Louisville basketball coaching search continues: 8 names to watch with Drew, May off board

Josh Heird is still looking for someone who will "crawl here" to coach the Louisville men's basketball team.

Plan A and Plan B, Scott Drew and Dusty May, didn't work. The former said he's staying at Baylor; and the latter turned down the Cardinals to take the head-coaching job at Michigan.

Where do they turn now?

The good news is there are plenty of coaches out there whose track records suggest they could pull U of L out of the depths to which it sank during the Kenny Payne era.

The bad news is, after courting Drew and May, it's going to be difficult for Heird to sell his choice as the choice to a fan base that's desperate for a return to national prominence.

But the search must go on; so here are eight coaches, listed in alphabetical order, to watch:

Amir Abdur-Rahim (South Florida)

Amir Abdur-Rahim was one of three coaches The Field of 68's Jeff Goodman tied to the Louisville vacancy after May chose Michigan.

The 43-year-old Atlanta native won a school-record 25 games in his first season at South Florida, which also cracked the AP Top 25 Poll for the first time during the campaign. This after he led Kennesaw State to its first 20-win season, and NCAA Tournament appearance, in 2022-23 after going 1-28 in 2019-20.

He does, however, still own a sub-.500 career record, 70-82.

Per The Tampa Bay Times, Abdur-Rahim has a $2 million buyout through March 31.

Jamie Dixon (TCU)

ESPN on March 24 included Jamie Dixon's name among it's "What's next?" options after May picked Michigan.

Does that make him a legitimate candidate at this point? That's unclear. But the 58-year-old California native is one of the few coaches on this list who took his team to March Madness this year.

Dixon owns a 160-110 record across eight seasons at TCU, his alma mater. The Horned Frogs have won 20 or more games, and reached the NCAA Tournament, for three years running.

There's also Dixon's 13 years at Pittsburgh; during which he went 328-123, made the Big Dance 11 times and got the Panthers to three Sweet 16s.

Shaheen Holloway (Seton Hall)

Shaheen Holloway was the second coach Goodman identified as a U of L target.

Cards fans will remember the 47-year-old Queens, New York, native as the man who led Saint Peter's on a fairytale Elite Eight run as a No. 15 seed in 2022, which included a first-round upset of archrival Kentucky.

Since then, Holloway has returned to his alma mater, Seton Hall; where he's gone 39-28 over the past two seasons. The Pirates were among the first four teams left out of the NCAA Tournament field this year but have reached the NIT quarterfinals.

Because Seton Hall is a private university, Holloway's buyout is a mystery.

Pat Kelsey (Charleston)

Pat Kelsey was the third coach Goodman mentioned. Louisville has reportedly been in contact with the 48-year-old Cincinnati native since the early stages of the search.

Kelsey, a former colleague of Chris Mack at Xavier and Dino Gaudio at Wake Forest, owns a 75-27 record at Charleston. Upon his hiring in 2021, Mack called Kelsey "the most energetic and passionate coach in the country."

He's led the Cougars to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since 1997-99; but, as was the case with his two March Madness berths across nine seasons at Winthrop, they've failed to advance past the first round.

Per The Charleston Post and Courier, Kelsey's buyout is $1 million through 2028.

Eric Musselman (Arkansas)

Eric Musselman found instant success at Arkansas; and his penchant for attacking the NCAA transfer portal could produce similar results for the Cards.

The 59-year-old Ashland, Ohio, native is, however, coming off his worst season yet with the Razorbacks, who finished 16-17 (6-12 SEC) and missed the NCAA Tournament for the first time during his tenure. But it could be an outlier considering they went 75-30, and reached three consecutive Sweet 16s, between 2021-23.

Regardless, he is someone who understands what it takes to lead a program of U of L's stature after coaching at Arkansas, one of the sport's 30 winningest, and in the NBA.

Per The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Musselman has a $750,000 buyout for the final two years of his contract.

Josh Schertz (Indiana State)

ESPN on March 17 reported Indiana State's Josh Schertz was in discussions with Saint Louis to possibly replace Travis Ford. But with the Louisville job still open, there's a chance the 48-year-old from Montauk, New York, wants to swing bigger.

Schertz has only three years of Division I coaching experience; but in Year 3, he led the Sycamores to their first consecutive 20-win seasons since the turn of the millennium and their first appearance on the AP Top 25 Poll since the days of Larry Bird.

Although it didn't result in his first NCAA Tournament appearance, they advanced to the NIT quarterfinals. And it's worth noting that Schertz rattled off 11 straight 20-win seasons while cutting his teeth in the DII ranks at Lincoln Memorial.

Per WTHI-TV, Schertz's buyout is $250,000.

Jerome Tang (Kansas State)

If Heird wanted Drew so badly, why doesn't he go after one of his former assistants?

Enter: Kansas State's Jerome Tang, who failed to reach the 2024 NCAA Tournament but still has a run to last year's Elite Eight, and the Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year award, on his resume.

He's the least-experienced name on this list but has no shortage of marquee victories. This season, the Wildcats knocked off several teams that earned trips to March Madness during Big 12 play, including Baylor, BYU, Iowa State, Kansas and Texas. And they did it with a defense ranked among the top 25 on KenPom.com in fewest points allowed per 100 possessions.

Per The Topeka Capital-Journal, Tang's buyout is $6 million through April 30.

Will Wade (McNeese State)

Let's get some things out of the way.

Speaking to the media after Payne's firing earlier this month, Heird said he typically has "a high threshold from an integrity standpoint." That would disqualify Will Wade, who received a two-year show-cause order in connection to an investigation into recruiting violations committed during his time at LSU.

But that hasn't stopped some Cards fans from stumping for the 41-year-old Nashville, Tennessee, native on social media after he took McNeese State from 11-23 under John Aiken in 2022-23 to 30-4 in Year 1. Under his guidance, the Cowboys also reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2002.

During an appearance Monday on WHBE 680 AM in Louisville, Sports Illustrated's Pat Forde said it would take "an overthrow of the administration" to bring Wade here.

"Who knows; maybe, overnight, Josh Heird and the president and everybody else has been wiped out and somebody else is in charge," Forde said. "But unless that has happened, Will Wade's not coming to Louisville.

"People can stir some stuff up; you can get some boosters behind that sort of thing, but that is not in line with anything I've heard."

Per McNeese State Athletics, Wade's buyout is $1.25 million.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on X at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville basketball coaching search candidates after Dusty May news