Louisville will officially announce former Cardinals standout and current New York Knicks assistant coach Kenny Payne as their next men's basketball coach at a news conference on Friday morning, sources told ESPN.

Payne, who will be the program's first Black head coach, has been viewed as the favorite to replace Chris Mack since Louisville's search began in January.

The University of Louisville Athletic Association is scheduled to meet Friday morning and the school will hold a news conference at the Cardinals' KFC Yum! Center home arena.

A Mississippi native who played his college ball at Louisville, Payne won a national championship with the Cardinals in 1986 before being selected in the first round of the 1989 NBA draft.

He is known as one of the elite recruiters in college basketball.

Payne started his coaching career as an assistant coach at Oregon before spending a decade as an assistant coach under John Calipari at Kentucky.