Report: Pat Kelsey Bringing Top Three Assistants From Charleston to Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Less than a week after being officially introduced as the new head coach of the Louisville men's basketball program, Pat Kelsey reportedly has the bulk of his assistant coaching staff already in place.

Kelsey will be bringing over Brian Kloman, Michael Cassidy and Thomas Carr - his top three assists from Charleston - with him to the Cardinals, according to The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman.

Due to NCAA legislation passed in early 2023 that expanded the limits on coaching staffs from three to five, Kelsey can still bring on two more assistants for his first staff at Louisville. Expect one of these to be primarily a recruiting assistant, according to Goodman.

Kloman was Kelsey's lead assistant during his three years at Charleston, and has been with him for 10 of his 12 years as a head coach. All 11 of Kelsey's regular season and conference championships, and all four of his NCAA Tournament appearances, have come while Kloman was on his staff.

Before becoming a mainstay on Kelsey's bench, Kloman served as an assistant coach at both Tennessee Tech and North Carolina Central. While with NCCU, he helped guide them to a 28-6 overall record and NCAA Tournament berth in 2014.

The Asheville, N.C native and Tennessee alum also founded recruitingrumors.com in 2008. At the time, the site was one of the popular sources for recruiting information amongst college coaches.

Cassidy was hired by Kelsey after he landed the Charleston job, and spent all three of Kelsey's years there with him. Together, he helped Kelsey go 75-27 overall with the Cougars.

Prior to Charleston, the Canberra, Austrailia native worked as an assistant coach for the U19 Australian National Team at the 2021 U19 FIBA World Cup. Australia went 3-4 for a 10th place finish out of 16 teams.

Before that, Cassidy spent five years with the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence. Working alongside the NBA Global Academy, the Centre of Excellence has produced NBA stars such as Andrew Bogut, Joe Ingles, Luc Longley, Patty Mills and more.

Carr has been with Kelsey for the last two seasons at Charleston, which has been his Kelsey's best work as a head coach. The Cougars were 58-11 during this span, including back-to-back Coastal Athletic Association regular season and tournament championships, as well as NCAA Tournament berths.

Before joining Kelsey's staff, Carr spent two seasons as the athletic director at Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, which is one of the preeminent high school programs in the country.

Prior to that, Carr spent five years as an assistant on Kevin Keatts' various coaching staffs: the first three while at UNC Wilmington and the latter two at NC State. Before that, he spent a pair of seasons as an assistant at East Tennessee State.

(Photo of Pat Kelsey: Michael Clevenger - Courier Journal / USA)

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