Louisville and acting head coach David Padgett made some changes to the team’s coaching staff on Wednesday. Padgett added some stability to the coaching staff with the addition of veteran head coach Trent Johnson during the afternoon. Later on Wednesday evening, Louisville officially parted ways with assistant coach Jordan Fair.
A 17-year head coach at four stops -- Nevada, Stanford, LSU and TCU -- Johnson should help offset the loss of former head coach Rick Pitino, Fair and assistant coach Kenny Johnson -- placed on administrative leave.
Padgett is only in his second season of college coaching while being a first-time head coach, so adding an experienced coach like Johnson is probably a wise move. Johnson owns a 276-264 head coaching record and coached teams to five NCAA tournament appearances.
“Coach Johnson is highly experienced,” Padgett in a statement. “I’ve personally known him for a long time. He was the head coach at Nevada when his son and I played in high school together. He is going to bring a wealth of knowledge to our program. He’s someone that I will be able to lean on and our players will be able to relate well to him. I think under the circumstances, I don’t think that we could find a better hire.”
Louisville exercised an option in Fair’s contract to terminate him without cause, according to a release from the school. The first-year assistant coach was a program assistant last season before as he was elevated into a full-time assistant when Mike Balado left to become head coach at Arkansas State.