’s preseason begins Sunday, Padgett is the clear choice. He could even be included on a staff if someone else is brought in as the head coach.
Tom Crean, former Indiana coach
Crean took on the arduous task of rebuilding Indiana after the Kelvin Sampson/NCAA fiasco. Things got stagnant there in his final years, but he has won 356 games with Marquette and the Hoosiers, and he took Marquette to the Final Four in 2003.
Scott Davenport, Bellarmine coach
The Bellarmine coach was an assistant for Denny Crum and stayed on when Pitino arrived. His strong local reputation and rapport with media could make him an easy choice for an interim spot — if he’d accept the challenge of trying to guide Louisville through multiple scandals that will damage the program for years. In the same vein as Padgett, there’s also the question of whether the administration would prefer to find someone without any connections to Pitino whatsoever.
Jerry Eaves, Simmons coach
The former Louisville star guard was on the 1980 national championship team and has been a vocal critic of Pitino and athletics director Tom Jurich. He is the head coach for Simmons College’s fledgling hoops program but previously was an assistant under Crum and worked in the NBA before coaching North Carolina A&T from 2003 to 2012. He is also close to interim University of Louisville President Greg Postel.
Kenny Payne, Kentucky associate head coach and former Louisville player
A common name brought up over the last 24 hours or so, Payne was a freshman on Louisville’s 1986 title team and is in a unique position in the Louisville-Kentucky rivalry. The former star forward played a few seasons in the NBA and eventually became an assistant coach at Oregon before joining John Calipari’s staff at Kentucky. Bringing in an assistant coach from a rival school — or leaving one rival to coach the other — would certainly be an eyecatching move, but Payne’s name has come up for other college jobs in recent years.
Ralph Willard, former Louisville assistant coach
Another coach whose Pitino connections might discourage the administration from bringing him in. But Willard has a solid reputation and head coaching experience, and he has also coached several of the current players on Louisville’s roster. Willard was the associate head coach for Pitino during the 2015-16 season.
Thad Matta, former Ohio State coach, and John Thompson III, former Georgetown coach
These two would seem less likely than Crean, who has closer connections to the area. But they are free agents with coaching experience and Final Fours under their belts.