Forever until September.
July only now arriving, still only one-third of the way through a record hot summer. Dog days. Boring. Not much happening in University of Louisville athletics.
Wrong.
- Over at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, seats are still being installed at a record slow pace, at least four or five chair backs at day. Advertising panels are being added to the video scoreboard. Workers are putting finishing touches on the luxury suites, with interior decorators breathing down their necks.
- Football players doing individual workouts. Charlie Strong awaiting test scores. Attracting four-to-five-star transfers at a record clip.
- At the new KFC Yum! Center, the video scoreboard is up, as well as ancillary units. Massive heating and air conditioning system nearing completion. Exterior glass being sealed. Marble flooring going down in the spacious lobby. Plush red seats being added, getting snatched up by corporations and fans as fast as they can be installed.
- On campus, players working out, following through on individual instruction. Rick Pitino hiring new assistants, awaiting test scores and securing transfers. Meeting himself coming and going to the airport attending summer shoe camps.
- At Jim Patterson Stadium, baseball coach Dan McDonnell is conducting youth camps, padding his salary. But he’s also keeping a wary eye on the Aug. 15th signing deadline, hoping most of the seven underclassmen and two high school recruits picked during the Major League draft are enrolled next semester.
- Women’s basketball coach Jeff Walz is salivating over the prospects of a top five recruiting class, hoping the chemistry is as good as the player rankings. Trying to forget all the injuries, knowing it could never be as bad as last season.
- Tom Jurich is still breathing a sigh of relief that the Big East was untouched during the latest round of conference expansion. But he’s not waiting for the phone to ring either. Not Tom Jurich.
No sitting around for some during the dog days.
Great read Charlie! Thanks for the updates on the things I have not been keeping up with as diligently, that you have reported on beautifully.
I have been covered up in trying to keep up with all the new recruits, who is signed, who isn’t officially signed, etc. It has been exhausting, but I would rather be exhausted trying to keep up with the MASS stud recruits coming in, than not have them coming in and to be fresh as a daisy.
Keep up the great work Charlie. I am reading, but do not have the time to comment all the time.
Thanks, Shannon. Pleased to have you among the regulars because your enthusiasm for U of L sports knows no bounds. I also admire your spunk.
Well Paul, we better hope that the returning players have a good offseason and get the memories of last season out of their heads. It was a disaster of epic proportions with all the injuries and obstacles they had to try to overcome.
Walz’s class has been ranked as high as #2..with the addition of Schimmel. Only UConn did better. The players realize that no position is secured or guaranteed and are working hard in the off season on conditioning, shooting, and skills. Jeff can’t wait for the school year to begin and to mold this group of players into a team. Louisville is lucky to have him.