Original receipe or Extra Crispy? On the other hand, maybe strategy is to be mum for a while thru some games before drawing a judgment?

What are my thoughts you ask? We still have to wait and see.

Last week was a decent improvement; Krag was actually seen rippin’ some @ss on the sideline when needed, both with the team and the officials.

It brought great joy to us Card fans.

He looked like a coach that was leading a very talented team.

This led to Krag’s very first win as a head coach against a BCS school in 10 tries (he was 0-9 before the NC ST win). Krag is at the grown-ups table now; hopefully he now realizes what he is into and especially that the rest of our difficult schedule is going to bring it at us hard.

I think the Syracuse game was the wake-up call for Kragthorpe. I think he realizes now that he's in the big times, and he's going to have to step his game up to another level to be successful.

Well, he beat a team that was not very good. So he is still on my watch list. I have not been impressed so far!

I have been less than complimentary of Coach K on the Louisville board and was actually waiting for a thread like this to pop up there before commenting. Many Louisville fans are just like Wilkie, they are taking a wait and see approach with the guy now that he and his staff from Tulsa have screwed up our season.
Before the game I told my son that if I was Coach K I would have locked myself in my office with the Louisville tapes from last season and looked for what we did differently last season and change back anything that I had changed for ego purposes. Funny thing is I think he did just that.
He moved some players back to their original positions. Benched some of the guys that he and his new staff had been high on that couldn't get on the field when Petrino was here.
I saw more power running this week. Some nice runs between the tackles. Not as much of the dink and dunk pu$$y football we saw the first few weeks. By no means is our running game where it was with Petrino but we are on our way back.
We still are not stretching the field like I would expect with the WR talent we have. Again if I see Stubbs call another screen when its 3rd and 25 I will come out of the stands after him. Instead Trent Guy had a couple of nice catches down field but we are still not picking up yards like we should with the offensive talent we have.
On defensive side it looked like Coach K finally let Cassity take over the defense. It was the first time this season we have seen Louisville play Louisville defense. For the first four games, I don't know who the guy from Tulsa that was making the calls, Louisville couldn't stop a bad high school team.
Bottomline I think Coach K and his staff from Tulsa got in over their heads real quick. They didn't realize the talent they had when they got here and didn't utilize it. Didn't realize the passion of Louisville football fans. I think they kind of took the fans for granted and believed Louisville fans cared more about basketball than football. Bad mistake on their part. Unfortunately Coach K has alienated alot of Louisville fans by losing this season. It doesn't matter if we finish 10-2, some Louisville fans will see the season as a disappointment and will hold Coach K responsible.
I have two close friends that have worked with Coach K. Both call him one of the best young minds in football. One was with him on staff in Buffalo. The other is an NFL official who worked games when he was at A&M and in Buffalo. Both say he is one heck of a football coach and a better person. I guess I am cautiously optimistic that Coach K can save our season. The next few weeks will determine if that is the case.
CJ

CardinalJim Wrote:I have been less than complimentary of Coach K on the Louisville board and was actually waiting for a thread like this to pop up there before commenting. Many Louisville fans are just like Wilkie, they are taking a wait and see approach with the guy now that he and his staff from Tulsa have screwed up our season.
Before the game I told my son that if I was Coach K I would have locked myself in my office with the Louisville tapes from last season and looked for what we did differently last season and change back anything that I had changed for ego purposes. Funny thing is I think he did just that.
He moved some players back to their original positions. Benched some of the guys that he and his new staff had been high on that couldn't get on the field when Petrino was here.
I saw more power running this week. Some nice runs between the tackles. Not as much of the dink and dunk pu$$y football we saw the first few weeks. By no means is our running game where it was with Petrino but we are on our way back.
We still are not stretching the field like I would expect with the WR talent we have. Again if I see Stubbs call another screen when its 3rd and 25 I will come out of the stands after him. Instead Trent Guy had a couple of nice catches down field but we are still not picking up yards like we should with the offensive talent we have.
On defensive side it looked like Coach K finally let Cassity take over the defense. It was the first time this season we have seen Louisville play Louisville defense. For the first four games, I don't know who the guy from Tulsa that was making the calls, Louisville couldn't stop a bad high school team.
Bottomline I think Coach K and his staff from Tulsa got in over their heads real quick. They didn't realize the talent they had when they got here and didn't utilize it. Didn't realize the passion of Louisville football fans. I think they kind of took the fans for granted and believed Louisville fans cared more about basketball than football. Bad mistake on their part. Unfortunately Coach K has alienated alot of Louisville fans by losing this season. It doesn't matter if we finish 10-2, some Louisville fans will see the season as a disappointment and will hold Coach K responsible.
I have two close friends that have worked with Coach K. Both call him one of the best young minds in football. One was with him on staff in Buffalo. The other is an NFL official who worked games when he was at A&M and in Buffalo. Both say he is one heck of a football coach and a better person. I guess I am cautiously optimistic that Coach K can save our season. The next few weeks will determine if that is the case.
CJ

I pretty much agree with CJ but I would like to add a couple of other things.

Here is what I want to see when the season is over:

1. I want Charlie Stubbs and his sorry @$$ GONE. He is absolutely horrible and he can't even get the plays in on time. Under his leadership this offense has no rythem. Get the plays in, make the defense uncomfortable and generally speed it up.

2. Bring in a new Defensive Line coach and just have Coach Nelson over the Special teams.

3. Jeff Brohm as Offensive Coordinator.

4. I want Coach Kragthorpe to realize this is BIG BOY Football. That 9-5 Work Hours might have worked in Mid Major land but not in BCS Country.

5. I want Coach Kragthorpe to focus on limiting penalties like Bobby Petrino did his 4 years at UofL. Under Petrino we averaged 5 penalities a game. Under Kragthorpe it is around 10 per game and we already have more personnel foul penalties in our first 5 games then we had all last season.

Still questioning how much of Tulsa's success was due Coach K, and how much was due to his former DC Todd Graham. Look what Graham did at a talentless Rice last year. And now look how a more seasoned Rice, with the same returning stars, is playing this year: 0-fer, losing to a I-AA squad.

K sounded like a broken man, even trying to speak with all that positive spin after the NC State win. Those annoying UK fans must be getting to him up there? Damn, I can't stand those Cats Cats Cats queers... If for only K's 1st-season sanity, I hope all the team cancers are finally removed, and we can win out.

One other thing: positive reinforcement is great, but he needs to publicly call some players out and challenge 'em.

UCF_Cardinals Wrote:Still questioning how much of Tulsa's success was due Coach K, and how much was due to his former DC Todd Graham. Look what Graham did at a talentless Rice last year. And now look how a more seasoned Rice, with the same returning stars, is playing this year: 0-fer, losing to a I-AA squad.

K sounded like a broken man, even trying to speak with all that positive spin after the NC State win. Those annoying UK fans must be getting to him up there? Damn, I can't stand those Cats Cats Cats queers... If for only K's 1st-season sanity, I hope all the team cancers are finally removed, and we can win out.

One other thing: positive reinforcement is great, but he needs to publicly call some players out and challenge 'em.

Coach Krapthorpe is taking more heat from Pissed off UofL fans then UK fans. UK fans have no dog in this fight.

UofL fans can handle losing to Kentucky BUT what we can't handle is the piss poor preperation, lack of discipline and lack of focus we saw the 1st 4 weeks of the season. Also losing to Syracuse and losing our 20 game home win streak is down right embarrassing.

I would like to make a couple comments.

Charlie Stubbs had no fast WR who could get free deep at Tulsa. But still, if something is not working, why keep running the same predictable thing over and over and over? Opposing teams picked up on Stubbs and that is why Tulsa went into a tailspin at the end of the year. Ironically, the term "dink and dunk" stuff posted here on this board were posted on the Tulsa board over a year ago by TU fans dissatisfied with Stubbs' play calling. And here is where I am going with this post....Jurich didn't do his homework. Ultimately, he is in charge.

Second, I think coaching at Tulsa is a greater challenge than coaching at Louisiville. Tulsa is a small private school of 4,200 students. For example, you don't get walk ons....they can't afford the tuition. Don't give me the argument that CUSA is a small pond. For Tulsa, CUSA is a huge pond....facing giants (for us) ECU, UCF, Southern Miss, etc who have advantages Tulsa can only dream about. Tulsa plays schools against players TU could never recruit....because of TU's academic requirements. Kragthorpe is a good coach and that's my point #2. On the other hand, as posted above and what I posted before, Kragthorpe's two best defensive coaches are in Tulsa, Graham and Patterson. Here, with the benefit of hindsight, Kragthorpe and Jurich made decisions based on friendship....should Jurich taken a look at the defensiv coaching situation? If not for friendship, would both Kragthorpe and Jurich made decision in a different way?

Third, I am basing this comment on the press coming out of Tulsa. In our press, Jurich was praising Kragthore the highest a praise a coach could receive. I think, with the benefit of hindsight, this was probably Jurich's greatest error. Loooieville fans, already with high expectations, were only fueled and gassed up for even GREATER success. God (Kragthorpe) was coming to town! Jurich's mistake set up a no win situation. Jurich's comments poured gas on the fire and, from where I sit, it has blown up big time. Jurich should have stated, when introducing Kragthorpe, that Coach K was a good coach but Loooieville had lost many good players from a defense that was not ranked high to begin with. Jurich should have lowered expectations. Now high expectations make anything less than Top 10 ranking appear as a failure....perception is reality.

Both Jurich and Kragthorpe should have sat down and discussed and analyed the successes and failures experienced in Tulsa and why they occurred. And, if perhaps, given UL's football talent, what in Tulsa was applicable to UL and what wasn't. Instead, based on the Tulsa press, Jurich simply flew a private plane and "swooped" into Tulsa to pick up Kragthorpe, no questions asked. In summary, it all goes back to them being good friends, making decisons based on friendship...and not backing a step back and asking some professional questions.

I hope it all works out for Coach K and UL. It will be a learning curve for both, evidently.

Tallgrass Wrote:I would like to make a couple comments.

Charlie Stubbs had no fast WR who could get free deep at Tulsa. But still, if something is not working, why keep running the same predictable thing over and over and over? Opposing teams picked up on Stubbs and that is why Tulsa went into a tailspin at the end of the year. Ironically, the term "dink and dunk" stuff posted here on this board were posted on the Tulsa board over a year ago by TU fans dissatisfied with Stubbs' play calling. And here is where I am going with this post....Jurich didn't do his homework. Ultimately, he is in charge.

Second, I think coaching at Tulsa is a greater challenge than coaching at Louisiville. Tulsa is a small private school of 4,200 students. For example, you don't get walk ons....they can't afford the tuition. Don't give me the argument that CUSA is a small pond. For Tulsa, CUSA is a huge pond....facing giants (for us) ECU, UCF, Southern Miss, etc who have advantages Tulsa can only dream about. Tulsa plays schools against players TU could never recruit....because of TU's academic requirements. Kragthorpe is a good coach and that's my point #2. On the other hand, as posted above and what I posted before, Kragthorpe's two best defensive coaches are in Tulsa, Graham and Patterson. Here, with the benefit of hindsight, Kragthorpe and Jurich made decisions based on friendship....should Jurich taken a look at the defensiv coaching situation? If not for friendship, would both Kragthorpe and Jurich made decision in a different way?

Third, I am basing this comment on the press coming out of Tulsa. In our press, Jurich was praising Kragthore the highest a praise a coach could receive. I think, with the benefit of hindsight, this was probably Jurich's greatest error. Loooieville fans, already with high expectations, were only fueled and gassed up for even GREATER success. God (Kragthorpe) was coming to town! Jurich's mistake set up a no win situation. Jurich's comments poured gas on the fire and, from where I sit, it has blown up big time. Jurich should have stated, when introducing Kragthorpe, that Coach K was a good coach but Loooieville had lost many good players from a defense that was not ranked high to begin with. Jurich should have lowered expectations. Now high expectations make anything less than Top 10 ranking appear as a failure....perception is reality.

Both Jurich and Kragthorpe should have sat down and discussed and analyed the successes and failures experienced in Tulsa and why they occurred. And, if perhaps, given UL's football talent, what in Tulsa was applicable to UL and what wasn't. Instead, based on the Tulsa press, Jurich simply flew a private plane and "swooped" into Tulsa to pick up Kragthorpe, no questions asked. In summary, it all goes back to them being good friends, making decisons based on friendship...and not backing a step back and asking some professional questions.

I hope it all works out for Coach K and UL. It will be a learning curve for both, evidently.

Here is a couple of things:

1. Stop with the Loooieville stuff.

2. Not buying the losing to much on Defense. Yes we had one huge loss in Amobi Okoye BUT we still returned 10 players that started at least 3 games for the Orange Bowl Champions.

3. The defense that as you said wasn't ranked that high only gave up 16 PPG which was in the Top 20. Plus that said poor defense was in the Top 2 in sacks the previous 2 years.

Also, I do think in Hindsight Krapthorpe would not have taken the Louisville job. His comments after the NC State win did not seem like a guy who was enjoying what he does for a living.

Maize Wrote:Also, I do think in Hindsight Krapthorpe would not have taken the Louisville job. His comments after the NC State win did not seem like a guy who was enjoying what he does for a living.

Kragthorpe turned down a million dollar offer from Dallas Cowboys, turned down an interview with North Carolina, and turned down an interview with Colorado. Kragthorpe stated what he wanted in a coaching position why he came to Tulsa and why he turned down those offers. Kragthorpe had everything, including salary, at Tulsa that he said he wanted. It was that personal friendship with Jurich that got Kragthorpe off his previously stated personal and professional goals.

My guess is your post is 100% accurate.

Maize Wrote:

Tallgrass Wrote:I would like to make a couple comments.

Charlie Stubbs had no fast WR who could get free deep at Tulsa. But still, if something is not working, why keep running the same predictable thing over and over and over? Opposing teams picked up on Stubbs and that is why Tulsa went into a tailspin at the end of the year. Ironically, the term "dink and dunk" stuff posted here on this board were posted on the Tulsa board over a year ago by TU fans dissatisfied with Stubbs' play calling. And here is where I am going with this post....Jurich didn't do his homework. Ultimately, he is in charge.

Second, I think coaching at Tulsa is a greater challenge than coaching at Louisiville. Tulsa is a small private school of 4,200 students. For example, you don't get walk ons....they can't afford the tuition. Don't give me the argument that CUSA is a small pond. For Tulsa, CUSA is a huge pond....facing giants (for us) ECU, UCF, Southern Miss, etc who have advantages Tulsa can only dream about. Tulsa plays schools against players TU could never recruit....because of TU's academic requirements. Kragthorpe is a good coach and that's my point #2. On the other hand, as posted above and what I posted before, Kragthorpe's two best defensive coaches are in Tulsa, Graham and Patterson. Here, with the benefit of hindsight, Kragthorpe and Jurich made decisions based on friendship....should Jurich taken a look at the defensiv coaching situation? If not for friendship, would both Kragthorpe and Jurich made decision in a different way?

Third, I am basing this comment on the press coming out of Tulsa. In our press, Jurich was praising Kragthore the highest a praise a coach could receive. I think, with the benefit of hindsight, this was probably Jurich's greatest error. Loooieville fans, already with high expectations, were only fueled and gassed up for even GREATER success. God (Kragthorpe) was coming to town! Jurich's mistake set up a no win situation. Jurich's comments poured gas on the fire and, from where I sit, it has blown up big time. Jurich should have stated, when introducing Kragthorpe, that Coach K was a good coach but Loooieville had lost many good players from a defense that was not ranked high to begin with. Jurich should have lowered expectations. Now high expectations make anything less than Top 10 ranking appear as a failure....perception is reality.

Both Jurich and Kragthorpe should have sat down and discussed and analyed the successes and failures experienced in Tulsa and why they occurred. And, if perhaps, given UL's football talent, what in Tulsa was applicable to UL and what wasn't. Instead, based on the Tulsa press, Jurich simply flew a private plane and "swooped" into Tulsa to pick up Kragthorpe, no questions asked. In summary, it all goes back to them being good friends, making decisons based on friendship...and not backing a step back and asking some professional questions.

I hope it all works out for Coach K and UL. It will be a learning curve for both, evidently.

Here is a couple of things:

1. Stop with the Loooieville stuff.

2. Not buying the losing to much on Defense. Yes we had one huge loss in Amobi Okoye BUT we still returned 10 players that started at least 3 games for the Orange Bowl Champions.

3. The defense that as you said wasn't ranked that high only gave up 16 PPG which was in the Top 20. Plus that said poor defense was in the Top 2 in sacks the previous 2 years.

Regarding Item 1, I willl....ifl you guys stop with the 9-5 Mid-Major stuff? FWIW, the coach of the Chicago Bears, runner up in the Super Bowl, is a former TU player. TU has turned out lots of NFL coaches and players. We play good enough to draw NFL attention....and I would say good enough for Louisville.

Tallgrass Wrote:

Maize Wrote:

Tallgrass Wrote:I would like to make a couple comments.

Charlie Stubbs had no fast WR who could get free deep at Tulsa. But still, if something is not working, why keep running the same predictable thing over and over and over? Opposing teams picked up on Stubbs and that is why Tulsa went into a tailspin at the end of the year. Ironically, the term "dink and dunk" stuff posted here on this board were posted on the Tulsa board over a year ago by TU fans dissatisfied with Stubbs' play calling. And here is where I am going with this post....Jurich didn't do his homework. Ultimately, he is in charge.

Second, I think coaching at Tulsa is a greater challenge than coaching at Louisiville. Tulsa is a small private school of 4,200 students. For example, you don't get walk ons....they can't afford the tuition. Don't give me the argument that CUSA is a small pond. For Tulsa, CUSA is a huge pond....facing giants (for us) ECU, UCF, Southern Miss, etc who have advantages Tulsa can only dream about. Tulsa plays schools against players TU could never recruit....because of TU's academic requirements. Kragthorpe is a good coach and that's my point #2. On the other hand, as posted above and what I posted before, Kragthorpe's two best defensive coaches are in Tulsa, Graham and Patterson. Here, with the benefit of hindsight, Kragthorpe and Jurich made decisions based on friendship....should Jurich taken a look at the defensiv coaching situation? If not for friendship, would both Kragthorpe and Jurich made decision in a different way?

Third, I am basing this comment on the press coming out of Tulsa. In our press, Jurich was praising Kragthore the highest a praise a coach could receive. I think, with the benefit of hindsight, this was probably Jurich's greatest error. Loooieville fans, already with high expectations, were only fueled and gassed up for even GREATER success. God (Kragthorpe) was coming to town! Jurich's mistake set up a no win situation. Jurich's comments poured gas on the fire and, from where I sit, it has blown up big time. Jurich should have stated, when introducing Kragthorpe, that Coach K was a good coach but Loooieville had lost many good players from a defense that was not ranked high to begin with. Jurich should have lowered expectations. Now high expectations make anything less than Top 10 ranking appear as a failure....perception is reality.

Both Jurich and Kragthorpe should have sat down and discussed and analyed the successes and failures experienced in Tulsa and why they occurred. And, if perhaps, given UL's football talent, what in Tulsa was applicable to UL and what wasn't. Instead, based on the Tulsa press, Jurich simply flew a private plane and "swooped" into Tulsa to pick up Kragthorpe, no questions asked. In summary, it all goes back to them being good friends, making decisons based on friendship...and not backing a step back and asking some professional questions.

I hope it all works out for Coach K and UL. It will be a learning curve for both, evidently.

Here is a couple of things:

1. Stop with the Loooieville stuff.

2. Not buying the losing to much on Defense. Yes we had one huge loss in Amobi Okoye BUT we still returned 10 players that started at least 3 games for the Orange Bowl Champions.

3. The defense that as you said wasn't ranked that high only gave up 16 PPG which was in the Top 20. Plus that said poor defense was in the Top 2 in sacks the previous 2 years.

Regarding Item 1, I willl....ifl you guys stop with the 9-5 Mid-Major stuff? FWIW, the coach of the Chicago Bears, runner up in the Super Bowl, is a former TU player. TU has turned out lots of NFL coaches and players. We play good enough to draw NFL attention....and I would say good enough for Louisville.

9-5 is in regards to hours worked. It is well know he doesn't spend no where near the time that our previous coach did.

Also, at Tulsa he could get away with going 7-5/8-4. That is not going to fly here for the simple reason Petrino has set the standard. We can live with 9-3 but this team he is coaching will be lucky IMHO to win 7 games and with the amount of talent on this roster that is not going to cut it.

Tallgrass,
No one is knocking the job Coack K did at Tulsa. By all accounts it was an awesome job. Unfortuantely when he came to Louisville the first thing out of his mouth was we are going to win a national championship, thats why I am here. I am paraphrasing but that was the jest of his first comments as Louisville's head coach. He raised expectations, scratch that he didn't raise them but he damn sure didn't say "hold up we have to get better on defense before we can win a national championship". My point is Coach K has been his worst own enemy. He came in wanting to be the players buddy and as kids do, they took advantage of him. He's done nothing but talk about the amount of talent on the team and be a cheerleader for the program. My point is Coach K needs to concentrate more on the X's and O's and less on selling the program. This isn't Tulsa, the programs already sold here. Sold so much that the fans built the stadium with their own money. Sold so much that there is a waiting list for seats when the stadium is expanded. Coach K has everything here he needs to be successful. If he isn't then it's his own fault not the fans for expecting too much.
CJ

Where is this awesome Tulsa defense that I keep hearing about Tallgrass? Tulsa's defense looks worse than Louisville's this season. 139 points given up over the last 3 weeks? I'm not sure I'd be bragging about the Hurricane defense.

CardinalJim Wrote:Tallgrass,
No one is knocking the job Coack K did at Tulsa. By all accounts it was an awesome job. Unfortuantely when he came to Louisville the first thing out of his mouth was we are going to win a national championship, thats why I am here. I am paraphrasing but that was the jest of his first comments as Louisville's head coach. He raised expectations, scratch that he didn't raise them but he damn sure didn't say "hold up we have to get better on defense before we can win a national championship". My point is Coach K has been his worst own enemy. He came in wanting to be the players buddy and as kids do, they took advantage of him. He's done nothing but talk about the amount of talent on the team and be a cheerleader for the program. My point is Coach K needs to concentrate more on the X's and O's and less on selling the program. This isn't Tulsa, the programs already sold here. Sold so much that the fans built the stadium with their own money. Sold so much that there is a waiting list for seats when the stadium is expanded. Coach K has everything here he needs to be successful. If he isn't then it's his own fault not the fans for expecting too much.
CJ

Thanks for sharing Kragthorpe's remarks. Looks like bad judgment on his part. As a point of clarification, the Tulsa program doesn't need to be sold either and I think it not useful for UL fans to go back to TU as a reference point. Any fault with Kragthorpe, Jurich, and/or Louisville...is in the house of Kragthorpe, the house of Jurick, and the house of Louisville....it is not in the house of Tulsa.

CollegeCard Wrote:Where is this awesome Tulsa defense that I keep hearing about Tallgrass? Tulsa's defense looks worse than Louisville's this season. 139 points given up over the last 3 weeks? I'm not sure I'd be bragging about the Hurricane defense.

Tulsa's defense is about as bad as it can get. A Safety and a CB went down with injuries and the subs have not performed well. In the Tulsa World, Coach Graham stated the TU staff called time out, told the Tulsa defense how UAB offense would probably line up in this situation, and how TU defensive players should line up to defend it. Well, UAB did line up just like TU coaches said UAB would...and UAB scored a touchdown anyway on the play anyway. TU's 3-3-5 defense is dependent upon LBs and DBs making the plays....the DBs are letting us down. The coaching is there and Graham proved that at Rice last year and previous four years as TU's DC.

I did brag on TU's defensive coaches; but that is not to be conscrued as bragging on TU defensive team since it has been giving up yards a bunch since ULM. Part of Kragthorpe's problems, I am guessing, he misses Graham and Patterson.

I agree with all the comments that Card fans have mad in this post so far. I especially agree with CJ, who said, "It doesn't matter if we finish 10-2, some Louisville fans will see the season as a disappointment and will hold Coach K responsible."

What I am worried about is Ron Cooper went 7-4 in first season at Louisville with far worst talent than Kragthorpe started with. I hope I am wrong but I will bet each season that Kragthorpe is at Louisville will get worst as his recruits start playing. In my eyes Kragthorpe is another Ron Cooper that is in over his head.

I also know Stubbs and Cassidy have to go. Jeff Brohmn is my choice for OC as well.

Question: When Tulsa lost Kragthorpe, TU administrators went right back to the well of success....they hired Todd Graham who was on Kragthorpe's staff for four years. Graham had recruited most of the Tulsa players and was intimately familiar with existing offensive and defensive philosophies. My question is this:

Why didn't Jurich look to promoting an assistant from the current staff who was familiar with both players and existing strategy? Was that discussed in the UL media? My guess it wasn't because (based on Tulsa press) Jurich hired Kragthorpe so quickly.