How John Andrzejek's Hiring Impacts Louisville

Following a couple defections, head coach Pat Kelsey's staff for the 2026-27 season is staring to come together.

On Wednesday, it was announced that John Andrzejek would be stepping down as the head coach at Campbell after just one season with the Camels, and had accepted a job with the Louisville men's basketball program as Kelsey's associate head coach. Andrzejek cited Campbell's lack of commitment to the program as his reasoning for walking away.

“Over the last 6 months, it has become clear that Campbell has made the decision to shift their commitment from basketball,” he wrote in a post on social media. “Simply put — the institution now has different priorities, and they are not compatible with putting the kind of team on the floor that you deserve. As difficult as this is, I respect the decision and understand it as one that the University feels it must make in what are unprecedented times in higher education.”

Campbell went 16-18 overall and 8-10 in CAA play during Andrzejek's lone season, as their head coach. He also has stints as an assistant coach at Florida, Washington State, Dartmouth and Johns Hopkins. The the Hamilton, N.Y. is also a graduate of Columbia.

So what does Andrzejek's hiring mean for Louisville?

This past season, arguably Louisville's two main weaknesses were defense and in the front court. Bringing on Andrzejek immediately helps to address both.

When it comes to his prowess as a defensive coach, the best example to point to his two seasons as an assistant on Todd Golden's staff at Florida, which came from 2023-25. Defense was not his primary responsibility as a coach during his first season in Gainesville, and as a result, the Gators posted the 327th-ranked scoring defense at 79.2 points allowed per game, and the 101st-ranked adjusted defensive efficiency on KenPom at 101.8

Andrzejek took over UF's defensive efforts for year two, and the results were instantaneous. Not only did Florida improve their scoring defense to 96th in the nation at 69.6 points allowed per game, it was the sixth-highest-ranked defense on KenPom with an adjusted defensive efficiency of 91.8. It played a pivotal role in the Gators going 34-6 overall, and winning the 2025 national championship.

Even at Washington State, Andrzejek showed his defensive coaching chops. During his four seasons in Pullman, the Cougars posted the 83rd, 24th, 28th and 72nd ranked defenses on KenPom. On an episode of the 'Slappin' Glass Podcast' earlier this year, Andrzejek says he drew a ton of inspiration from Houston and Iowa State - arguably the two of the best defensive programs of the last half decade.

As for his work with post players, his time with Gators stands out as well. Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh, both of whom fairly unheralded prospects coming out of high school, were molded into significant contributors fairly quickly.

Condon averaged 7.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game as a true freshman, with those number increasing to 10.6 and 7.5, respectively, as a sophomore. As for Haugh, he put up 3.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per games in year one, then upped that to 9.8 and 6.1, respectively, for year two.

While Andrzejek was at Campbell for each player's junior campaign this past season, both players built on the foundation laid by Andrzejek to have excellent seasons. Condon averaged 15.1 points and 7.5 rebounds, and Haugh averaged 17.1 points plus 6.1 rebounds to earn All-American honors.

Even this year at Campbell, forwards Dovydas Butka and Chris Fields Jr. both had career years. Butka averaged 13.9 points and 8.5 rebounds, while Fields put up 9.7 points and 6.9 rebounds.

What else does Andrzejek bring to the table? Well, calling him smart would be a bit of an understatement. He graduated from Columbia with a degree in philosophy, served as a director of basketball operations with the Lions, then went on the coach at Johns Hopkins and Dartmouth.

As you can guess, Andrzejek is very analytically driven. This approach was fine tuned not only from working in the Ivy League, but also coaching under Kyle Smith and Todd Golden - two of the smartest and analytically-focused coaches in the sport. In fact, his proficiency in analytics is mainly what landed him on ESPN's "40 under 40" list back in 2020.

Don't worry, he's also shown offensive prowess and capabilities molding the back court.

During Andrzejek lone season at Dartmouth, he was actually their offensive coordinator. That season, the Big Green finished with the No. 194 offensive efficiency in the nation, which remains their highest ranking in that category in the KenPom era.

Campbell's starting back court duo this past season, D.J. Smith and Jeremiah Johnson, also flourished. Smith averaged 19.0 points and 3.5 assists to earn First-Team All-CAA honors, while Johnson put up 15.2 points and 1.9 assists to take home a Third-Team All-CAA selections.

Overall, this is a very underrated addition to Kelsey's staff at Louisville. He will help address the Cardinals' two biggest issues from this past season, and is very much connected with Kelsey in terms of analytical philosophies.

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