Kenneth Victor Payne (born November 25, 1966) is an American college

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

coach and former player who is the head men's basketball coach at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one o ...

. Prior to being hired at Louisville, Payne spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the New York Knicks of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA). A and

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger ...

, Payne played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

and was a member of the 1986 NCAA championship squad. He was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 19th pick of the

1989 NBA draft The 1989 NBA draft took place on June 27, 1989, in New York City. Despite eight of the top ten picks being considered busts, including the first two picks Pervis Ellison and Danny Ferry, the draft produced many talented players such as Shawn Ke ...

Playing career

Payne played for the University of Louisville from 1986-89, winning a national title as a freshman in a victory over

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are rank ...

. As a starter his last two years at Louisville, he averaged 10.7 points and 5 rebounds as junior, and 14.5 points and 5.7 rebounds as senior, while shooting 51% from the field, including 43% on 3-pointers. His last season, Louisville won the Metro Conference tournament and was rated 12th in the final poll and the team made it to the Sweet 16. In four NBA seasons from to for the Philadelphia 76ers, he averaged 3.5 points and 1.2 rebounds per game. He was waived by the team in January 1993 after failing to live up to expectations. He also played professionally overseas in Italy, Japan, Brazil, the Philippines, Cyprus, China, Argentina and Australia. Following his NBA stint, Payne played one season in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) in 1993–94, averaging 16.3 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for the

Tri-City Chinook The Tri-City Chinook were a professional basketball team based in Kennewick, Washington. They played 4 seasons in the Continental Basketball Association (CBA), the defunct development league for the National Basketball Association (NBA). The te ...

Coaching career

Payne served as assistant coach for the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

from 2004 to 2009. From 2010 to 2014, Payne served as assistant coach for the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

; from 2014 to 2020, he was the associate head coach. In 2012, Payne met with Mississippi State University's athletic director about its men's basketball team's head coach vacancy, though ultimately he was not hired. On August 11, 2020, the New York Knicks hired Payne as assistant coach under head coach

Tom Thibodeau Thomas Joseph Thibodeau Jr. ( ; born January 17, 1958) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He served as an assistant coach for the United States men's national ...

. On March 18, 2022, Payne was introduced as the new head men’s basketball coach at the

. He finished his first year as head coach with only four wins, the worst record in modern history for any Louisville basketball team.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Payne and his wife Michelle have two children. One of his children, Zan, is a player for the

Louisville Cardinals men's basketball The Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team is the men's college basketball program representing the University of Louisville (U of L) in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) of NCAA Division I. The Cardinals have officially won two NCAA champ ...

team.

References

External links