OK, I've had enough....
There comes a time when even the most tolerant person finds his tolerance has reached its end. As an unswervingly loyal fan of University of Louisville football, I have arrived at that time.
Like many of my fellow Cardinal backers, I have had enough -- of several things associated with U of L football. To wit:
Steve Kragthorpe's coaching style. When U of L athletic director Tom Jurich hired Kragthorpe after Bobby Petrino bolted for the Atlanta Falcons, I expected the Cards' offensive philosophy not to change much. On paper, Kragthorpe seemed fairly close to Petrino, complete with NFL coaching experience and credentials as a talented developer of quarterbacks -- not to mention the edge of growing up as a coach's kid.
He even appeared to have some charisma Petrino utterly lacked.
Now, nearly three full seasons later, I find myself weary of sifting through piles of cliches and banalities in search of a really substantial Kragthorpe comment about any of the galling losses that have piled up at a rate Cardinal fans hoped would never become commonplace again. I'm sure Kragthorpe cares -- all coaches care about wins and losses -- but I wish he had shown his concerns more obviously.
Perhaps Kragthorpe is best suited for a lower echelon of college football if he truly intends to serve as his own offensive coordinator. At the BCS level, he has not shown himself adept at balancing his playcalling and overall game management -- although, to his credit, he has proven more amenable than his predecessor to trying something different when the game plan isn't working.
I believe, however, it is time for Jurich to concede the Kragthorpe experiment is a discovery of one incorrect method of establishing the consistent winner he and his fan base want. U of L needs to try something different.
Irrational Cardinal fans. By that I mean those who act as though U of L became an established football power under Petrino. True, Bobby had a 41-9 record in his four years at the Cardinal helm. He also spent his first three in Conference USA, where he often was the one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind. Furthermore, in his one season in the Big East, he had a perfect convergence of superb talent, scarce injuries to key players, and down cycles at traditionally powerful opponents that allowed his team to back into an Orange Bowl berth. (Remember, the Cards needed help from both Cincinnati and West Virginia to win the league title.)
I'm not saying the Cards haven't underachieved under Kragthorpe, but if U of L fans think that suddenly Louisville has reached a par with Michigan, Alabama and Notre Dame, they need to reevaluate. (Speaking of Michigan, it seems Rich Rodriguez is discovering painfully that Ann Arbor isn't Morgantown, West Virginia -- and Ohio State and Iowa aren't exactly Louisville and Rutgers.)
And finally, Big East football officiating. In the last two seasons, beginning with the Louisville-Connecticut fake-fair-catch debacle in 2007, I do not recall watching a single Big East game without seeing at least one officiating decision that made my blood boil. The U of L-Syracuse game was no exception -- the offensive pass interference call against Josh Chichester, nullifying a brilliant one-handed leaping catch for an apparent touchdown, was an egregious case of an official with a bad angle flagging a phantom foul. Every television replay showed at worst incidental contact between Chichester and the Syracuse defender.
Officials in every sport, when their jobs are distilled down to the essence, have but two basic tasks: know the rules and watch the game. I have never received an answer from the Big East as to why the league has such difficulty hiring football crews who consistently can do both.
This is nothing new for the league. Back in its days as an independent under Howard Schnellenberger, U of L often used Big East crews at its home games. The Chichester call reinforced my observation from the Schnellenberger era that Big East refs have only a tenuous grasp on what does and does not constitute pass interference.
To Commissioner John Marinatto and Director of Football Officiating Terry McAulay: please do whatever it takes to get conference games called by people who know what they're doing!
There comes a time when even the most tolerant person finds his tolerance has reached its end. As an unswervingly loyal fan of University of Louisville football, I have arrived at that time.
Like many of my fellow Cardinal backers, I have had enough -- of several things associated with U of L football. To wit:
Steve Kragthorpe's coaching style. When U of L athletic director Tom Jurich hired Kragthorpe after Bobby Petrino bolted for the Atlanta Falcons, I expected the Cards' offensive philosophy not to change much. On paper, Kragthorpe seemed fairly close to Petrino, complete with NFL coaching experience and credentials as a talented developer of quarterbacks -- not to mention the edge of growing up as a coach's kid.
He even appeared to have some charisma Petrino utterly lacked.
Now, nearly three full seasons later, I find myself weary of sifting through piles of cliches and banalities in search of a really substantial Kragthorpe comment about any of the galling losses that have piled up at a rate Cardinal fans hoped would never become commonplace again. I'm sure Kragthorpe cares -- all coaches care about wins and losses -- but I wish he had shown his concerns more obviously.
Perhaps Kragthorpe is best suited for a lower echelon of college football if he truly intends to serve as his own offensive coordinator. At the BCS level, he has not shown himself adept at balancing his playcalling and overall game management -- although, to his credit, he has proven more amenable than his predecessor to trying something different when the game plan isn't working.
I believe, however, it is time for Jurich to concede the Kragthorpe experiment is a discovery of one incorrect method of establishing the consistent winner he and his fan base want. U of L needs to try something different.
Irrational Cardinal fans. By that I mean those who act as though U of L became an established football power under Petrino. True, Bobby had a 41-9 record in his four years at the Cardinal helm. He also spent his first three in Conference USA, where he often was the one-eyed man in the kingdom of the blind. Furthermore, in his one season in the Big East, he had a perfect convergence of superb talent, scarce injuries to key players, and down cycles at traditionally powerful opponents that allowed his team to back into an Orange Bowl berth. (Remember, the Cards needed help from both Cincinnati and West Virginia to win the league title.)
I'm not saying the Cards haven't underachieved under Kragthorpe, but if U of L fans think that suddenly Louisville has reached a par with Michigan, Alabama and Notre Dame, they need to reevaluate. (Speaking of Michigan, it seems Rich Rodriguez is discovering painfully that Ann Arbor isn't Morgantown, West Virginia -- and Ohio State and Iowa aren't exactly Louisville and Rutgers.)
And finally, Big East football officiating. In the last two seasons, beginning with the Louisville-Connecticut fake-fair-catch debacle in 2007, I do not recall watching a single Big East game without seeing at least one officiating decision that made my blood boil. The U of L-Syracuse game was no exception -- the offensive pass interference call against Josh Chichester, nullifying a brilliant one-handed leaping catch for an apparent touchdown, was an egregious case of an official with a bad angle flagging a phantom foul. Every television replay showed at worst incidental contact between Chichester and the Syracuse defender.
Officials in every sport, when their jobs are distilled down to the essence, have but two basic tasks: know the rules and watch the game. I have never received an answer from the Big East as to why the league has such difficulty hiring football crews who consistently can do both.
This is nothing new for the league. Back in its days as an independent under Howard Schnellenberger, U of L often used Big East crews at its home games. The Chichester call reinforced my observation from the Schnellenberger era that Big East refs have only a tenuous grasp on what does and does not constitute pass interference.
To Commissioner John Marinatto and Director of Football Officiating Terry McAulay: please do whatever it takes to get conference games called by people who know what they're doing!
posted by Alan at 8:40 AM
2 Comments:
Good commentary but one glaring mistake is that Petrino coached TWO years in the Big East. Recall the Gator Bowl? That bowl certainly isn't one of CUSA's.
Good point, NB -- I stand corrected. Even so, 2006 was a perfect storm, as I said.
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