March 13 (UPI) -- The University of Louisville is expected to fire men's basketball coach Kenny Payne after he led the Cardinals to a 12-51 record over two seasons.
Sources told ESPN, CBS Sports and The Field of 68 about the move on Tuesday. The Cardinals hired Payne in 2022. He previously worked as an assistant for the New York Knicks and at Kentucky and Oregon.
Payne led the Cardinals to a 4-28 record in his first year. The 2023-24 Cardinals were 4-3 through their first seven games. They went on to lose 12 of their next 14. They finished the campaign on a seven-game losing streak.
Former Cardinals coach Chris Mack led the Cardinals to a 63-36 record over four seasons before he was fired in 2022. They went 416-143 under coach Rick Pitino from 2001-02 through 2016-17.
The Cardinals achieved a No. 1 national ranking and made trips to the Division I men's basketball tournament under both Pitino and Mack. Pitino led the Cardinals to three Final Four runs, including one that ended with a national title in 2013.
North Carolina State beat Louisville 94-85 in their season finale at the ACC Tournament on Tuesday in Washington, D.C. Payne told reporters at his postgame news conference that he had not been told anything at that point about his future as coach.
"When I walked into the program as the new head coach, I talked about, I needed everybody on the same page," Payne said. "We sort of forgot that. I talked about how I'm not going to let you blame me. I'm not standing up here by myself. I need all of Louisville with me. We sort of forgot that.
"I talked about, it's going to take time, and I'm going to watch and see who jumped on and off the Titanic. We sort of forgot that. I gave a specific time. I said three or four years. And I'm good with that. That's what I believed at that time, and that's what I still believe it takes to fix this program."
The 2023-24 Cardinals ranked No. 239 of 362 teams in points per game (71.6) and 334th in points allowed per game (78.6).
