Louisville basketball: A Comprehensive Coaching Search Database

With a Louisville basketball coaching search almost certainly imminent, we break down the top perceived candidates.

Although Kenny Payne appears to be riding out the season as the Louisville basketball head coach, it’s time to start looking at potential candidates.

While we are still cheering on our favorite team and hoping for a miraculous turn-around, the writing appears to be on the wall.

With that in mind, we scoured the coaching ranks to find who the best fit could be for Louisville basketball.

This page will be updated as the search heats up.

Tier 1- Home Run Hires

Scott Drew – Hiring Grade: A++ / Feasibility: C+

Current Position: HC at Baylor

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Recruiting Classes	Record	Tournament Success/Misc.	Feasibility	Transfer Portal Classes	Contract/ Buyout	Feasability	Hiring Grade
Scott Drew	456-247 (.649)	1x NCAA Champ	2024: 5th / 2 5-stars	2023: 49th – RayJ Dennis	Contract $3.7 Mil.	C+	A++
3x Big 12 COY		2x Elite Eight	2023: 12th / 1 5-star	2022: 40th	Buyout: ??	Unknown buyout (priv. school)	-Homerun hire for UofL
1x BB Times COY		2x Sweet 16	2022: 42nd / 1 5-star			20 years at Baylor	-Checks every box
Family from Indiana		Made Tournament in 11 of 19 years	2021: 15th / 1 5-star			Just built new arena	-Great recruiter, great coach, tourny success, fun team to watch.
		11/15 years since BU turnaround	2020: 33rd: 0 5-stars			Baylor’s version of Denny Crum
		17-9 in NCAA Tournament	Via 24/7 Sports	Via: 24/7 Sports

If any coach was available, this would be my hire. Scott Drew checks every box for this program. Proven success in the tournament, high-level recruiter, an incredible developer of talent, a great coach with a proven ability to turn programs around, and a coach who plays a fun style of basketball.

Back in 2022, when the Cards were looking to replace Chris Mack, Bob Valvano reported,” If you talked, Scott Drew would listen.” Unfortunately, the reports of Drew to the Cards never gained much traction after this, and the Cards brought in Kenny Payne, instead.

The reports of some mutual interest between Drew and the Cards give me a little bit of hope, but I still rank his feasibility ( I am now realizing I spelled this word wrong in all of the photos.. please don’t be mean to me) as a C+. Drew has been with Baylor for 20 years now and has the job for the rest of his life, if he wants it. He is to Baylor what Denny Crum is to Louisville.

Another issue with the hire is Drew’s unknown buyout. Baylor is a private school, so they’re not required to release details on Drew’s contract or buyout if they don’t want to. There have been plenty of reports about Louisville’s athletic department struggling with funds, so if Drew’s buyout is eight figures, then this could turn his feasibility grade into a D or worse.

If he’s available, Scott Drew is a no-brainer hire, but I fear he’ll be extremely tough to poach. He does have family in the area (Indiana), but Baylor just built the man a brand new arena, and he’s constantly rolling out a top-15 squad every year. I’ll go to bed at night dreaming of Scott Drew on the sidelines at UofL, but I’m unsure how much fans can get their hopes up of this hire happening.

Kelvin Sampson – Hiring Grade: A / Feasibility: C-

Current Position: HC at Houston

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Coach	Record	Tournament Success/Misc.	Feasibility	Transfer Portal Classes	Contract/ Buyout	Feasability	Hiring Grade
Kelvin Sampson	676-303 (.691)	2x Final Four	2024: 35th / 2 4-Stars	2023: 31st	Contract: $4.6 Million	C-	A
6x Conference COY	Head coach for 42 seasons	2x Elite Eight	2023: 24th / 2 4-Stars	2022: Unranked	Buyout: $9.8 Million	Been at Houston for 10+ Years	-Coach with most experience
2x National COY		3x Sweet 16	2022: 29th / 1 5-Star			Top-10 Highest paid Coach	-Solid recruiter
		Made it to Sweet 16 or beyond in 4 straight yrs.	2021: 32nd / 1 4-Star			Nearly $10 Million buyout	-Incredible defensive coach
		24-19 in Tournament	2020: 54th / 1 4-Star			68 Years old	-Continuous success in March recently
			Via: 24/7 Sports			Has language in his contract for his son to take over upon retirement.	-Doubtful he will ever leave Houston

Rounding out our no-doubter hires is another Big 12 coach with an incredible track record of building dominant programs, making deep runs in March, and recruiting at a relatively high level.

Kelvin Sampson has been around the game longer than most readers have been alive. Sampson began his coaching career back in 1979 as a graduate assistant at Michigan State. Flash forward more than forty years later, and we’ve seen Sampson take four different teams to the NCAA tournament, with two of them making it to the Final Four.

Sampson’s coaching ability and resume cannot be doubted, but the likelihood of him coming to Louisville can be. Sampson has been at Houston for more than ten years now, and he’s routinely got them ranked in the top 5 and making deep runs in March. Houston has made it to the Sweet 16 or farther in four straight seasons, and while it’s difficult enough to pry away a coach from a team this successful, Sampson has even larger reasons for why a change to Louisville is doubtful.

Currently, Sampson is 68 years old. I don’t know many 68-year-olds who want change, especially a change that will bring with it so many more challenges than what he’s facing at Houston. Tack on the fact that Sampson’s buyout currently sits at nearly $10 million, and he’s got language in his contract for his son to become the next Houston head coach once he retires, the likelihood of Sampson considering a coaching change is slim to none. I’d love to have him, but I’d give the Cards less than a 2% chance of making this happen.

Tier 2- Great Options

Chris Beard Hiring Grade: A / Feasibility: B

Current Position: HC at Mississippi

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Coach	Record	Tournament Success/Misc.	Recrutiting Classes	Transfer Portal Classes	Contract/ Buyout	Feasibility	Hiring Grade
Chris Beard	189-76 (.713)	1x Final Four (Runner-Up)	2024: 64th / 1 4-Star	2023: 9th	Contract: $3.25 Mil	B	A-
2x Big 12 COY		1x Elite Eight	2023: 47th / 1 4-Star	2022: 3rd	Buyout: ??	Would he leave Ole Miss after 1 year?	-From an on-court standpoint, this is another home run hire. Issues stem from domestic violence accusations.
1x AP COY		Made Tournament in 5/5 Seasons	2022: 14th / 2 5-Stars			Recruiting Classes
		14-6 in NCAA Tournaments	2021: 20th / 1 4-Star			Unknown buyout makes this murky	Off-the-court issues
		RECORD: 2023 Ole Miss: 12-21	2020: 21st / 3 4- Stars				-Would alienate a section of the fanbase.
		RECORD: 2024 Ole Miss: 18-3	Via : On3	Via: On3			-Proven winner everywhere he goes

On the merits of coaching alone, Chris Beard deserves to be in the home run hire category, but his incident with his ex-wife back in 2022 is the reason he sits one tier lower. Beard was never convicted of any crime, but with Louisville’s track record of off-the-court issues, I wouldn’t be surprised if Josh Heird never even considers Beard as an option.

After his first season at Texas Tech, Chris Beard has never missed the NCAA Tournament, with back-to-back seasons making to the Elite Eight or Final Four from 2017-2019. Tack on his incredible win percentage (.713) with his ability to recruit and work the transfer portal, and you’ve got a coach with all the tools necessary to turn around Louisville’s program in year one (zero if you’re Kenny Payne).

Just looks at what he’s done at Ole Miss. In less than a year, the Rebels went from being a basement-dwelling team in the SEC (12-21) to a team that’s pacing to have the best record in program history. Beard has dominated in the transfer portal in back-to-back years (3rd ranked class in 2022 & 9th ranked class in 2023). The portal is going to be a huge factor in Louisville’s ability to quickly right the ship and get this team back to national relevance in year one.

Chris Beard has won at every stop he’s made, but his likelihood of landing at Louisville is still murky. Currently, his buyout at Ole Miss is unknown, so that could throw a wrench in landing him. He also just started at Ole Miss, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he wants to stick with the only program that gave him an opportunity for at least a few more seasons. His off-the-court issues also make this hire even less likely. This quote from Josh Heird during Kenny Payne’s introductory press conference leaves me wondering if Beard will even get a look.

“If your character had been called into question as a coach, I told Glenn (Sugiyama) I wouldn’t entertain a conversation.”

This is what Josh Heird said the day Kenny Payne was introduced as head coach.

Since then, Heird has been hired as permanent AD and UofL has hired a… pic.twitter.com/LfXlLRD8b0

— State of Louisville (@thestateoflou) January 31, 2024

I fear Louisville will miss out on Beard during this hiring cycle for any number of the reasons listed above, and in three to four years we’ll see Beard accept a job at a top-tier program like Kentucky or Kansas, and fans will be dreaming of what could have been.

Eric Musselman – Hiring Grade: B+ / Feasibility: A

Current Position: HC at Arkansas

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Say what you will about Eric Musselman and his proclivity for corniness and taking off his shirt, but he’s taken this Arkansas program to heights they haven’t seen since their dominance in the early ’90s, and this has all been done on the back of some impressive recruiting classes and absolute dominance in the transfer portal (I’m pretty sure Musselman took every single guard Louisville was connected to last year).

Once a coaching change is made, there’s a high likelihood that most of this roster decides to transfer out, and who could blame them? They will have lost the coaching staff they signed up to be coached by, and they’ll have spent the last two seasons losing 20+ games a year. This is where Musselman’s dominance in the portal will come into play. In the past two seasons, Muss has brought in 11 different transfers to Arkansas, and most of them (except El Ellis) have panned out to be studs for his squad. Louisville will need a coach with the ability to overhaul a roster, and Muss brings just that.

Beyond his ability to bring in a roster loaded with talent, he’s also been able to almost always (this year is a bit of a mess) been able to turn that talent into winning teams that make runs in March. In seven seasons, Musselman has made it past the first weekend four times. While Louisville hasn’t made the tournament since 2019, Musselman has been there every single year since his first season at Nevada.

On top of his ability to coach and recruit, Musselman also seems to be the easiest candidate to acquire. His buyout sits at a staggeringly low $750,000 after this season is over. You never see that low of a buyout for a candidate of this quality. You typically have to hire from the Sun Belt to pay that little to get a coach.

This will be true for almost all of the other hires, but Louisville is a clear upgrade in program, prestige, facilities, and NIL money compared to Arkansas. Tack on the fact that Arkansas is in the middle of a bad season (for their standards) and widespread rumors of in-fighting amongst the players. This may be the perfect storm for the Muss Buss to make his way up to Louisville.

To me, I think Musselman is the perfect combination of coach quality and feasibility. He’s proven to be a top-ten coach, he’s one of the best at acquiring talent, and he’s got the lowest buyout of any coach on this list. If I were a betting man, I’d say this is who Louisville lands at the end of the season.

Nate Oats – Hiring Grade: B+ / Feasibility: C+

Current Position: HC at Alabama

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Coach	Record	Tournament Success/Misc.	Recrutiting Classes	Transfer Portal Classes	Contract/ Buyout	Feasibility	Hiring Grade
Nate Oats	202-91 (.689)	2x Sweet 16	2024: 6th	2023: 5th	Contract: $4.5 Million	C+	B+
1x SEC COY	106-48 (.688) at Alabama	Made Tournament in 6/7 Years	2023: 16th	2022: 67th	Buyout: $12 Million? Based on quote	Really large buyout is the issue	-Very similar to Musselman.
2x MAC COY	(3-4) vs UK	3/3 with Alabama	2022: 3rd				– But with a buyout 12x bigger.
		1st Year with Alabama: 16-15	2021: 14th				– Amazing recruiter & big in the transfer portal.
		2nd Year with Alabama: 26-7	2020: 12th	s

Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but there’s another SEC coach who’s quickly turned his team around and dominates in recruiting and in the portal. Am I still talking about Eric Musselman? Nope. I’m talking about his much more expensive SEC rival, Nate Oats.

Back in 2019, Oats went from Buffalo Blue to Alabama Red after taking the Bulls to the tournament in 3-4 years. His first year leading the tide was a bit of a struggle (going 16-15), but ever since year one, the Tide have been on a tear. Last year, Oats had the Tide as the overall number-one seed in the tournament. Unfortunately, Alabama lost again in the Sweet 16, a spot Oats has never been able to get past. If there’s any knock on Oats as a coach, it’s his inability to get past the second weekend in March.

As far as recruiting goes, Oats is the best on this list. Since his arrival, Alabama has never had a class ranked lower than 16th, and his class was ranked 3rd back in 2022. His dominance extends to the transfer portal, as well, where he just pulled in the 5th-ranked class before this season.

Outside of his on-court success, I love the way his teams play. It’s fast-paced, and it’s fun to watch. Oats leans into the more modern style of basketball spreading the floor with shooters and instilling his team to take it to the basket or shoot a three. If there’s one style of play I’d love to watch for the next 20 years, it would be his.

From a step-up in program and prestige, a move to Louisville makes a ton of sense for Oats. Unfortunately, there is one huge thing standing in the way of him coming to the ‘Ville, and that’s his eight-figure buyout. From SI’s Joey Blackwell, “Should Oats be hired between Jan. 22, 2023-March 14, 2024, Alabama would be owed a total of $12 million. The amount is slated to decrease to $10 million the following season, then to $7 million in the 2025-26 season.”

Oof. That’s a lot of money. Maybe there’s a donor out there who loves his playstyle as much as I do and also has a spare $10 million lying around?? But I highly doubt that. I’d be pumped if the Cards landed Oats, but that buyout is staggering and the main reason why I rated his feasibility at a C+.

Jerome Tang – Hiring Grade: B / Feasibility: B+

Current Position: HC at Kansas State

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Coach	Record	Tournament Success/Misc.	Recrutiting Classes	Transfer Portal Classes	Contract/ Buyout	Feasibility	Hiring Grade
Jerome Tang	40-15 (.727)	1x Elite Eight	2024: 73rd / 1 4-Star	2023: 43rd	Contract: $3 Million	B+	B
1x Big 12 COY		Assistant with Scott Drew from ’03-’22	2023: 23rd / 2 4-Stars	2022: 35th	Buyout: $5 Million	Medium buyout	-Incredible first year & a half at KSU.
Recruiting Classes		RECORD: 2022 K-State: 14-17	2022: 42nd / 1 5-star			Extreme upgrade in program	– Questions arise with his lack of head coaching experience
		RECORD: 2023 K-State: 26-10	2021: 15th / 1 5-star			Would he leave the school that gave
			2020: 33rd: 0 5-stars			him his first HC opportunity?	-Was KSU just a Cinderella Story last year?
			Via: 24/7 Sports	Via: 24/7 Sports			-Will get more clarity as the year goes on

To me, Jerome Tang represents the most boom/bust hire Louisville could make. In just a season and a half, Tang has taken Kansas State from a punching bag in the Big 12 to their deepest postseason run since the 80s.

What Tang has done at K-State is absolutely incredible. The Wildcats were 14-17 in the season before Tang took the reins, and that was their best season since 2018. What’s even more impressive is Tang lost the Wildcats’ best player, Nigel Pack, to the transfer portal and still turned them into the best squad the Wildcats have has this decade. Tang did an incredible job of elevating the players he inherited and adding in key transfer pieces like Keyontae Johnson. What Tang did last season is everything Cards fans were wishing Kenny Payne could have done.

This season, the Wildcats have fallen back to reality quite a bit. They’re still sitting at 14-7 ( A record Cards fans would kill for), but currently, they’re on the outside looking in when it comes to the NCAA Tournament. How the remainder of this season goes for the Wildcats will be huge in whether or not Tang gets real consideration as the Cards’ next coach. A turnaround to end the season and another run in the tournament could lock Tang in as one of the best hires available, but missing the tournament in year two may leave decision-makers wondering if his first year was a fluke.

As far as recruiting and the transfer portal go, Tang is average, at best. As a longtime assistant with Baylor, their recruiting was above average, but in his two years as a head coach, he’s yet to pull in a top-20 class. The same can be said about his transfer portal classes where he’s landed the 35th and 43rd best class over the last two seasons, but even with him lacking in these categories, he’s still put together a solid team in his two years as head coach.

In terms of the likelihood of Louisville getting him to leave Kansas State, I believe it’s doable but not a guarantee. Louisville would be an undeniable upgrade in program, and his ability to recruit players would be even easier, but his $5 million buyout and whether or not he’d leave the program that gave him his first head coaching gig leaves some room for doubt.

Louisville needs to nail this next hire, and Tang’s lack of experience as a head coach and unproven success on the court leaves me nervous about this hire. I certainly wouldn’t hate it, and I think he’d have a great chance at turning us around in one year, just like he did at K-State, but he definitely has a lot more question marks than many of the other candidates on this list.

Mick Cronin – Hiring Grade: B- / Feasibility: C+

Current Position: HC at UCLA

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Coach	Record	Tournament Success/Misc.	Feasibility	Transfer Portal Classes	Contract/ Buyout	– Average recruiter & bad in portal	Hiring Grade
Mick Cronin	473-218 (.685)	1x Final Four	2024: 87th / 0 4-Stars	2023: 95th	Contract: $4.1 Million	C+	B-
2x PAC 12 COY	404-194 (.676) at Cincy & UCLA	3x Sweet 16	2023: 13th / 4 4-Stars	2022: Unranked	Buyout: $16 Million	He’d love to come here	– A solid, but unremarkable hire
1x AAC COY		Made NCAA Tournament in 12 straight seasons	2022: 13th / 2 5-Stars			But huge buyout in the way	– Former assistant under Pitino
1x OVC COY		RECORD: 2018 UCLA.: 17-16	2021: 37th / 1 5-Star				– Shown an ability to make runs in March
		RECORD: 2019 UCLA: 19-12	2020: 55th / 2 4-Stars				– Question ability to make a quick turnaround
			Via: 24/7 Sports	Via: 24/7 Sports			– Question ability to make quick turnaround

Is #MickThePick? After sizing him up against all the other candidates, I’m not so sure he is.

If you follow a certain account on Twitter, or just don’t have him muted yet, I’m sure you’ve been inundated with the phrase #MickIsThePick. The former Louisville assistant has been talked about for years as a potential candidate at Louisville, and with our third coaching search in less than ten years upon us, his name has been brought up again.

Cronin spent nearly 15 years as the head man at Cincinnati before taking over head coaching duties at UCLA in 2019. In his five years at UCLA, the results have been solid but not great. A run to the final four in 2021 with a bubble team is his greatest accomplishment, and one that can’t be scoffed at, and in the two years following, he took UCLA to a 58-14 with two more trips to the Sweet 16.

But this season the wheels seem to be falling off. The Bruins are currently sitting at 9-11, with a championship run in the Pac-12 tournament being their only hope for an NCAA Tournament bid. Most of the issues seem to stem from Mick’s inability to succeed in the transfer portal. His team was unranked in 2022 and landed just the 95th-best class last year. I’ve read rumors of NIL issues at UCLA being the reason for this, but his lack of success on the court this year, and his struggles in the transfer portal have me concerned with his ability to turn Louisville around in as quick of a fashion as fans will want.

And when looking at his feasibility, it seems unlikely the Cards will be able to poach Cronin away from the Bruins (barring them firing him after this season). Cronin’s buyout currently sits at a whopping $20 million and will drop to $16 million once the season ends. That’s by far the highest buyout of any candidate on this list. Based on reports of our athletic department having issues with funds, I can’t imagine we’re going to find $22 million lying around to fire KP and hire Mick Cronin.

If the Cards were to hire Cronin, it wouldn’t be the worst thing they could do, but it’d be an unremarkable and expensive hire at best.

Tier 3- Under the radar coaches

The remainder of coaches on our list range from rapidly ascending names to mainstays who have sustained success in college basketball.

These names may not be getting a lot of hype, but they have reasonable cases to be the next Louisville basketball coach.

TJ Otzelberger

Current Position: HC at Iowa State

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Coach	Record	Tournament Success/Misc.	Feasibility	Transfer Portal Classes	Contract/ Buyout	Feasability	Hiring Grade
T.J. Otzelberger	156-94 (.624)	1x Sweet 16	2024: 39th / 2 4-Stars	2023: 38th	Contract: $3 Million (07/24)	B+	B
1x Summit COY	88-57 (.648) at Iowa St.	Made Tournament in 4/6 Years	2023: 7th / 1 5-Star	2022: 13th	Buyout: Was $3.36 Million in 2021	Upgrade in Program	-Seems to be an incredible coach
Former: UNLV		2/2 at Iowa State	2022: 40th / No 4-Stars		at UNLV	But former ISU Assistant	-No doubt he would eventually turn UofL around
Former: SDSU		2-4 in NCAA Tournament				Would come with a pay raise	– Questions with recruiting & transfer. portal
		RECORD: 2021 Iowa St.: 2-22				Would expect us to pay $4+ MIL	– Not as big of a name as the others
		RECORD: 2022 Iowa St.: 22-13	Via: 24/7 Sports	Via: 24/7 Sports			– Questions with recruiting & transfer portal

Jamie Dixon

Current Position: HC at TCU

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Jamie Dixon	483-225 (.682)	1x Elite Eight	2024: 15th / 3 4-Stars	2023: 3rd	Contract: $4 Million+??	B	B-
1x Big East COY	155-102 (.603) at TCU	2x Sweet 16	2023: 53rd / 1 4-Star	2022: 76th	Buyout: $8 Million in 2019	Upgrade in Program	– Coach with tons of experience
1x Naismith COY		Made Tournament in 14/18 years	2022: 94th / 0 4-Stars			But former TCU player	– Proven ability to turn programs around
		RECORD: 2015 TCU.: 12-21	2021: 98th / 0 4-Stars				-Some success in the tournament
		RECORD: 2016 TCU: 24-15 (NIT Champ)	2020: 58th / 0 4-Stars				-Fun style of play
		TCU hadn’t been to NCAA tournament since			Private Univ. – Makes it hard to find		-Was allegedly interested in UCLA job in 2022
		1998 before Jamie Dixon	Via: 24/7 Sports	Via: 24/7 Sports

Porter Moser

Current Position: HC at Oklahoma

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Porter Moser	343-280 (.551)	1x Final Four	2024: 55th	2023: 13th	Contract: $2.8 Million	B+	B-
1x MVC COY	50-38 (.568) at Oklahoma	1x Sweet 16	2023: 38th	2022: 12th	Buyout: $6 Million (2023)	Upgrade in facilites & pay	-Mediocre recruiter, but solid in the transfer portal
		Made the tournament in 2/19 years	2022: 38th			Rumors of him taking Notre Dame job	-Struggled in first 2 years at OU. (34-33)
		0/2 making the tournament at Oklahoma	2021: 38th			last year	Has turned it around in year 3 (15-4)
			Via: 24/7 Sports	Via: 24/7 Sports		Buyout may be an issue. Unsure what it is in 2024.	Unsure if he’d be able to make a quick enough turnaround for fans to be happy.

Dusty May

Current Position: HC at Florida Atlantic

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Dusty May	182-118 (.648)	1x Final Four	2024: 100th (3 Commits)	2023: N/A	Contract: $1.25 Million	A	B-
1x CUSA COY		Made Tournament in 1/4 Years	2023: Unranked	2022: 112th	Buyout: $1 Million	Extremly low buyout	– Taken FAU to unprecedented heights
		RECORD: 2018 Iowa St.: 17-16	2022:103rd			Huge upgrade in program	– Not as splashy of a hire
		RECORD: 2019 K-State: 17-15	2021:107th			Huge increase in pay	-Not a great recruiter (but also hard at FAU)
		52-8 in last two seasons	2020: Unranked			(KP gets $3.35 MIL)	-Not a great recrutier (but also hard at FAU)
			Via: 24/7 Sports	Via: 24/7 Sports			– Took a full 3 seasons to turn FAU around

Lamont Paris

Current Position: HC at South Carolina

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Lamont Paris	116-96 (.547)	1 NCAA Tournament Appearance	2024: 54th / 0 4-Stars	2023: 37th	Contract: $2.4 Million	A	C+
1x Southern COY		Made Tournament in 1/6 Years	2023: 52nd / 1 4-Star	2022: 65th	Buyout: Would expect this to be pretty low	Would come with an upgrade in program	– Decent in recruiting transfer portal, relative to expectations in South Carolina
		1st Year with USC: 11-21	2022: 31st / 1 5-Star		Can’t find exact numbers, though.	and in pay
		2nd Year with USC: 18-3					-Turned around a basement program in one yr.
							– Lack of experience at highest level
			Via: 24/7 Sports	Via: 24/7 Sports

Shaka Smart

Current Position: HC at Marquette

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Shaka Smart	336-167 (.668)	1x Final Four	2024: 32nd / 2 4-Stars	2023: Unranked	Contract: ??	B-	B-
1x Big East COY	64-25 (.719) in 2.5 years at Marq.	Made Tournament in 10/13 years	2023: 28th / 2 4-Stars	2022: Unranked	Buyout: ??	Hard to judge this one with no contract/ buyout info.	– Solid coach with a fun play style.
1x AP COY		Knocked out in first two rounds in 9/10 years	2022: 60th / 0 4-Stars		Private university. Hasn’t shared details.		Marquette to UL is significant jump.
		8-10 in Tournament	2021: 19th / 3 4-Stars			Shaka has shown a motivation to jump to bigger schools. (VCU to UT in ’15).
		1st Year with Marq.: 19-13	2020: 106th / 1 5-Star (UT)				– Poor performances in March.
		2nd Year with Marq,: 29-7	Via: 24/7 Sports	Via: 24/7 Sports		Just signed an extension last year, so buyout could be high.	– Buyout & Contract could be hard to compete with

Who do you think should be the next Louisville basketball coach?

Comment below or give us a shout on social media @TheStateofLou.