Louisville basketball announced the hiring of its third assistant coach, Oregon’s Josh Jamieson, on Wednesday.
“Real G’s move in silence like lasagna.”
-Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (AKA Lil’ Wayne)
-Michael Scott
-Kenny Payne
Louisville basketball head coach Kenny Payne has been working quietly behind the scenes. His newest surprise addition comes in the form of his third assistant coach, Josh Jamieson.
On Wednesday, Louisville announced that the veteran coach from Oregon would be joining the staff.
“For me, this is a culmination of a lot of years of a relationship with Kenny,” said Jamieson. “I’m over a moon to be a part of the program that he is putting together.”
Jamieson said that, at Oregon, if head coach Dana Altman was the CEO, he was the COO, stretching the limitations of his former position. He spent the last fourteen seasons at Oregon, where he has been one of the Ducks’ mainstays and the Director of Basketball operations. He worked alongside Payne in Eugene from 2007 to 2009.
“He could really be a GM on an NBA team; That’s how smart he is,” Payne said of Jamieson.
Still, there were questions about Jamieson’s ability to recruit- An area he hasn’t worked in for almost two decades.
“Recruiting is just building relationships, and (Jamieson) is second to none,” explained Payne when asked if Jamieson could win on the recruiting trail.
Payne says the hire went “exactly how I wanted this to work out” and called him a “very, very strong basketball mind.”
Payne credited Jamieson for all of the success that Oregon has had over the years.
“I don’t want to sit in a staff meeting and coaches complain about players,” Payne said. “Don’t talk about the problem, fix the problem.” He suggested that Jamieson was that type of person.
“It’s really hard to explain in words the feelings that he gives to people,” said Jamieson, who grinned while explaining his relationship with Payne. “There are just so many instances… Kenny’s compassion, his loyalty, his ability to bring out the best in people; Those are all admirable qualities.”
“Never in a million years did I think I could put together a staff like this, said Payne. “This is the best staff in college basketball.”
“It’s a new day” for Louisville basketball, explained Jamieson. “I couldn’t be more excited.”
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