We now know of two more members of Pat Kelce's Louisville men's basketball coaching staff. One of them is our first external hire.
Ronnie Hamilton will fill one of Kelce's two open assistant positions after working under Matt McMahon for two seasons at LSU, sources confirmed to the Courier-Journal on Tuesday. He joins Thomas Carr, Michael Cassidy and Brian Kroman, who all moved to the 502 after serving on Kelsey's staff in Charleston.
The other is Eli Foy, who just completed his third season as the Cougars' sports performance director. Kelsey said during an appearance on WLCL 93.9 FM that they plan to meet up at U of L on April 5th.
Contract details for them, as well as those of Carr, Cassidy and Kroman, were not available as of Tuesday morning. Because the hiring had not been officially decided.
Last January, the NCAA increased the coaching staff for men's and women's basketball from three to five on-court assistants. With Hamilton reportedly joining the team, Kelce has one more spot left to work with.
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He has been allocated $2.1 million for staff development, according to a signed copy of a memorandum of understanding with the U of L Athletic Association obtained by the Courier-Journal through an open records request.
Kelce's other two on-court assistants in Charleston were Mitch Johnson (Director of Basketball Operations) and Jermaine Ukaeb (Director of Player Development).
The former is I made the Louisville logo an X header photo., formerly Twitter. And as of Tuesday morning, his bio lists him as the Cards' director of basketball operations. However, at the time of publication, it was unclear whether he would play on the court.
Here's what you need to know about Hamilton and Foy.
ronnie hamilton
Louisville will be the ninth stop on Hamilton's coaching journey, which began as a graduate assistant at UNC Pembroke from 2003-2005.
From there, he served as an assistant at Tarleton State University (2005-2008). The Citadel (2008-10); Tulane (2010-12); Houston (2012-14); Middle Tennessee (2014-18) and Ole Miss (2018-22) before landing at LSU.
Hamilton, a native of Oxford, North Carolina, spent the past two seasons under McMahon in on-court coaching, scouting and recruiting. The Tigers had a combined record of 31-35 (11-25 in the SEC) during their time in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
At Ole Miss, he focused primarily on guard play. His highlights from working on Kermit Davis' staff include working with first-team all-conference talent like Devonte Shuler, Blaine Tyree, and Terrence Davis, and helping the Rebels finish in the top 25 during the season. Among other things, he helped assemble the following recruiting class (according to Rivals.com): The 2019 cycle marked one of his highest ratings in program history.
“It puts (players) in competitive situations where they have to make decisions, against pressure, against leads, etc.,” Hamilton said in an LSU Sports video two years ago. “When you do that constantly, what happens to me, and what we've seen with players that we've been able to coach and develop, is that they really become just basketball players. . You can't put a label on them. (They're) the hardest guys to guard.”
It's also worth noting that while at MTSU, he was a part of the Blue Raiders' upsets in the first round of the NCAA Tournament over No. 2 seed Michigan State in 2016 and No. 5 seed Minnesota in 2017.
Hamilton began coaching basketball after his football career ended. A defensive back, he was a four-year letterman at Duke and signed a free agent contract with the New York Giants, but his contract was released during the preseason.
Eli Foy
During a radio appearance last week, Kelce called Foy his “secret weapon” and the top strength and conditioning coach in the country as far as basketball is concerned.
“It's more than just the weight training diagram and the X's and O's, because he's phenomenal at that,” Kelsey said. “We show our recruits his presentations when we do Zoom (meetings) and when they visit, and we show them the changes he's made to the players' bodies, before and after pictures. You can see.
“(He) makes them more athletic, healthier, healthier in body composition. But what makes him special is his heartbeat, his feel, his teaching, coaching, coaching. and the ability to inspire.
“I say he's a secret weapon because he's an extension of the coaching staff. He's a phenomenal recruiter. When he gets in front of parents and student-athletes and sells his vision. , that would be a game-changer for us.”
Foy, a native of the U.S. Virgin Islands, is best known for helping develop Deandre Ayton into the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft as a member of the Wildcats during his three years at his alma mater, Arizona. track and field team. Lauri Markkanen, the 7th pick in the 2017 draft, is one of his students.
Foy and Kelsey began working together in 2019, with the former joining Winthrop's staff.
In an interview the year before, Foy said one of his clients was Liam Boyd, a teenage professional Irish dancer. With his help, Boyd finished 17th in his age group at the 2018 World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
Contact Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow @brooksHolton at X.