ESPN Insider's Preview of Louisville

[farmdude]

Since TJ says he always has a short list in his pocket, I wonder who the replacement would have been. I honestly can't blame Kragthorpe on this one. With all the heat he was getting (some or most well deserved) I am sure he wasn't real confident in his position.

[HarveyGlass]

Originally Posted by frankpos

I know what really happened on SMU

He was interviewed,at length, on the phone by the SMU search committee

This is straight from a member on that committee! I can tell you what K said if you want!

My feeling is that our "captain" would have left the sinking ship , if he hadn't been "outed"

(My other strong feeling, based on what I know from insiders, is that Brohm and Nord's heads were on the chopping block until K caught TJ unawares with SMU)

Uh...I'd like to know what K said!

[bling49]

Well not to cust the Krag and SMU talk short but but as far as the preview goes........

A lot of unfamiliar names on our roster now but also a lot of opportunity for them to become household names after playing some good football.

I don;t feel this season will be all gloom and dispair as some doomsday theorists make it seem.

[HarveyGlass]

The doomsday theorists are ESPN, Athlon, etc...UofL fans are taking their cue from what the "experts" think.

[cardfaninpittsburgh]

I've not read a word of Athlon or any other preseason publication. I'm taking my cue from what I saw on the field last season, who left the program due to graduation/draft, who left the program due to arrest, suspension, transfer, etc, who's coming back and the words of both the coaching staff who have repeatedly bemoaned a lack of depth in the Courier Journal (no need for Athlon) and the athletic director who said in a Louisville press conference that he was just hoping to survive the next 2 seasons.

My cue says last season sucked ass and this season will be about the same or worse.

I will be there for all 8 home games cheering till the end. I will not boo anyone on the field for any reason.

I do not expect the Cards to win more than 4 of those games, but I hope, and will be thrilled if, they do.

I do not expect them to win more than 2 of their road games, but I hope, and will be thrilled if, they do.

I could care less what Kragthorpe said and highly doubt anyone posting on a message board really has any idea what he said. The past is behind us anyway. I'm willing to support Kragthorpe on these conditions: 1) I don't have to call him Coach K. That nickname is taken by someone far more successful than Kragthorpe will ever be in his football career. 2) I'm allowed to make a judgment for myself how good a job he's doing. Win 7 or more games and I'll see Louisville on a positive track for the future, given the talent they reportedly have. Win 6 or less and I'll see Louisville continuing on the negative track started last year and will think Kragthorpe needs to go before the stadium expansion is complete. The stadium expansion will not be needed if this path continues.

[bling49]

The doomsday theorists are ESPN, Athlon, etc...UofL fans are taking their cue from what the "experts" think.

Bullshit, what U of L fans?

Aren't you tired yet of being "that" U of L fan yet?
If you believe the experts why even follow or support the Louisville football team this year?

Wait until we go 0-10, fire Kragthorpe and Jurich makes a new hire. The experts have already determined the season for you, pick up your fanship next year OK !!!

You folks had a whole year to piss and moan about how Kragthorpe crashed Petrino's bright and shiny sports car get over it, last year was last year it's over.

The players didn't lift, run, play spring ball ect to just mail in the season based on some nerdy sports writers opinion of 250 football teams and where they predict they finish.
It's easy to predict the powerhouses, LSU, USC, Auburn ect I'll bet the rest they are pissing in the wind.

Well I'm not a mindless U of L fan who follows the masses and believes everything I read evidently.

I say Louisville goes 8-3, make a bowl game and wins it,
9-3 with a bowl win is acceptable to me as it would have been under Petrino or John L.

I'll bet Petrino is praised as a hero in Arkansas if he pulls that off there this year.

Even more so for Louisville is it acceptable now after going 6-6 last year and all the critisism Kragthorpe has endured I think he wins that debate.

SMU was below bottom feeder, the expectations were low.
If Kragthorpe truely was a candidate, as was reported, he could have taken that job and a big payday that eventually went to June Jones, Then even if he went 6-6 he would have been touted as a hero in Texas.

They are sinking big money in that program to improve the facilities and exciting things are going to be happening for SMU in the near future.

So given that any of the SMU scenerio was true for Kragthorpe he didn't opt out of his situation here in Louisville.Kragthorpe stayed in Louisville, he comitted to this program, he revamped his staff, he weeded out the undesireables from the program and he will run a clean program and win games this year.

I'll let you or whomever else do the research and tell me what they see the "experts" predicted for the program but I see a positive season regardless of the experts.

If all you care about is winning, hire a coach from Florida and let him recruit from the projects in Liberty City, fix their grades to keep them eligible, let them smoke all the dope they want and after 4 years send them back, as long as we get a nice bowl trip in Janurary and hopefully don't get robbed or raped by any of our own players in the process, everythings cool right?

[HarveyGlass]

lol Bling, where are you taking your cue from? Your 9-3 cue. Is that what your expertise tells you? Of course not. That's what your fantasy world hopes pray for.

My point with my quote above is that most sane fans saw(and see) everything that the author of that article saw, and we all see this season being not much better if at all. Do I hope for 9-3? Of course I do. Could it happen? Certainly. But not one tangible piece of real-world evidence exists to expect such a thing, which is why we're not seeing such blatant rah-rah fanspeak in objective magazines, or even from our AD.

As for SMU, once again, no one knows what happened there. But the fact that he's still at UofL does not equate to him turning down the SMU job or his loyalty to his job. He may or may not have been a candidate, and if he was, he may or may not have been offered the job.

Originally Posted by bling49

...but I see a positive season regardless of the experts.

You see the un-seeable. You presume to know the un-knowable. You see things that all signs point against.
There's nothing wrong with your blind faith. But I'm going to wait and see how the season goes before proclaiming this guy a good coach or even a good guy. But I'm not going to wait until the season's over to root for the team or hope for the best. (btw, rooting for your team does not mean picking them to go 9-3)

But if things don't work out this year, just enjoy yourself and remember that all the great teams and good times that we've watched the past four years were the result of nothing but thugs and bad, bad human beings led by the devil himself. Harry Douglas is kicking an orphan as we speak.
See how goofy such generalizations sound? I mean, if you're going to throw the players and coaches who provided those great moments under the oncoming Kragthorpe Express, you should also sacrifice the moments themselves. Weren't they just gained by rapists and robbers? Oh wait, I don't recall any rapists or robbers under Petrino.

[bling49]

There are players who can't abide by the rules, they hurt the team when they are unavailable to play in games

I commend Kragthorpe for dealing with this difficult situation. Too many coaches would have turned a blind eye, let the players play for the better good of the team and to get a win.

Obviously Kragthorpe inherited a talented and troubled group but he stuck to his guns and not the pressure to win at all costs and now the team is better off without players that could have pulled the team down.

I could care less if Kragthorpe was offered the job or was never even a cadidate, after what we had to deal with from Petrino Kragthorpe already provides more stability to our program than Petrino did.

The experts are guessing at what U of L's record will be.
I'd say they are taking all the safe choices, picking the favored team every time and calling it a day.

I'm not.
I believe in our program to bounce back and don't believe we will just win games were supposed to and lose games were supposed to.
In my opinion coming off a 6-6 season U of L is going to suprise a lot of teams.
7-5 would be a safe guess, maybe 8-4 is pushing it against who is favored.

Maybe I am going out on a limb by saying 9-3 is being competitive in every game and the couple close ones we lost last year (Uconn, UK) those types of games we win this year.

I'm being optomistic, but in my opinion going 6-6 last year was a fluke, not going 9-3 this year.

Last year all the UK fans were predicting a win over Louisville and our fans all said UK sucks no way they beat us.

I said watch out don't take them lightly and everyone on here accused me of drinking blue Kool-aid.

Well this year I guess I'm drinking red kool-aid, imagine that a U of L fan believing his team has a chance to win, I know I'm an oddity around here and now I can accuse everyone else of being a kool-aid glass half empty type of fans.

Well this year U of L is the underdog and I'm predicting some upsets.

[wkuCardinal]

Kragthorpe never interviewed for the SMU job. Give me a break. It was just a rumor started by some angry UofL fans and it happened to catch some wind. SMU wanted Kragthorpe bad, but he didn't want to leave. Did they offer him the job? I don't know. Did he speak to them on the phone? I don't know, but it's entirely possible that he did, but speaking to someone doesn't constitute an "interview."

The fact that SMU was drooling and dreaming over Kragthorpe should send a message to Louisville fans. SMU is a much smaller program than Louisville, but they want to play big time football, and even after a down season in Louisville he was still considered a dynamite hire for a program that wants to take football seriously.

People who deny every rumor are eager to believe this one, which just baffles me.

[wkuCardinal]

Remember the rumor last year when Urrutia was playing poorly it was because he was so fed up with the coaching staff that he was taking money on the side - in effect, SHAVING POINTS?

That rumor caught some wind for a good while, too, especially on the bigger forums.

I work with the guy that posted that thread on ITV. He's a Louisville fan, and he posted it as a JOKE.

There's a pretty good example of how stupid things get started, and a lot of people who were frustrated with Urrutia's play were extremely eager to believe that bogus story.