SPOKANE, Wash. — Fifty-eight wins. Two Coastal Athletic Association Tournament championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances.
Not since the heady days of the mid-1990s, when head coach John Kresse led College of Charleston to March Madness four times in six seasons, has the Cougars' basketball program been on this kind of trajectory.
Despite College of Charleston’s 109-96 loss to Alabama on March 22 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, the basketball program has been on stronger footing since coach Pat Kelsey was hired away from Winthrop.
The Cougars will lose just two players via graduation, sixth-man Bryce Butler and starting forward Frankie Policelli. Both were significant contributors, but the majority of their core players, including Reyne Smith, Ben Burnham and Ante Brzovic, can return for the 2024-25 season.
One of the biggest question marks facing the Cougars is the status of Kelsey. Will Kelsey be back on the Cougars' bench, running around the downtown campus shouting his trademark ‘Our City’ slogan that has become a rallying cry for the students and the fan base?
Kelsey, 48, is a rising star in the business, and as the coaching carousel continues to spin with hirinigs and firings, there’s no telling who will come to court the Cincinnati, Ohio, native.
Kelsey has already been on various lists for openings in Power 5 conferences from West Virginia and Vanderbilt to Louisville and beyond.
Last February, Kelsey signed a five-year contract extension that will pay him $1 million a year through the 2028 seasonm making him the highest paid coach in the CAA. According to USA Today, he earned $180,000 on bonuses this year, and an automatic $50,000 pay increase for next year.
The contract also includes a buyout for the school of $1 million if Kelsey decides to leave the Lowcountry and take another job before 2028.
Even if CofC athletic director Matt Roberts plans to give Kelsey another contract extension with a raise in the coming weeks, it will be hard for the school to compete with offers from Power 5 programs.
“Look, if bigger schools and national brand programs are coming after our coaches, it means we hired the right people,” Roberts said recently. “That’s a good problem to have.”
In three seasons in Charleston, Kelsey has already put together an impressive resume. He is 74-27 overall and 39-15 in the CAA.
The Cougars’ have become the gold standard in the CAA.
Few coaches have adapted to the ever-changing college athletic landscape better than Kelsey, who has embraced the transfer portal and name, image and likeness.
Kelsey and his staff have rarely missed on transfers coming out of the portal in the past three seasons. Butler and Policelli were in the Lowcountry less than a calendar year, but bought into the “25 Strong and Power of the Unit” mentality from the very beginning.
“They only played in our program for a season, but I felt like they were here for five,” Kelsey said after the loss to Alabama. “They’re going to leave a lasting legacy because of their leadership, maturity and the example they set for younger players.”
College of Charleston school president Andrew Hsu has publicly expressed a desire for the Cougars to become the “Gonzaga of the East” and has begun to muster the resources to make that a reality.
When Hsu met with Kelsey during the coach’s job interview in the spring of 2021, the president had a vision for what he thought the program could become.
“I wanted to be the Gonzaga of the East,” Hsu said. “I think we have an opportunity to get there. This is just the beginning and it’s only going to get better and better and bigger and bigger from here.”
Gonzaga is a small, private Jesuit school located in, ironically, Spokane, Wash., where the Cougars just finished their season.
The Zags have an enrollment of 5,000 students, but have been to 23 consecutive NCAA Tournaments, with four Elite Eight appearances and two Final Fours.
The Cougars have the infrastructure and foundation in place to begin that journey, but continuity at the coaching and administration level could help fulfill that promise.
Next year’s roster should give Cougar fans plenty of hope. Along with core nucleus of players who can return, freshman James Scott is a budding superstar, and 6-8 Mayar Wol is a highly regarded versatile wing player with a huge upside.
If Kelsey can again find the right ‘role’ players to fill the spots left by Policelli and Butler, the Cougars will most likely find themselves back in March Madness next spring.
“I’m unbelievably bullish and excited about what’s coming back next year and for the future of our program,” Kelsey said.
