Kenny Payne Makes A Derogatory Statement Let’s The Cat Out Of The Bag About His Time In Louisville.
The Kenny Payne era of Louisville men’s basketball has come to an end. On Wednesday afternoon, U of L announced Payne would not be returning for a third season as the Cardinals’ head coach after two previous seasons that constituted the worst run of basketball in the the school’s modern history.
In a disastrous spell in charge of the Cardinals, Payne went 12-52 across his two seasons as head coach. This included more than 30 losses by double-digit points, at least a dozen defeats by 20 or more points and a 4-28 record in the 2022-23 season, which marked the most defeats in one season in program history.
A national search is underway for Payne’s replacement, but the financial effects of Payne’s dismissal will linger into the future. The 57-year-old Payne signed an incentive-filled six-year contract to coach the Cardinals in March of 2022 with a salary of $3.35 million per year.
The buyout called for Payne to receive $8 million if Louisville terminated his contract without cause — meaning NCAA violations or some other act beyond wins and losses — in Year 2. According to his contract, Payne’s buyout was set to drop to $6 million at the start of April, but U of L athletics director Josh Heird didn’t wait that long to dismiss Payne.
Payne was paid the equivalent of $837,500 per victory during the 2022-23 season, the equivalent of $418,750 per victory during Louisville’s eight-win 2023-24 season and $558,333 overall for each of his 12 wins at U of L. Entering the 2023-24 season, Payne was the second-highest paid NCAA Division I men’s college basketball coach in Kentucky, behind only UK’s John Calipari, whom Payne was a longtime assistant for in Lexington.
Of Payne’s annual pay of $3.35 million, $1.675 million came in base salary and another $1.675 million was paid through “additional compensation.” That additional compensation for Payne came from broadcast appearances, promotional activities and agreements with apparel companies — currently Adidas for U of L.
Payne’s contract was slated to run through March 2028, and was structured in a way that his annual pay could have only increased by on-court success. Payne’s base salary would have increased only if the Cardinals made the NCAA Tournament, a stage they haven’t been on since 2019.