A Slightly More Formal Case Against Kragthorpe
by Adamjd86 on Oct 3, 2009 10:55 AM EDT
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PrintLast night's debacle was the final straw for me. In doing my pre-game reading for the game, I discovered Louisville-Pitt was the lame game of the week. This is Louisville-Pitt, Big-East opener, Friday night, blackout! It doesn't get much better than that for UL. Of course we lost by 25 at home and it was in fact a lame game, probably the 2nd lamest of the season, though all have been lame to quite lame.
So, I decided to take some time this morning and take a closer look at the Koach's results. I think 28 games is more than sufficient for a college football coach to be judged against.
As with any review, let's start with the some of the highlights for beloved Koach:
- 2-0 against MTSU (though we gave up 250 yards rushing and allowed over 9 ypc in the game in '07)
- 3-0 collectively against Memphis, NC State, and Kansas State (Memphis went 6-7, NC State was 5-7, and KSU finished 5-7)
- No egregious losses to any FCS teams
- A close, well-fought battle against UK this year
- A huge win against #16 USF that had me irrationally dreaming of a BE title last season
- Strong support from the AD
And now for the lowlights...
- 9-16 overall record against FBS teams (12-16 overall)
- 25% of wins have come against the FCS
- Has lost 8 straight games against FBS opponents (yes, we're getting worse and not better under Koach; if that's even possible)
- Victim of the biggest upset in college football history (at the time, I think Stanford over USC may have topped the 37 point spread) -- basically Kragthorpe lost to one of the worst teams in football with a Petrino team that would have won the game by about 40 points
- 0-3 against Kentucky; 0-2 against UConn; 0-2 against WVU; 0-2 against Syracuse; 0-2 against Utah. That was exhausting, as was watching each and every one of those 11 losses
- Scoring 15 points per game less than his predecessor while at the same time giving up 10 more points per game
- Home games: 6-7 under Koach; 22-1 under Petrino (Hmmm... This might explain PJCS has been less fun the last couple of years and why expanding the stadium probably isn't a great idea right now)
- 4-11 in the BE
- Ruining Brohm's senior year
- No bowl appearances. I guess not everybody can make a bowl game. There's only 34.
- Press conferences
- Sideline appearance
- Tone of voice
- Relationship with the players
- Injuries, suspensions
- Recruiting
- Play-calling
- Attitude
- Fan support
That about sums it up for me. Did I miss anything?
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BUMP
Bumped to the front page to collect everyone’s thoughts about last night’s game.
I can’t believe there’s anyone who thinks the guy will be back next year.
My favorite from the pre-game show with Paul Rogers yesterday: he predicted the Cards would come out fired up, we’d see some new wrinkles and really show something and win the game. Like Krag had the ability to do all of those things, and has just been holding onto it. Insanity.
Everyone else’s thoughts about last night’s game?
What more can be said? We as fans are emotion-less and dead
and have had a weakening pulse for over two yr —-since the very first MSTU game hinted strongly of the disaster about to unfold under Koach’s reign.
I no longer even want to go to home games. I don’t want to even watch the games on tv anymore.
To go from sitting in sun in Orange Bowl triumph to being the laughing-stock on the national news— in just 2 yrs— has been one of the most shocking and difficult things for me to take in my over 30 yrs as a U of L fan.
Oh…to add to the above points:
Koach has eliminated virtually every winning streak we had—including our winning streak over Pitt
Oh, and also he managed to taint our greatest yrs
by making his “cleaning up the mess” at U of L a national issue. After the first Syracuse debacle , National pundits were asking what the hell was happening at pre-season #6 ranked U of L— and Koach gave them this most pathetic excuse.
Jurich just formalized it more with the statement.
watching losses week to week sucks
but this point is the most inexcusable
by UL is my hot hot sex on Oct 3, 2009 12:13 PM EDT up reply actions
agreed
and it’s why jurich has to go too
he’s stabbed every single person that’s spent a minute or a dollar on a UofL football game straight in the back so as to protect this fucking ass clown he calls a coach
yeah, big mess to clean up – orange bowl champs and 75% of starters coming back from that team. the mess is the human failure & shitball that is krag.
UofL football as a winning entity
is now officially over. It’ll be years before we’re decent again.
Go Cards!
So many predicted this
Not that Jurich would care what we think, but how many serious fans saw this coming? A lot. You don’t take a program that was never known for football to a regular spot in the Top 10 with one of the finest coaching minds in the game (Petrino), and then replace it with an unproven entity. You just don’t. UofL had the funds to go out and grab an established, proven winner. Jurich went with his old friend. I said then and I say again – Jurich’s ego got in the way. He got burned by Petrino and I think he decided to put his own bruised ego ahead of the good of the program, so he went out and very quickly and stupidly got a guy who – even then – was a big step down from Petrino’s talent. K might be a nice man, but so the hell what? Where has that gotten anyone? Everyone lost. Name one person in any way associated with Louisville football who this man has not left worse off. I defy you. What a truly sad state of affairs. And it’s Jurich’s fault. Totally, completely, 100%.
What's even worse...
…is how he has handled the situation since the hire. A lot of people in the national media lauded the hire. Krag was seen as an up-and-comer who was ready to hit the big stage. It’s really not the hire itself that makes me mad (Jurich was going to miss at some point), but it’s the lies and deceptions spread to the media about the Petrino era that really piss me off. Not only is it borderline unethical and slanderous towards Petrino, it’s a slap in the face to all of those players that worked extremely hard over that four year period. Why throw your own program under the bus to protect your one bad hire?
threw my name in the ring right after the syracuse game in 07
when krag gets canned (not if), it’s going to feel so good to rub it in the face of guys like the guy that rights cardgame.com who have been playing up the holier than thou fan thing since discontent fist started emerging
Louisville vis-a-vis Cincinnati
Think about this: UofL beat Cincinnati 70-7 less than 5 years ago. Over the last 3 years, those programs have gone in totally equal, but opposite directions. Man, what if WE were the ones that brought in Brian Kelly to coach in 2007…
I, like everyone else have major frustrations with Koach:
1. On-field Results (record speaks for itself).
2. Bedside Manner (your on-field results better be Belichickian when you start kicking people off the team with impunity and don’t tell your own fans when guys may or may not play).
3. Tactics (when you have a senior QB named Brian Brohm, you never EVER call timeout after an INCOMPLETE pass in the closing moments of the UK game).
To Koach’s credit, he did something yesterday which was the first time I have ever thought to myself, “wow, I totally agree with that move by Koach.” It was when he gave the carry back to Tronzo to score the TD.
we suck we suck we suck
what a waste of a blackout. what a waste of new jerseys. im glad the money we spend to root on this team and pay this millionaire coach is going to such good use. seriously this guy is making millions for failing. most of us make 1\30th of what this guy does and we are good at our jobs. i feel bad for the guy. he needs to get his stuff together and coach somewhere as far away from here as possible.
by Cambroni Cardinals on Oct 3, 2009 3:17 PM EDT via mobile reply actions
you and i both
this was the first game i’d been to since cincy last year (another “kragtastic” one), and i was AMAZED at the number of empty seats. at first i thought that it was the notorious “drink one more in the parking lot” excuse… but… that place couldn’t have been more than 3/4 full. most coaches make positive adjustments at halftime, but we managed to get shut out in the 2nd half. that’s coaching.
and did anyone else notice that AFroman got sacked as many times last night as Burke had been ALL YEAR? whatever in the fuck is going on in that locker room has got to stop, because IT AIN’T WORKIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! jesus, if it wasn’t obvious before, its fucking blatant now. what a bunch of garbage….
how much more
of this shit do we have to take? This is getting embarasing, Syracuse is improving and we are getting worse! When we came in to the Big East we were at the top, now 4 years later, sad to say, looks like we have settled in at the door mat. This isn’t working Jurich give it up
Tony Dungy, forever, Steve “Mr. Coach Kline” Kragthorpe never!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dead optimism
after last night’s game, I can no longer maintain any glimmer of hope. I have been fooling my self with optimism before most games by saying…“we have good players”, “surely this level of incompetence can’t last”, etc. No more. I finally woke up this morning and took my rose colored glasses off. Doesn’t matter if we have talent, Krag can’t harness it properly.
On another note, I hate to hear the Jurich bashing. Did Jurich go out and make a quick hire? Yes. Did he hire a friend? Yes (although I don’t believe they were as close of friends as some have made out…not like they were best man at each other’s wedding, they worked together 20 years ago and stayed in touch). But, if it wasn’t for Jurich, I would have ZERO hope that things could ever be turned around. He won’t fire this guy mid-season. That’s just not how things work (look at the bashing and criticsm levied against the programs who have). He will let the season play out painfully and then drop the axe.
Yes, I still have plenty of faith in Jurich. Just disappointed in the way he’s handled this hire. I have no problem with Krag getting 3 years, but why deflect so much blame on the previous regime?
Obviously I don’t think this situation should overshadow over 10 years of very good results for the athletic program.
by centrecard on Oct 3, 2009 11:03 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
another dissapointing season
I usually go to a UL home game every year and this one was the most disapointing memory I have. The team was not into the game. The play calling was terrible and the defense, WHAT DEFENSE. I paid $45(face value) for a seat at the very top level to watch a poor performance of a team that I love. I will never pay that much money for a team like that again. Good luck trying to sell out the stadium when it gets completly built. Did anyone see the sign that was about 10yds long. it said “ONLY TWO THINGS COME FROM OKLAHOMA, and IT’S NOT A COACH”. ouch
as always….GO CARDS!!!!!!!!
I Agree with everything except for....
“- Home games: 6-7 under Koach; 22-1 under Petrino (Hmmm… This might explain PJCS has been less fun the last couple of years and why expanding the stadium probably isn’t a great idea right now)”
The stadium expansion is a great and exciting thing and a three year slide (a small period of time in the grand scheme) is no reason to scrap a project that took YEARS to plan. There is a reason UGA is coming to Papa Johns in a couple years, that’s because it’ll be nearly 60,000 instead of 42,000. We will be able to schedule better teams and bring in more revenue as our program rebounds. That rebound process should begin next year with a new coach and a sold out home opener against UK.
Three year slide?
You are seriously underestimating the damage done by Koach Kevorkian. This year is already year three of the slide which is getting steeper and steeper. I figure even if he is fired and we bring in a great coach next year it will take two years minimum to become respectable. Thats a five year slide at best. Probably six or seven if you are realistic.
I always said I would give Krag 3-4 years
I had always maintained support for Kragthorpe prior to this season and have argued that he needed time to implement his system and to bring in players. However, this is the third year and I have lost all hope that this will be anything but a winning program with him steering this ship. I expected to see at least a glimmer of hope of things to come, but we truly are getting worse. A 7-5 season was all I was asking for this year with an appearance in any god-forsaken bowl game. This man just cannot deliver and needs to be ousted after this year!
UL Football Fan/UK Basketball Fan ~ Okinawa, Japan
by The White Mandingo on Oct 3, 2009 5:37 PM EDT reply actions
Reality....
You guys have a distorted view of UL football. Its not any good, sure you had a couple good years but a winning progam and one that is respected does it year after year. I dont EVER see that happening. You can keep dreaming, but the sooner you accept the truth, the sooner life will get easier. The truth will set you free. I got banned for simply stating the truth, so i know you will not accept it. I will cancel my account here, but know that i will continue to watch from afar.
by igotbannedfromcardchron on Oct 3, 2009 5:52 PM EDT reply actions
Louisville football
did win year after year for about 10 years in a row. Every program takes its lumps, the ones that make smart decisions when hiring coaches, upgrading facilities, etc…are the ones who survive year in and year out. If Louisville makes the smart coaching hires, it has the facilities, community and financial backing and the athletic director’s vision to maintain their one-time status as a Top 3 team in a BCS Conference. Yes it may be the Big East but its still a BCS conference.
Saying UL ‘is not any good’ without using any logic, facts, supporting evidence, etc…makes you look like an under-educated bitter person and most likely a UK fan. Thanks for stopping by.
by UL is my hot hot sex on Oct 3, 2009 6:07 PM EDT up reply actions
A Couple Good Years?
UL Football Fan/UK Basketball Fan ~ Okinawa, Japan
by The White Mandingo on Oct 3, 2009 10:24 PM EDT up reply actions
I feel bad for the players.
Krag has them believing they are really close to reaching their potential as a good football team, but that is just not that case. After every game they talk about how they just need to fix a few little things and they are so close. But so far all the same glaring deficiencies are still there. And everything I see looks like a direct result of bad coaching: porous secondary, bad tackling, crummy kickoff coverage, inability to convert 3rd downs, and inability to score touchdowns in the red zone.
I heard at practice this week Krag had the team practice tackling by ‘almost tackles.’ How can you practice tackling if your practice is nothing more than two hand touch?
My personal favorite Kragtastic moments: On third and shorts, our defensive backs almost always seem to line up 10 yards off the line of scrimmage. The statement above about our coverage playing too deep seems to apply here.
A Slightly More Formal Case Against Kragthorpe
You forgot:
Seven different coordinators in the last three years as head coach at Louisville
Yep, think of the high school football coaching circuit out there in the UL recruiting pipeline
You think that merry-go-round act of assistant coaches at Louisville has done us any favors with those relationships?
by UL is my hot hot sex on Oct 4, 2009 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions
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