Louisville hires Milt Wagner, grandfather of nation's No. 1 2023 recruit, to off-court staff

Louisville took another step in its pursuit of No. 1 Class of 2023 recruit Dajuan “DJ” Wagner Jr.

The Cardinals hired Milt Wagner — his grandfather — to be their director of player development, according to the university directory. He’ll also have a role with alumni relations, according to 247Sports’ Travis Branham.

Milton Wagner, 59, played at Louisville from 1981 to 1986 before becoming a second-round pick of the Dallas Mavericks in the 1986 NBA Draft. He played professionally until 1999 before heading to Memphis as director of basketball operations from 2000 to 2006. After spending four years as an assistant coach at UTEP from 2006 to 2010, he worked as an assistant at Auburn from 2010 to 2014.

Louisville is squarely in the mix for Dajuan Wagner Jr., the No. 1 player in the nation from the class of 2023, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies. On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine gives the Cardinals a 65.6% chance of landing the five-star recruit from New Jersey.

Louisville is currently getting ready for year one of the Kenny Payne era after Chris Mack parted ways with the program during the 2021-22 season. Under Mack and interim coach Mike Pegues, the Cardinals went 13-19 overall and 6-14 in ACC play. After the year, they moved to hire Payne — a Louisville alumnus — away from the New York Knicks.

Prior to his time with the Knicks under Tom Thibodeau, Payne spent 10 years under John Calipari at Kentucky. The Wildcats are also a team to watch for Dajuan Wagner Jr. as KSR’s Zack Geoghegan entered a Kentucky commitment prediction for him with a 60% confidence level.

Louisville currently has one player committed from the class of 2023, landing Louisville native Kaleb Glenn. Glenn is the No. 3 recruit in the state of Kentucky and the No. 66 recruit in the nation, according to the On3 Consensus.