Kenny Payne learned working under John Calipari how to push players to be their best.
Milt Wagner won a national championship as a player at Louisville when Kenny Payne was his teammate. Wagner also worked as an assistant at Memphis for coach John Calipari.
Now Wagner is the director of player development at Louisville for Payne, the former UK assistant coach under Calipari who is starting his first season as Louisville’s head coach.
Calipari had to rebuild the program at Memphis and did. He made the Tigers a national power with a legitimate chance to win a national championship before he left to become the head coach at Kentucky in 2009 where he did win a national title in 2012.
Wagner thinks Payne can do the same thing eventually at Louisville.
“You have to rebuild. You do not have your players this first year but we still have some good players,” Wagner said. “You have got to bring in your culture and then bring in your recruits. It will take a couple of years for Kenny to get the program where he wants.”
Here are other thoughts Wagner had on Calipari/Payne:
Question: How good will Kentucky be this year?
Wagner: “He has a good team every year. You are supposed to at Kentucky. We are trying to get to that point.”
Question: What did you like most about working for Calipari at Memphis?
Wagner: “Just his drive. He knows what buttons to push with players to make them perform. I really like that. He is not going to sugar coat anything. He is going to push you. He don’t care if you are the No. 1 player in the country or the worst, he’s going to push you and that’s what I like about him. Guys understand that and that’s what makes guys great players at the next level after he coaches them.”
Question: Did you see things that you feel like Kenny learned working for Calipari?
Wagner: “Kenny has his own spin but you can tell the way he makes guys play to their full potential that they are very similar. Kenny has his own spin but he still drives these guys and if you come here, I am going to train you to be the best. You shouldn’t want anything else and that is his mindset.”
