Previewing The Big East: Louisville Cardinals
by dkelz1888 on Jun 19, 2009 9:21 AM EDT
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Part 3 of my 8 part series previewing each team in the Big East. Previews for Cincinnati and UConn are already up. If you want to check the rest of them out, just click the link to go to my profile. Part 4 covering the Pittsburgh Panthers will be up in another day or two.
Comments both posititive and negative are appreciated. I hope I did the Cards justice.
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About what I expected
Once again, we will be the basement dwellers of the Big East. This is so fucking depressing. What a laughingstock we have become.
Go Cards!
Soorting News rates us #7 in Big East
It’s been a fantastic downward spiral. I never thought that I would have health issues that would prohibit me from being in Cardinal Stadium but they have. My son used to help me out on the weekend games, but he lives in Indy and can’t make those mid-week fiascos. Being at home at least I have the option of changing channels while this buffoon continues to rack up losses.
Sorry guys
I hope my preview wasn’t too soul crushing. I know how much it sucks to lose. I’ll be cheering for you guys to have a better season this year.
Hey, shit happens...
I look at it this way: If I only expect them to win one or two games, they can’t really disappoint me. It’s all up from there. Unless, of course, we lose to Indiana State. I might just stop watching college football if that happens.
Exactly
I’m envisioning the cover of this year’s media guide:
“UL Football…hey, shit happens” or…
“UL Football…lower your expectations, it’s happening here”
by UL is my hot hot sex on Jun 20, 2009 4:14 AM EDT up reply actions
“It was happening here”
DocCardsFan
The 'Ville, KY
by DocCardsFan on Jun 23, 2009 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions
Johnny Patrick
Soooo it’s a good thing when our Cornerback leads the team in tackles, right? No…?
by UL is my hot hot sex on Jun 20, 2009 4:16 AM EDT reply actions
I for one
and it looks like I’m the only one that thinks we’re going to have a good year. 7 – 5 to me is good. We’ve got some issues but I think the vibe around the program has taken a turn for the better. Our recruiting is getting better and from what I hear from the player interviews we are going to be much improved. That’s just me. I know I’m in the minority here.
"You win some, You lose some but you never stop trying to do your best" Denny Crum
who says the recruiting is getting any better
The only players Kragthorpe is pulling in are JuCos with no where else to play. The highschoolers that he’s recruiting are picking us over Akron, Indiana, and Western KY. We have completely shut down our pipeline to florida and UK has dominated us with the in state (and even the in city) players in the last two seasons.
Going 7-5 would be a minor miracle in Mudville, which is what this town has become since Kragthorpe came to town. Crawford’s article yesterday only emphasized how far the football program has fallen from the standards of the rest of the athletic department.
Crawford made it a point that all the athletic success we’ve had in other sports has occurred while operating on a budget much less than other big time schools. Well that in mind it seems obvious that although you can cut corners in womens lacrosse of men’s track you can’t cut corners with a football team and #1 you can’t cut corners with your coach. With all the new revenue that the expanded stadium will produce I, for one, vote that we dump a ton of money at a big time coach (a al UK and Calipari) and get our football program back up to par with the rest of our athletic department.
Accepting that 7-5 is a “good year” is the same sorry expectation that we had for most of the 60s,70s, 80s, and 90s. This past decade propelled us into the upper echelon of the sport and two (going on three) sorry seasons have dumped us right back down to where we came from. Anyone who can accept that has stopped trying to do your best.
I agree drhustle
IMO anything less than a 8-4 season with a decent bowl is a failure. We were supposed to be a program on the rise, which we were until Krap came in and dismantled it.
by twistedwedge on Jun 22, 2009 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions
We'll have to agree to disagree
Howard Schellenberger is not walking through the door. NO BIG TIME COACH IS EVER GOING TO COME TO U OF L FOOTBALL. We need a coach that show’s some loyalty and can build a program over a period of time. Coach K may or may not be the guy that can do this. You’ve got to understand that our football programs is just in the middle of the pack as far as fan base, prestige and attendance. Just because you think we’ve arrived doesn’t make it so. Look at Penn St., Notre Dame, Tennessee, Miami, Florida St. ect… We don’t compare with any these schools (football wise) on any level. U of L football has always been a stepping stone for coaches to go to those kinds of schools. Until we get someone in here that can win on a consistent basis, builds a program and stays here for more than 4-5 years (al la Howard Schellenberger) that will never change.
"You win some, You lose some but you never stop trying to do your best" Denny Crum
RE: drhustle
You might be dissapointed if you expect new revenue from an expanded stadium when fans at non-sellout games at Papa John’s were leaving in the 3rd/4th quarter…and that was during the good times. Perhaps a long stretch of good coaching and great results would we then see a comparable fan following as the Cardinal Basketball team. The UofL Athletic program will see revenue from the new downtown arena though, right? I’m too lazy to research this. Perhaps we can substitute this into your suggested plan of buying a bigger name coach. I think we can find someone on the rebound perhaps, maybe someone running away from the NFL…but not an established big name already at the top of the hill.
Agree also that fans who accept 7-5 as “good” years are fans not taking their program seriously in Division I Football (I’m a man…I’m 40). With a Big East schedule, UofL fans should expect 8 wins or better and should never witness a team giving up on their coach or not being challenged enough (you pick the reason why Rutgers over UofL 63-14 happened last year…what’s sad is I didnt even have to fact check that score, I still remembere staring at my TV, listening to the analysts dismantle my will to live).
When fans have a healthy standard for their team and expect them to do great things more often than not, this can only help the program. When you accept mediocrity, you should remove yourself from a BCS Conference and spend the $ elsewhere. Of course, everyone knows football is a cash cow and the AD cannot keep paying it forward to all the other athletic programs w/o fielding an 8-3 or better team more years than not…which is exactly why he should’ve fired Kragthorpe immediately following the Rutgers game last season. An interim coach would be better at this point if no coaches were on Jurich’s radar at the time.
I’m not saying expect the Orange Bowl every season…but being in contention to win the Big East every 3 out of 4 seasons and being in the BCS discussion once every 3 years is not asking much for a University with resources like Louisville, who plays in one of the weaker BCS football conferences year in and year out.
by UL is my hot hot sex on Jun 23, 2009 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions
RECRUITING
SINCE K HAS BEEN HERE, HAVE WE SIGNED ONE PLAYER FROM OKLAHOMA? NOT! WHAT A SORRY EXCUSE FOR A RECRUITER. ALSO OUR PIPELINE TO FLORIDA HAS ALL BUT DRIED UP.
UofL football is the stepping stone to the bigger stage for coaches
And always will be, unless we hire in a big name who has already been to the top and doesn’t need another stepping stone. Instead, we have only hired up-and-comers (except for Schnelly). There’s only one way to reverse that trend, and I think we have the budget and facilities to do that now.
DocCardsFan
The 'Ville, KY
Very few on this board truly remember what a massively big recruiting coup it was
when we got Schnell !
He had just won the nat’l title (the first!) for Miami two yrs earlier and was one of the hottest big name coaches in the game
and he came to U of L— a U of L WITHOUT any players, stadium, even decent facilities.
We now have the facilities, etc. And a great recruiting AD with a nat’l rep of his own.
Damn it!!! We CAN recruit a PROVEN big name coach— !!!!
and yes, i know Schnell was home grown
Still— we can get a big name—if and when TJ decides to pull the trigger,
A coach like Schnelly only comes around once in a lifetime.
Good Luck finding another one.
"You win some, You lose some but you never stop trying to do your best" Denny Crum
safe assumption?
most of you guys think schnelly was better than BP?
by twistedwedge on Jun 24, 2009 9:49 PM EDT up reply actions
DANCARD, you and your "once in a lifetime"
geez, Live 50+ yrs and you’ll see a lot of amazing things happen more than
once in a lifetime…
Good luck finding one? Hell yeah—but
Luck + TJ skill/perservance + $$ = great coach
$$$ + TJ
is not going to bring the fans into PJCS. It’s not going to bring recruits. We’ve got nice facilities but we still aren’t on the level with many of the middle of the road programs. We are not going to pay RP money for a football coach. It’s just not going to happen. I’d be nice if we can.
"You win some, You lose some but you never stop trying to do your best" Denny Crum
Football is a huge money maker when there is success--- much more so
than even our very profitable BBall program
For the right coach, money would be found— hell, season ticket holders like me would even rally with some additional donations.
Actually
Even during the Orange Bowl season of ’07, the basketball program produced more revenue than its football counterpart.
by Mike Rutherford on Jun 29, 2009 5:58 PM EDT up reply actions
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