Louisville expected to announce Kenny Payne as new basketball coach Friday morning

Kenny Payne will be introduced to the world as the next Louisville men’s basketball coach on Friday morning.

A meeting of the University of Louisville Athletic Association Board of Directors has been called for Friday at 9 a.m., presumably to approve Payne’s pending contract. Louisville has also called a 10 a.m. press conference that will be held at the KFC Yum Center, which I think we can all assume will be Payne’s official introductory press conference.

Let the debating and the speculating and the rumor-mongering cease. It’s Payne. It’s Friday. The next era of Cardinal basketball is here.

I understand wanting to get this done as soon as possible, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t been hoping that this was going to be pushed to Monday. The women’s team deserves the sole focus of the fan base on Friday, and making the announcement on Friday morning also guarantees that it will be forgotten nationally the moment the men’s madness resumes at noon.

But, these are minor quibbles, I suppose, and there’s no way to please everyone.

A new era is upon us, and we’ll have much more here on Kenny Payne in the 48 hours ahead.