Not writing the obituary for the University of Louisville basketball program just yet, thank you.
Not the time for that.
The football season is less than six weeks old, with a team getting better each week, averaging more than 50,000 fans at  the first two home games.
A young coach named Charlie Strong, a man who knows the importance of football on the college landscape, restocking the program with talented recruits for the future.
Straight with fans. A man who says what he means and means what he says. No subliminal messages, no reading between the lines.
No distractions, no writing books, making motivational speeches. No dancing around with the media but keeping fans informed of the realities.
He’s been involved with a couple of national championships but not allowing past glories to define him. Focused solely on the job at hand, Louisville football.
The Big East part of the football schedule begins for U of L next week. With a few breaks here and there, a bowl game may be obtainable this season.
Genuine reasons to be excited about a program which, despite significant obstacles, may have started down the long, difficult road to respectability again.
There will be time for basketball. Later.
Thanks Charlie for the great write up- let’s stay with the football team and enjoy watching this transformation of these young men and our program- it is so nice to see continued improvement. Looking forward to coming up for the Cinn. game with my daughter- I have raised another Card fan in cat country!
Where do you live, Bruce?
Charlie, you are seriously misguided–but still a good fellow. Kind of like Colin Powell.
Basketball is in the blood, while football is in the gut. Guts come and go (theoretically, at least). But blood is forever–this was and is a basketball kind of place. Louisville is a top-drawer basketball school, going through a rough spell. On the other hand, we were a mid-major football school who had a short hot streak. And today–we are trying to climb back up that hill.
But keep on writing these insightful articles, and we’ll try to keep you on the right track.. Cheers.
John: It will remain a basketball-centric place until the populace raises its collective head and looks around, recognizing that football is the economic driver. Just few steps away from getting there with attendance over 50,000 for the first two games. If Charlie Strong can get us back there and if Charlie Strong decides to stay when he does, people may start thinking differently. We were almost there when Stoneface left for Atlanta. People love winning, whether that’s basketball, football or whatever. They’ve had success with basketball over the years so that’s their comfort zone. Let the same thing happen with football and you’ll sing a different song. My main point was that it’s still early in the football season and we need to stay focused there. A few cold days at the stadium and we’re back in the olden days, the loser days, longing for basketball again. Stay focused laddies.
A good second half against Rutgers a few years back and nailing Petrino’s feet to the turf at Pappa John’s and you would not have to defend the status of football here.
I’m a football fan first and I appreciate this article talking about the focus of our football coach. It’s amazing how Louisville Football has done a lot with very little and Louisville Basketball has done little (results) with a lot.
BTW, good read on the article Charlie!
We have had bad luck in 2010 for basketball recruiting, in terms of eligibility, but has anyone noticed we are #2 in basketball recruiting nationally for 2011 right behind UK?
I love basketball, but it is a distant 3rd to football and baseball for this fan.
Most sports fans love basketball because it is the easiest sport to follow and understand. Only 13 schollys, climate controlled conditions, only 5 players can play at a time…..
Our basketball scout at CD is only like 18 years old for instance. He has more than enough knowledge and intelligence to keep up with the basketball for us.
Hell, any novice fan of a team can browse online for about 30 minutes, and know everything there is to know about their team in basketball. Not the case in football and baseball.
Why do you think most UK fans are all about basketball? Simple sport for simple folks.
Just sayin’. I love basketball, but most advanced sports fans like more of a challenge than that. Back in the day, that is all we had at Louisville that was actually promising.
Now with the CWS in 2007 and the 2007 Orange Bowl win, and we have not been to a FF since 2005, basketball has been eclipsed at Louisville by football and baseball IMO.
Basketball will get better, but there are advanced sports at Louisville in football and baseball, and if you keep up with recruiting, it will keep you busy year ’round.
It takes effort though to keep up with 100+ football players and 85 schollys. Most fans do not want to put forth the effort to keep up with all that.
Basketball will be fine this season, as long as the fans set their expectations accordingly.
Be patient, and if the season is rough, baseball starts right when basketball is over.
Basketball is not the end all be all of Louisville athletics anymore, and there are MANY other great coaches and programs at Louisville to follow in men’s and women’s sports.
Shannon, I agree with your observations. Thank you for making them here. Keep up the good work over at http://cardinaldominance.ning.com.
And the women’s basketball gurus are barely over 50. LOL.
Seriously, check out the inscrutible Mr. Ruffra’s work at http://www.cardinaldominance.ning.com
Not bad stuff for a muscle bound monkey who has absolutely no cornhole game whatsoever.
I just gave him a plug Sonja. Let’s not overdo it.
#2 but with two caveats.
The first is these are committments and we have had ample evidence in the past to prove that they aren’t worth the paper they are not written on.
The second is we also have ample evidence that even signatures on the letter of intent don’t seem to guarantee eligibility.
Let’s not count our birds until they hatch.
My concern is that Charlie Strong will get fed up with the basketball fanaticism around here. Ninety percent of the country knows college football is what pulls the wagon, and here we have so many fans who think basketball is the be all and end all. It ain’t.
There are some obvious contrasts between what is occurring in football and basketball on campus.