Josh Heird sees growth in Louisville men's basketball, throws support behind Kenny Payne

Following the University of Louisville Athletic Association Board of Directors meeting on Friday morning, Cardinals athletic director Josh Heird spoke with media with the biggest topic being the Cardinals' men's basketball team.

The 2013 men's basketball team is returning to campus next month 10 years after it won the NCAA Tournament, only for the title to be vacated by the NCAA 5 years later. Heird was asked about the state of the men's basketball program and supporting head coach Kenny Payne, and about the 2013 championship banner.

Heird offered public support of Kenny Payne, the first-year men's basketball coach he hired and whose team has struggled to a 2-15 record entering its game Saturday against North Carolina.

Later in the day, Payne said he hadn't seen Heird's comments, but that his boss has offered private support long before Friday.

"(Heird) sees," Payne said. "He comes to practices. He's in the locker room after games. He's watching the morale of the players. He knows what we're trying to build. And and he's been supportive of it. So yes, that feels good."

Heird was also asked about NIL, the Indiana football series, where the Cardinals are on naming rights for the football stadium, among other things. Here's what he said:

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NOTE: Some answers have been edited for clarity and brevity. 

Q: You got the question about basketball and obviously, it's something that because they're in season with (Payne) and the men's team. They're getting better, still not winning yet. How do you approach that? What do you feel like your role is with Kenny as far as support? 

A: I can promise you, I don't go home satisfied with we're getting better and Kenny even more so than me. We don't want to go home and say we're getting better. We're making progress. So we understand the expectations in this program, and the expectation is to win a lot of basketball games and compete at an extremely high level.

Do I think we're headed in the right direction? That's not just wins and losses. That's everything around the program, you know, are we setting ourselves up to be successful? Yes. Now, but obviously, more so in the future and creating a foundation that's going to last more than you catch lightning in a bottle and you had a good year. How do we create a program that's going to be sustainable and be really good year after year, because that's the expectation around here.

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And as far as supporting Kenny, I mean, that's, extremely important to me. Until he does something that says, 'Hey, I don't think he should be our basketball coach,' I'm going to support him 110%. But I can promise you he hasn't done one thing that has shown me that he shouldn't be our basketball coach. Now, does that mean that any of us are satisfied with two wins? Absolutely not. Like I said, it is extremely frustrating. And I can assure you, it's frustrating. I know it's frustrating to Kenny. It's frustrating to staff, and it's frustrating to our student-athletes. But if you take a step back, and this is really hard to do, it's really hard for fans to do, it's really hard for me to do, it's really hard for Kenny to do and say, 'Hey, what were we dealing with when we made that coaching transition?' Look at who was on this team. Look at the track record they had previously. Look who's not on that team now based on the personnel there.

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Q: The 2013 men’s basketball team is going to be coming back in, I think, a couple of weeks. The national championship banner is something that everybody's been talking about since the IARP stuff. It's a process, but has there been any headway made in that? Or what's that timeline or journey kind of looking like? 

A: This is the 10-year anniversary of the men's 2013 national championship team. We want to give the opportunity to them, to our fans, to recognize those achievements. We're going to do everything that we're allowed to do. Are we going to have some conversations about some things that we're allowed to do? Yes, we will do that from an NCAA standpoint. Once again, looking at the entirety, the whole picture in that NCAA case decision, those sanctions, it was very clear that we cannot recognize various teams in any form or fashion from a public standpoint. Is there an opportunity or is there a path forward to try to do that? We're gonna try.

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Q: Can you tell us anything at this point about this Indiana stuff? (Indiana reportedly is working to cancel the three-game series with Louisville, including this year’s contest, which is set to take place at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.)

A: We're gonna play in Indianapolis in 2023. There's no opportunity for us and for them to go find another game. I would presume that they're excited about playing that game. We're extremely excited about playing that game. I think it's a great opportunity for both of our fan bases. I think our student-athletes love playing in a pro environment. I think we've got three or four pro stadiums on our, potentially on our schedule next year.

I know we like to schedule these things out for the next 10 to 15 years, but they change all the time. So right now, fully committed to playing in 2023 and then we'll see what happens in the future. If we mutually think that there's essentially a better opportunity out there, that would be the reason, but right now, we committed to a three-game series. They did, too, and that's where we're at right now.

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Q: With the stadium naming rights, are you progressing? Are you getting closer? 

A: I would tell you we've had a number of conversations. I do think we're getting closer to reaching some sort of agreement, but until their signature's on a piece of paper, I'm never gonna say anything's done. While I do think there's an opportunity there, we just have to make sure that we continue down the road and our partner, our potential partner's happy. Ultimately, this is going to have to be approved by our board of trustees. So, make sure that we go through those channels, and then hopefully, we can make sure everybody's happy and get something announced here.

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Q: Then for you, I mean, it's not like anything happened in your first year at all (laughs). What has this been like in just that first year as an AD and what are you kind of reflecting on or looking to do in Year 2? 

A: I think I would just start the way I started a year ago and say that it's an honor and a privilege to be the athletic director for the University of Louisville. I enjoy, I'm not gonna say every day, I enjoy a large majority of the days in this role. I think we have some of the best coaches in the country. I know we have some of the best staff in the country, best student-athletes. There has been a lot going on here in the last year. I go back to what I said a year ago, if we can make sure that we put the best interest of the athletic department, the university at the forefront of every decision we make, then I think we'll make some good decisions. I'm not gonna sit here and say we've made the right decision every single day, but I think by and large we've made some good decisions. We've just got to continue down that path and, as I say, stack one good day on top of another and just continue to try to build one of the best athletic departments in the country.

Louisville men's basketball reporter Brett Dawson contributed to this report.

Reach Louisville football, women's basketball and baseball beat writer Alexis Cubit at acubit@gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Alexis_Cubit.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: AD Josh Heird talks Louisville men's basketball, NIL, Indiana football