His information was newsworthy, but was clearly intended to simultaneously provide news while taking a swipe at a conference member. I thought if things were newsworthy, it was OK to rip on Big East members here. Or is it just USF and Notre Dame that are fair game...

USFFan

(01-01-2009 06:05 PM)usffan Wrote:  His information was newsworthy, but was clearly intended to simultaneously provide news while taking a swipe at a conference member. I thought if things were newsworthy, it was OK to rip on Big East members here. Or is it just USF and Notre Dame that are fair game...

USFFan

It should not have been closed, his swipe at Tom Jurich I found comical. TJ is one of if not the best AD in the country and one "VERY BAD" hire for football doesn't change that.

I figure Krapthorpe will be here for at most 2 more years and I am willing to live with it.

Let the 'grass have his little laugh, the Ville will be back either w/ the Kragger or w/out, doesn't matter. The Ville's ceiling for success is simply that much higher than Tulsa's. It sure is swell being in a BCS conf...

:domokun:

I for one think Louisville will be back with the current coach. I don't think most people knew what was going on in the program behind closed doors.. Jurich tried to tell people there was a rebuild that needed to happen.. but fans didn't want to hear it. They made a baby step this year.. and likely do the same next year.. my guess 7-5. after that look out they will become a much tougher day for teams.

Did Tallgrass really get banned from this board?

If so please reinstate him.

(01-02-2009 08:31 AM)goodknightfl Wrote:  Jurich tried to tell people there was a rebuild that needed to happen.. but fans didn't want to hear it.

While that is technically correct, it is not the entire truth. Jurich did say we would be rebuilding but not until 6 games into Krags first season (i.e. when we were limping along). The same goes for Krags. When he came in, he talked about competing for championships right away and how talented the team was. Not until midway through the season did he reevaluate the talent on the roster.

I can't really fault the fans. 75% of the Orange bowl team was back. Brian Brohm was leading the offense. They were told that another BCS trip was just around the corner and that the team would compete for a BE title under Krag. Instead, they got a 6-6 record, no bowl, and then were told that Petrino (guy is a liar/prick but he graduated players and kept them in-line) was the reason Steve failed to produce.

(01-02-2009 11:41 AM)UofL07 Wrote:  

(01-02-2009 08:31 AM)goodknightfl Wrote:  Jurich tried to tell people there was a rebuild that needed to happen.. but fans didn't want to hear it.

While that is technically correct, it is not the entire truth. Jurich did say we would be rebuilding but not until 6 games into Krags first season (i.e. when we were limping along). The same goes for Krags. When he came in, he talked about competing for championships right away and how talented the team was. Not until midway through the season did he reevaluate the talent on the roster.

I can't really fault the fans. 75% of the Orange bowl team was back. Brian Brohm was leading the offense. They were told that another BCS trip was just around the corner and that the team would compete for a BE title under Krag. Instead, they got a 6-6 record, no bowl, and then were told that Petrino (guy is a liar/prick but he graduated players and kept them in-line) was the reason Steve failed to produce.

"Airplane headed to Tulsa to swoop up Kragthorpe."

That was one of many headlines when Tulsa lost Kragthorpe to Louisville. As presented by Tulsa World Newspaper and comments by UL fans on TU sports board, it certainly appeared to me that the full intention of Jurich/Kragthorpe was full speed ahead to success.

Kragthorpe is a good coach. He is not a holler in your face guy. Kragthorpe's tight end oriented scheme worked at Tulsa because TU had the quarterbacks and tight ends to make it work. The two QBs and TE were drafted in the NFL. For Tulsa and Kragthorpe, it was a fortuante timing. IMO, Kragthorpe was not a good recruiter at Tulsa and did not replace his good players with new recruits....and Tulsa's record declined.

The second reason was that Kragthorpe explained things to his Tulsa players and expected them to carry it out. Kragthorpe never got into Tulsa player's faces. Tulsa players are kind of military academy type players, that is, not especially physically talented but very good on following instructions. When Todd Graham was hired, many Tulsa players commented that it was going to be a different world at Tulsa....Graham was/is emotional and a bit in your face...totally different from Kragthorpe.

Jurich stated publicly that Kragthorpe was a great coach. I think Kragthorpe is a good coach....given the right situation. As an outsider looking in (at Louisville), I very quickly drew the conclusion that two gentleman made a terrible mistake.

As a NonBCS school, losing a coach by Tulsa is a back breaker. A good coach can tighten up the distance between what a BCS school offers versus what a NonBCS school doesn't have to offer. Losing Kragthorpe was perceived a potentially very threatening situatin for Tulsa.

With new coach Graham, and now this 10 year contract, the future looks bright. I am sure Graham will leave sometime in the foreseeable future but it would be very nice to get a couple more years out of Graham to get TU's football up there at a higher scale.

The BE has the Louisville situation and the West Virginia situation. West Va stayed inside the "family" and did Tulsa with Graham. The lesson is clear. If you have a successful football program, then you stay inside your staff if you have to hire a new coach. If you have a losing program, then you go outside to provide a new perspective and a new spark. West Virginia and Tulsa are thriving; UL is not. You do not make decisions based on friendships.

If some of you BE guys have trouble with me, turn back the clock a few years ago when we lost our coach. How would you feel? Or, consider WVa when their coach to Michigan. Or Cincy fans on this board when their coach gets mentioned as a possiblity for a new opening? I do not apologize for being giddy right now. Looking at the Jurich/Kragthorpe situation, I think we all have learned something from this....that perhaps is a lesson learned and a mistake not to be repeated.

(01-01-2009 06:10 PM)Maize Wrote:  

(01-01-2009 06:05 PM)usffan Wrote:  His information was newsworthy, but was clearly intended to simultaneously provide news while taking a swipe at a conference member. I thought if things were newsworthy, it was OK to rip on Big East members here. Or is it just USF and Notre Dame that are fair game...

USFFan

It should not have been closed, his swipe at Tom Jurich I found comical. TJ is one of if not the best AD in the country and one "VERY BAD" hire for football doesn't change that.

I figure Krapthorpe will be here for at most 2 more years and I am willing to live with it.

I have seen many ADs across the country building college sports programs....ECU, UCF, Southern Miss, Tulsa and others in CUSA, just one conference. USF, IMO, is the outstanding recent BE example. You see it all across the country.

What makes Jurich one of the nation's best? Not trying to be argumentive here....but, as an outsider looking in, it appears to me that the Louisville situatin offered/offers lots of positives for an AD.

(01-02-2009 01:04 PM)Tallgrass Wrote:  

(01-01-2009 06:10 PM)Maize Wrote:  

(01-01-2009 06:05 PM)usffan Wrote:  His information was newsworthy, but was clearly intended to simultaneously provide news while taking a swipe at a conference member. I thought if things were newsworthy, it was OK to rip on Big East members here. Or is it just USF and Notre Dame that are fair game...

USFFan

It should not have been closed, his swipe at Tom Jurich I found comical. TJ is one of if not the best AD in the country and one "VERY BAD" hire for football doesn't change that.

I figure Krapthorpe will be here for at most 2 more years and I am willing to live with it.

I have seen many ADs across the country building college sports programs....ECU, UCF, Southern Miss, Tulsa and others in CUSA, just one conference. USF, IMO, is the outstanding recent BE example. You see it all across the country.

What makes Jurich one of the nation's best? Not trying to be argumentive here....but, as an outsider looking in, it appears to me that the Louisville situatin offered/offers lots of positives for an AD.

1. Just a year and a half ago he was named AD of the year by his peers.

Let me give you some examples, outside of basketball which is already a national name he has really built up the other sports into nationally ranked teams like Women Basketball, Volleyball and just got a morbid baseball team into the College World Series.

He also was able to position Louisville-(which before he came aboard) from a one sport school into a position with his huge upgrades in facilities into a BCS conference member without almost any help from the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Jurich Receives Top Honor by Sports Business Journal

Cards' AD Named 2007 Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal/SportsBusiness Daily Athletic Director of the Year


June 4, 2007

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Louisville Vice President and Director of Athletics Tom Jurich has been honored as the 2007 Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal/SportsBusiness Daily Athletic Director of the Year. The prestigious award, presented by the leading sports business trade publication in the country, recognizes Jurich's leadership in building the Cardinals' athletics program to across the board success.

Jurich will receive the award at the National Association of Collegiate Athletic Directors Awards Luncheon in Orlando, Fla. on Friday (June 8) at 12:30 p.m. The annual award, won by Florida AD Jeremy Foley last year, recognizes the efforts of athletic directors and their commitment and contributions to campuses and their communities. NBC News special correspondent Tom Brokaw will be give the keynote address earlier that day for the 42nd annual NACDA Convention.

Jurich has presided over a remarkable rise in his nearly 10 years at U of L since he became the Cards' athletic director on Oct. 21, 1997. It has been a special year for during the 2006-07 season, with the Cardinals sending representatives from 17 of its 22 sports to NCAA postseason competition and a dozen Louisville teams earned top 25 national rankings.

Jurich has overseen the opening of more than $150 million in facilities over the past decade, with notable additions to that list over the past year. The Tom Musselman Golf Center, an indoor training facility for the Cards' men's and women's golf teams located at The Cardinal Club golf course, was dedicated on April 17.

Construction continues on The Yum! Center, a practice facility for men's basketball and volleyball which will open in August. Offices, locker rooms and training facilities for each of those sports and women's lacrosse -- whose stadium is located adjacent to the building -- are included in the project.

U of L made a move in December for a $65 million expansion of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium from its current 42,000-seat configuration to 63,600. Ground was broken on Nov. 28 on a new riverfront arena in downtown Louisville in which the U of L men's and women's basketball teams will serve as the primary tenants. The arena scheduled for completion in the fall of 2010.

The Cardinal football team (No. 6 AP, No. 7 USA Today) posted a 12-1 record and defeated Wake Forest 24-13 in the FedEx Orange Bowl, the Cards' first-ever BCS contest. Louisville was one of just seven schools with both it's men's and women's basketball teams ranked in the final AP poll. The Cardinals' women's soccer (No. 22) and men's cross country (15th) teams both earned their first NCAA Championship appearances ever at U of L. The Cards' field hockey team was ranked 15th nationally and the volleyball team reached its ninth NCAA Tournament. U of L athletes won two national titles in men's indoor track, which finished in a tie for 10th in the nation.

U of L's baseball team won their first ever NCAA Tournament games and will play No. 11 Missouri today (June 4) for the Columbia, Mo. regional title. The No. 6 ranked men's track team will send several athletes to the NCAA Outdoor Championships June 6-9 in Sacramento, Calif.

Maize, this certainly makes the point regarding Jurich. Former Okla State Terry Don PHillips was similar to Jurich where the, without administration or fan support, simply started pounding away about improving the status of the schools athletic program. You made your point clearly. Best of luck to Jurich, UL....and also to Kragthorpe..

USFFan,

His post was not newsworthy for anyone in this conference. It was about a contract extension for Tulsa's coach. He then went off telling everyone about how big of a mistake it was for UL to hire Kragthorpe. Plain and simple.

KL's post about the tickets to the bowl game was newsworthy as Syracuse fans were heading down to Tampa and could very well have been interested in buying tickets to both events. Apples to oranges comparison.

Graham/Tulsa and kragthorpe/Jurich/Louisville is a story joined at the hip. With Graham's 10 year contract, the story is over for Tulsa (although it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see Graham in a short time). The story continues for Kragthorpe/Jurich/Louisville.

It is not an unnoticed story. A sports writer did an article called 119 Christmas wishes. The wish for Louisville? Todd Graham.

I have been posting on this board and I don't do flames on this board. If you want to see what a BE flame looks like, just go to MWC or CUSA board. I do believe both gentlemen, Jurich and Kragthorpe, made a serious mistake with serious consequences. If that makes me a flamer, so be it. Let me say this then....I am a kinder gentler flamer than the many UL fans who came on the Tulsa board.

I have always felt every issue is like a coin, it has two sides. This board is unique in that there are three sides, the third side being West Virginia, like Tulsa, staying inside its family to hire its new coach.

Tallgrass, I agree that you don't typically start stuff on this board. That being said, I don't think a 10 year extension means it is newsworthy to BE/UL fans. If Butch Jones gets an extension is it news to UC because Brian Kelly came from CMU?

(01-03-2009 04:07 PM)mlb Wrote:  Tallgrass, I agree that you don't typically start stuff on this board. That being said, I don't think a 10 year extension means it is newsworthy to BE/UL fans. If Butch Jones gets an extension is it news to UC because Brian Kelly came from CMU?

Thanks! I have been BE's #1 fan....not out of a golden heart but the realization that the more successful BE is....the better it is for CUSA stability.

Brian Kelly, unlike the Kragthorpe/Jurich/Louisville situation, is a winner. Evidently, Cincy AD is a person who did some thinking....which Jurich and Kragthorpe didn't. And Rutgers AD handled their potential coaching loss. And UConn coach is not going back to his alma mater at Syracuse or something like that.

It would appear to me that hiring/retaining coaches is a very relevant issue, not only for BE, but all conferences. The gut wrenching coaching decision made in CUSA was by Southern Miss with Jeff Bower. This coaching situation was cussed and discussed and cussed and discussed again.

As an outsider looking in, perhaps all the past success by Jurich at Louisville made him overconfident. Because if Jurich had asked some questions, even the average Tulsa fan would have spoken up with disappoints in recruiting, play calling, offensive strategy, and game adjustment. Take away All-American TE Garret, a TE who could go deep and evande defenders, my guess is Kragthorpe would have struggled at TU also. Garret made Krathorpe's tight end offensive philosphy work....it was a fortunate combination of events....

Another coaching change similar to Kragthorpe/Graham episode is the coaching changes at Houston....Houston, with their new coach Sumlin, broke its bowl drought for a win and is recruiting on a higher scale than ever imagined at Houston.

I look at all this....and no one is going to get me to say that coaching hires and searches....and the appropriate way to go about it....are irrelevant subjects.

FWIW, Nebraska and Indiana fired their ADs for disastrous hires; former Nebraska AD hired in the same vein I think as Jurich; that is, a close colleague was hired. Neither Nebraska or Indiana are in BE but what happened there is relevant to every college President.

(01-03-2009 03:41 PM)Tallgrass Wrote:  I am a kinder gentler flamer than the many UL fans who came on the Tulsa board.

You keep saying this, but can you elaborate with specifics? What UofL posters? On what board? Are you saying UofL fans posted on your boards saying ha, ha, ha, we stole your coach?

I checked out the Tulsa boards quite a bit after Krag was hired, and never saw such a thing.

Tulsa ncaabbs board – a graveyard, nothing there
Tulsa Scout board – very little action there
Tulsa Rivals board – seemed to have the most action. I even posted a couple of times there simply asking about Krag (and Stubbs).

Fact is, UofL fans didn’t know much about Krag when he was hired (other then he was Jurich’s first choice). UofL fans certainly didn’t gloat about the hire because we didn’t know much about him.

Tallgrass, I expect this to turn out as your word against mine; but I am calling you a liar.

I never saw UofL fans smacking Tulsa fans because we hired Krag. What I saw was UofL fans simply visiting your boards and asking questions about Krag. I think you have confused the two.

Tallgrass, are you going to respond to my thread above?

Is there another Tulsa board you are talking about that I didn’t list?

If not, I really don’t appreciate you dogging UofL fans over the Krapthorpe hire, and once again I think you are a liar.

You guys are just afraid of the Tallgrass swagger. Don't hate.

(01-07-2009 10:51 PM)CardHouse Wrote:  Tallgrass, are you going to respond to my thread above?

Is there another Tulsa board you are talking about that I didn’t list?

If not, I really don’t appreciate you dogging UofL fans over the Krapthorpe hire, and once again I think you are a liar.

The Tulsa rivals board was flamed relentlessly for 2 weeks after Kragthorpe was hired. We thought it was a bad move on his part. Louisville fans thought they were an SEC team and we were an FCS team. Since then, at least one Louisville fan has stopped by every month for the past 2 years to discuss Kragthorpe. We try to tell them that it's a program problem and not a coach problem and they go bat-$%# crazy on us.