All Entries Tagged With: "Steve Kragthorpe"

Football Pokes And Ponderings

We’ll get around to basketball, and what may be a milestone season. It’s not that time quite yet. Too much unfinished business with University of Louisville football.

– Where is Trent Guy these days, the most potent offensive threat behind Victor Anderson? Apparently he cracked a rib during the Pittsburgh loss. But that information has been buried beneath the discussion over the coaching situation.

– Why was Matt Simms or any other backup not given any snaps while Hunter Cantwell was struggling with his accuracy during the West Virginia game? Watching Cantwell keep being sent back into the game in the fourth quarter was agonizing, knowing nothing productive was going to occur. But still there was Matt Simms clapping, jumping up and down on the sideline, wanting something to happen.

See Sonja’s report on
Lady Cards’ win over Xavier

– Much has been made of Tom Jurich’s comments about fans during the hubbub over the coaching issue. Tom may be a genius but he is lacking in some basic public relations skills. While teams are winning, the Vice President of Athletics can say just about anything he wants and get away with it. But when the losses are piling up, it’s a different story. Yeah, there are more than a few dense ones in the fan base. But you don’t call them out and expect them to admit it. Nor do you risk offending more responsible fans who may think you’re including them with the bad apples.

– The first sign that a fan may be missing a few marbles is when he or she fails to recognize all that Tom Jurich has made possible at the University of Louisville over the past decade. But when a fan suggests that Jurich leave because of the football situation, that should mark the end of the conversation. Not about to start listing all of the achievements UofL has made with Jurich at the helm, far too many of them. Jurich is the person U of L needs to dig its way back out of the football crater.

– When huge segments of a fan base don’t show up because things are not going well or because it’s cold, raining or a game is played on a week night, the fan base has not quite arrived. Tom Jurich is the best chance of making that possible at the University of Louisville.

White Out: West Virginia 35, Louisville 21

Twenty-two seniors leaving the ranks soon. If the University of Louisville football program was in rebuilding mode up to now, it will enter still another phase next season. One  hesitates to put a label on it, more of a forced denial than anything else.

– Sad to see players Brock Bolen, Bobby Buchanan, Eric Wood, Earl Heyman, Adrian Grady, Maurice Mitchell bowing out to polite applause. Wonder how that affected all the recruits on hand. Swaying stuff, not in a good way.

– Difficult to find the official or announced attendance for today’s game but, whatever it was, it was far higher than anyone could have anticipated. At least double the number of UofL fans at today’s game than at Ron Cooper’s last game in 1996. West Virginia did its part with 3,000-plus, all but outnumbering Card fans at the bitter end.

– The good thing for quarterback Hunter Cantwell is that it’s almost over. He’s having his moments in the spotlight but he can’t do anything with them. Cantwell’s most impressive play was tackling a West Virginia player who had picked off the last of his three interceptions. Cantwell has probably had more passes intercepted than any Louisville quarterback in the modern era (1960’s forward).

– Definite plus for the future of Louisville football is that Pat White is a senior. He would have to use UofL to set the all-time rushing mark for quarterback, accumulating 200 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries, throwing for 122 yards and two other touchdowns.

–West Virginia players jumping up and down on the Cardinal logo: classless. Louisville punishing teams that do that: just a memory.

– Sorry Steve Kragthorpe. Everybody wants you to succeed. Really, we do.  But it’s not working out. Even the most vile, nasty-tongued critics would have crawled back on the bandwagon with a win over West Virginia. Tied 7-7 at halftime, few signs of life in the second half. Still another opportunity peters away. So many seniors, too few indications of improvement.

Not Closure, But Open Season

Tom Jurich seems to be going out of his way to make sure the world knows that he stands behind football coach Steve Kragthorpe. The decisionmaker for University of Louisville athletics reinforced his support today for the third time in a week.

Funny, he needed a news conference to repeat what every UofL football fan already knew.

Tom Jurich

Makes you wonder what else is going on. It wouldn’t be the first time an athletic director has given a coach a vote of confidence and then axed him a few weeks later. But Jurich is not going fire a football coach after only two seasons for any reason other than unethical conduct. Doing so would make finding a successor much more difficult now than later.

While Jurich’s assumed purpose was to quell talk of a coaching change, he inadvertently or purposefully — only he knows for sure — may have reignited the speculation all over again. When asked if Kragthorpe would be returning, he replied: “Yes, Steve will be back next year … if he wants to be.”

That may be all the encouragement the Kragthorpe haters need to turn up the heat. My guess is that Kragthorpe has already decided, one way or the other.

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Construction on stadium expansion could conceivably begin as early as Monday. Jurich said only that construction would begin after the football season. This month? Next month? The guess here is the answer will come about the same time as the answer to the coaching question.

Step Up Time For Embattled Cards And Fans

Pretty nice outside as of this writing but as we all know, the bad stuff will be upon us for the 8 p.m. kickoff for the University of Louisville vs. Cincinnati game. A constant downpour will bring back memories of 2004 when Eric Shelton dashed 80-plus yards to score on the first play from scrimmage en route to a 70-7 route for the Cards.

No doubt most fans are hopeful that the law of what goes around comes around doesn’t come around too quickly. To the opposite extreme are noisy malcontents who would unashamedly use a drubbing as further reason to send Steve Kragthorpe packing.

Tom Heiser, on his Courier-Journal blog, goes to great lengths to explain what must happen to keep another embarrassment from occurring. The one thing he fails to mention is the home field venue, which is always important for a young team — and was underscored by the dismal performances at Syracuse and Pittsburgh.

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On their radio show this morning, hosts John L. Smith and Drew Diener were encouraging the fans to think positive. A recurring theme among callers was the dramatic improvement on the defensive side of the ball. The defensive backfield quartet of Johnny Patrick, Bobby Buchanan, Latarrius Thomas, and Woodney Turenne has played especially well at home. Not very good anywhere else. What’s certain about this game is that they will have one opportunity after another to redeem themselves in what should be a more friendly environment.

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If Hunter Cantwell is to have the slightest chance at a sniff in the NFL, he has to demonstrate more than a strong arm in this encounter. He has to come ready to play smart and unconfused on the first down, not taking most of the first half to get comfortable. Cantwell no longer lacks experience. He has shown momentary signs of what he could become but has fumbled more and tossed more interceptions than any UofL quarterback in longtime memory. That doesn’t come naturally for a gifted athlete. Sometimes you just have to be yourself. Whoever that is will become abundantly clear in this game.

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A final word to fans considering staying home in silent protest over the coaching issue: Don’t. Whoever told you this was going to be easy was lying to you. Football, like life, is full of inevitable obstacles.  Overcoming them part of the journey. Get knocked down, get back up. Giving up is worse than losing.

Jurich Standing Firm On Football

Even the most adamant critic of University of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich would have to admit that the man stands behind his words in the face of growing criticism that would have lesser people running for cover.

Jurich confirmed in an interview with Big East blogger Brian Bennett Wednesday that the football program is in a rebuilding mode, seemingly putting to rest any speculation that he will relieve football coach Steve Kragthorpe of his duties anytime soon:

“My expectations were not high this year because I knew the reality,” Jurich said on Wednesday. “One thing I didn’t want to do to the fans was lie to them.

“When I said we’d spend the next two years rebuilding, there was a lot of flack that came with it. Nobody wants to hear that. [But] it’s a long haul and I knew that and I buckled up for it.

“It’s hard for some people to hear that when one year you’re going to the Orange Bowl and now you’re not. Our fans are so new at this, they thought we’d be going to the Orange Bowl every week, but it’s not like that.”

The last sentence is sure to severely irritate those who were already beside themselves in demanding that Jurich fire Kragthorpe for what they consider rank incompetence. They see a team going backwards, not rebuilding. Their ranks include many who supported the team for years, including at least one couple who had never missed a home game in 42 years and traveled to many road games.

Jurich anticipated the ire that comes with rebuilding, saying before the season that he just wanted to get through the next two seasons. He is not surprised or shocked by the reactions. And no one can say Jurich didn’t warn them.

This observer believes the worst fear is that UofL football will descend into a bottomless pit from which it would difficult to ever recover. It is a concern based on few signs of progress over the past two seasons. 

However, Tom Jurich believes the rebuilding process will be successful. Jurich has been around the block a few times, and he’s staking his reputation on it. But he faces an equal challenge in maintaining the loyalty of fans who disregard what he’s telling them.