Ky. governor takes shot at Louisville women’s basketball coach, says he was ‘outcoached’

Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) on Wednesday blamed Louisville women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz for the team’s failure to make the Final Four in the NCAA tournament, saying in an interview with WHAS-840 that Walz was “outcoached.” 

{mosads}The comment comes after the Louisville coach called the governor out on Twitter on March 30 after Bevin congratulated the men’s team for advancing past the Sweet 16 without acknowledging the women’s team advancing on the same night.

“I’ll make sure to let my players know you said congrats,” Walz tweeted following the governor’s congratulations of the men’s program.

@GovMattBevin thought you might want to know you have a group of young women @UofLWBB that will be playing in the Elite 8 Sunday also. I’ll make sure to let my players know you said congrats! ‍♂️

— Jeff Walz (@CoachJeffWalz) March 30, 2019

Louisville went on to lose to powerhouse Connecticut 80-73 in the Elite 8 and failed to advance to the Final Four.

Bevin said Wednesday in his interview that the team should have won that game and said that if Walz had focused “less on this kind of silliness” they might have won. 

“I feel bad saying this, but it’s true,” Bevin said. “If he’d been a little more focused on game strategy and coaching that weekend, and a little less on this kind of silliness, the better team would have won. We got outcoached, straight up.”

Bevin added that he did not see Connecticut coach Geno Auriemma with any similar social media activity leading into the contest. 

“We were expected to beat Connecticut,” Bevin added. “We should have beat Connecticut. It’s disappointing because our women’s team in Louisville was phenomenal. And they’ve been, well, outcoached. … I’ve tweeted about them every single year I’ve been governor.”