University of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich issued a statement late Wednesday night acknowledging that he is aware of the rule-breaking allegations against assistant football coach Clint Hurtt. He also revealed that the NCAA has informed U of L that it wants to speak with Hurtt.
"We are aware of the Yahoo! Sports story and take these allegations very seriously," Jurich said. "The NCAA has informed us that they wish to speak with Clint Hurtt regarding his time at the University of Miami, and we will cooperate fully throughout this process."
Jurich added that the university would have no further comment "due to NCAA bylaws which require us to protect the integrity of their review."
Well, this removes any and all doubt surrounding whether or not this is going to be a significant distraction heading into the season.
Nothing good happens to a football program between May and August, and the silence had been especially pleasant this summer. Now that's all changed just two weeks away from opening kickoff. Hurtt will obviously remain at the center of whatever this ends up being, but it's going to be impossible for some of the recruits from Miami - especially Teddy Bridgewater and Eli Rogers, who publicly claimed Hurtt was a big reason they chose Louisville over The U - to not be at least mildly affected.
On the other end of the spectrum, these are the types of things that can sometimes bring teams closer together. There's very little chance that any of this could end up resulting in a serious punishment for U of L, so it's not like the players on the team are going to be spending the next few weeks wondering whether or not the postseason is even an option anymore. If anything, this might help them focus on football even more than they had been before.
If you're Charlie Strong, you bunker down right now and you tell your guys to do the same.