Comments on: Don’t Let Your Eyes Deceive You

By: cbcard

cbcard — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 03:07:16 +0000

Mess? Kragthorpe yes. Petrino no.

Unless of course you want to count top 10 rankings, two straight New Year’s Day bowls, a BCS win, a season without an All-American running back and still being only a lousy half away from playing in the championship game a mess. You can call it that. I call it winning football.

Drink all the Kool-Aid you wish.

By: Tom S

Tom S — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:09:08 +0000

Coach Nord has built a super network of coaches and scouts across the state. They trust him. And as long as whomever his boss is (the Head Coach) doesn’t do anything to screw that up, U of L will continue to have a shot at the best players in the state. Nord also has good contacts throughout the Southeast U.S. who can and will assist him. It’s expertise that we are going to need with the new coach.

By: Hot Hot

Hot Hot — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:09:39 +0000

Glenn,
I would add that much of the talent that Tom speaks of in this post came to Louisville b/c of the efforts/success the program enjoyed during Petrino’s reign, either directly or indirectly. I wouldn’t necessarily label that as a “mess” left behind but there are others who may be closer to the inner workings of this program that would disagree.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 18:15:31 +0000

Some good points, Hot Hot. What we have is a combination of two coaches — one who didn’t recruit and one who could not coach what he recruited. We need a genius in here to clear up the mess created by the last two head coaches.

By: Hot Hot

Hot Hot — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:26:06 +0000

Nord is well-respected and I’m not taking anything away from what he’s given to this program but what happened to the pipeline in Georgia, Florida and Alabama? Since winning a BCS bowl game held in the state of Florida less than 3 years ago, what has Louisville’s staff accomplished in terms of recruiting the hotbed of talent in the Sunshine State?

This GA-AL-FL pipeline has produced roughly half of all Louisville players who have ever graced an NFL roster. Beloved Cardinals like Harry Douglas, Kerry Rhodes, Elvis Dumervil, Deion Branch, William Gay, Browning Nagle, Amobi Okoye, Sam Madison, Bruce Armstrong, Ronnie Ghent, Robert McCune, Jason Spitz, Ted Washington, Montavious Stanley and Kolby Smith…just to name a few. Seems that Bilal Powell is the only player recruited during Kragthorpe’s tenure from that pipeline that’s making a significant positive impact on the team.

You could argue that it doesn’t matter where the kid comes from, that it’s all about developing the talent and placing that player into the position that will maximize his potential. So where is the development on the O and D Lines? Secondary? Special Teams (sans Guy’s speed)?

The Running Back, Receiver and Quarterback depth charts have been the most promising by far. But injuries and play-calling have taken their toll and we’ve yet to experience the consecutive impressive seasons that underrated talents like Harry Douglas, Lefors and Kolby Smith enjoyed in previous years.

If one comes to the conclusion that there has been a significant dropoff in performance on the field since Kraghthorpe took over, what is the biggest cause: Is it recruiting? Player development? Play calling? Game preparation? Mismanagement of personnel?

There are several tangible problems one could point and the dropoff in recruits from GA, AL and FL should be a part of the discussion.

By: Sonja

Sonja — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:44:49 +0000

Coach Nord has been the solidifier in a topsy turvy Cardinal coaching situation. A Gruden, Tuberville or (fill in your replacement coach) would do well to retain him. The verbals to the program impressive, so far, for next year.

Not even Nord, though, is going to get fans in the seats for the final two contests. Louisville is staggering into the final 1/3rd of the season like a long distance runner hitting a massive hill. Basketball is here and the weather could be much colder for Syracuse and Rutgers. UofL will record the lowest attendance for a season of Cardinal football since RC’s 1-10 season in old Cardinal Stadium.