Patrick Kelsey (born May 15, 1975) is an American college basketball coach. He is the current head men's basketball coach at the University of Louisville. He previously served as head coach for the College of Charleston and Winthrop University.
Kelsey played high school basketball at Roger Bacon High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. He transferred to Elder High School for his senior year and in 1993 helped lead the team to a Division I state title. Kelsey began his collegiate career as a freshman guard at the University of Wyoming. He transferred to Xavier in 1994 where he played three seasons.
Kelsey began his career as an assistant coach at Wake Forest University and later Xavier University. During his time as an assistant coach, his teams earned an ACC regular season championship, five NCAA Tournament berths, an NIT berth, and a No. 1 national ranking in two different seasons. In 2010, College Bound Hoops ranked Kelsey eighth in the nation among college basketball assistants. He was sought after by some of America's top programs and has been a candidate for multiple head coaching positions. Chris Mack, former A-10 and Big East Championship head coach, considered him to be one of the best assistant coaches in America.
In December 2012, after a game against Ohio State, Kelsey gave an impassioned speech about the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting that had occurred just days prior. During the game's press conference, Kelsey spoke out about the tragedy and said "Parents, teachers, rabbis, priests, coaches, everybody needs to step up. This has to be a time for change.”
After a clip of the conference aired on ESPN, parents of a victim of the shooting reached out to Kelsey. He later participated in an event (Race4Chase triathlon) put on by the CMAK Sandy Hook Memorial Foundation. The family was honored at an Eagles basketball game on March 1, 2014. At the game, each Winthrop player wore the name of a child killed at Sandy Hook on the back of their jersey.
In 2017, Kelsey was hired as the head coach at Massachusetts, but returned to Winthrop two days after accepting the position, citing personal reasons. Kelsey informed UMass Athletic Director Ryan Bamford of his decision 25 minutes before the scheduled press conference to formally introduce Kelsey to the press and university community. Two days prior, Kelsey had signed an MoU with the university, which included a $1 million buyout clause should Kelsey leave before two years.
On March 25, 2021, Kelsey announced that he was leaving Winthrop to become head coach at the College of Charleston.
Over three seasons Kelsey led the Cougars to a 75–27 (.735) record, including a 31-win season in 2022–23, a record high for the program. The 2022–23 Cougars won the local Charleston Classic Tournament for the first time in program history, entered the AP Top 25 for the first time in two decades, went on a 20-game win streak to defeat rival UNC Wilmington in the 2023 CAA Tournament, and eventually fell to National Runner-Up San Diego State in the 2023 NCAA Tournament. For these efforts Kelsey was named USBWA Coach of the Year for District Three and NABC Coach of the Year for District Ten, a feat he would repeat in 2024.
Kelsey's 2023–24 Cougars went back-to-back as outright CAA Regular Season Champions and 2024 CAA Tournament Championships, eventually falling to Final Four Team Alabama in the 2024 NCAA Tournament. His 58 wins were the most in program history by a Cougars head coach over the course of two seasons, and he was the program's fastest head coach to reach 50 wins, doing so against Coastal Carolina on November 19, 2023. His 75th win was also his last for the Cougars, an overtime triumph against Stony Brook in the Championship Game of the CAA Tournament. Kelsey was named the Coastal Athletic Association Coach of the Year on March 7, 2024.
On March 28, 2024, Kelsey was named the head men's basketball coach at Louisville, agreeing to a five-year contract.