Dan McDonnell discusses Louisville baseball's fight for relevancy amongst other sports

Louisville‘s 2025 season came to an end Wednesday afternoon following a 10-3 loss to Men’s College World Series Final-bound Coastal Carolina. The Cardinals won two games in Omaha, as they knocked off Arizona 8-3 and walked off Oregon State 7-6 Tuesday night.

Cardinal head coach Dan McDonnell just wrapped up his 19th season at the helm. After the game, he discussed the battle for relevancy among other sports in the area.

“I’ve got no problem with people that jump on the bandwagon anytime you want, we’ll take you, no judgment,” McDonnell said. “We always say that: No judgment. Listen, we come from an awesome basketball tradition. Awesome. So I get it. Support our basketball and let’s make a run into March and deep into March. And then, hey, by the way, we’ve got this thing called the Kentucky Derby. Haven’t heard of it? Pretty big deal in our city and it’s awesome. Love being — literally across the street from Jim Patterson Stadium. So we have a lot going on in the spring.”

Under McDonnell, Louisville has made appearances in six Men’s College World Series, 10 Super Regionals and 14 NCAA Tournaments. Fourteen of Louisville‘s 15 postseason appearances in program history have come in the McDonnell era.

“So, yeah, we’ve got to fight a little bit for our PR at times, but, man, the way it ended at Jim Patterson, that super regional, I couldn’t have scripted it any better,” McDonnell said. “To go on the road for a super regional, host a super regional. Let me take it back, we could have won about four more games. I could have scripted it a little better.

“But I think for me, I just have to make sure people see me here when we’re on top of the world, but, you know, when you lose and your season comes to an end and it’s crushing, I want people to go, man, I want to drink what that guy’s drinking; there’s something about that guy, not because of Dan McDonnell, it’s because of my walk with the Lord. That’s my responsibility.”

After back-to-back sub-40 win seasons for the first time in the McDonnell era at Louisville (excluding the 2020 COVID-19 season), the Cardinals bounced back with a 40-22 record this season and finished inside the Men’s College World Series Final Four.

There certainly is a lot of competition for the program, including Pat Kelsey‘s rising basketball program, Jeff Brohm‘s exciting brand of football and the spectacle that is The Kentucky Derby. McDonnell and the baseball ‘Cards, however, made all of the 502 proud this season.