Clint Hurtt: The Louisville-Miami football connection

Those behind-the-scenes dealings in college athletics have a habit of coming back to bite schools in the butt.

We keep hearing that everybody does it, that cheating is rampant in college athletics, standard operating procedure for many. Some schools are better at it than most, thumbling their noses at the NCAA, suggesting that colleges create their own governing operatus.

John Calipari at Kentucky, not surprisingly, is an advocate of a new system. That may be just more bluster from a recurring source, or it could be inevitable. But for now, the NCAA is in charge.

The University of Miami is about to go down, the result of a cascade of revelations from Nevin Shapiro, a former booster who says he lavished gifts and benefits to recruits and bonuses for on-field play.

University of Louisville football fans are on edge because Clint Hurtt, current recruiting coordinator at U of L, was the lead recruiter at Miami at the time and an alleged recipient of the booster’s generosity. This is scary stuff because of what it suggests.

Hurtt has had unprecedented success at U of L in recruiting more than a dozen high caliber recruits from South Florida, including 10 from Miami.

Is he the most effective football recruiter in U of L history because of his position on a coaching staff headed by Charlie Strong? Or are other factors involved?

Not surprisingly, we choose to believe Clint Hurtt has been so successful because of the force of his personality, his many connections with coaches and players in the Miami area, his eye for assessing talent, his confidence and persistence, and his ability to sell the program.

Nothing we’ve seen or heard suggests anything otherwise, and we do follow this program closely. Is it too good to be true? Only time will tell.

U of L’s football following has grown significantly over the last decade. We may be naive but we’re pretty sure that following doesn’t include any Nevin Shapiros.