I can't find anybody, even those who like Steve Kragthorpe personally, who can make the case that he should be given another season as the University of Louisville's head football coach. The record is 2-5 heading into Saturday's home game against Arkansas State, and even the most wild-eyed optimist can't see it being better than 3-9 at the end.
So it will be up to Kragthorpe to repay Athletics Director Tom Jurich's faith and loyalty by making the decision as easy for Jurich as he possibly can. The way to do it is to announce that he will resign as soon as the final whistle sounds in the final game. He should thank Jurich, tell the fans he's sorry it didn't work out, and pledge his support to the new coach.
This kind of classy move would help Kragthorpe as he begins looking for a new job. It would help Jurich and U of L by providing as tidy an ending as possible to a situation that has become increasingly mess. And it would take the pressure off the players and get the fans, especially the unreasonable ones, off everybody's back.
So, win or lose to Arkansas State, but especially in the case of a loss, I hope Kragthorpe announces his resignation next Monday.
The way the Kragthorpe saga has played out, it's very similar to the situation that existed at Kentucky when Bill Curry was the football coach and C.M. Newton the athletics director. They were so similar in their values that it was inevitable that they would become close friends, which isn't always a good thing in a boss-employee relationship.
When Newton hired Curry in 1990, I thought – and I was by no means alone – that it was just as brilliant a hire as getting Rick Pitino to coach the UK basketball team. But that's not how it played out. While Pitino justified and exceeded Newton's confidence, Curry proved to be a disappointment – at least in the only area that really matters and we all know what that is.
Not that this is any startling revelation, but the business side of big-time college sports has thrown the traditional balance of business and education totally out of whack. While college presidents still pay lip service to the importance of graduation rates and NCAA compliance, they're not fooling anybody.
It's all about the Ws and the Ls, baby, because the record is really all that most fans, donors, boosters, TV executives, and the top-drawer recruits care about. Mediocrity is not an option, either in football or men's basketball, for any big-time athletics program, but especially for one, like Louisville, that has an expanded football stadium and a new hoops arena to fill, beginning next fall.
A story in today's paper reported that the Knight Commission, or some other well-meaning think tank, reported that the cost of big-time athletics has gotten so prohibitive that many Athletics Directors are going to be forced – both financially and morally – to stop spending and start cutting.
Well, duh.
The problem is, the A.D.'s, for the most part, won't cut where they should. They should begin with football, the sacred cow at most institutions. They should cut scholarships, coaching staffs, travel and recruiting budgets, and even the regular-season schedule.
I've always argued that football should be taken out of the Title IX equation because there's no women's sport that's even comparable to it in terms of numbers and cost. Heck, there's no other men's program that's comparable to it. Football is way too big and way too expensive and, by the way, it's also the only NCAA sport that doesn't have a playoff of some type (another problem for another day).
There's no reason not to cut football. If it hurts the entertainment value, I promise the average fan won't be able to see it with the naked eye. If everybody is playing by the same rules, with the same restrictions, the competitive balance won't be affected. Heck, it might even be improved because the superpowers won't be able to take as many great players as they do now.
It would suit me if football would go back to the single-platoon system. There's no good reason why football is the only sport where the athletes don't have to play both offense and defense. If they had to do that, it certainly would make the Heisman Trophy more meaningful because then we would be evaluating complete players and not just specialists.
But I digress.
The point is, Kragthorpe – like Bill Curry – has enjoyed the support of an A.D. willing to give him more time than he probably deserved. And he has proven conclusively that he's just not up to the job. Whenever it was that Jurich was forced to admit this to himself – and surely he has by now – it had to be as painful for him as it was for Newton in the Curry situation.
After accepting Curry's resignation, Newton shocked the UK fan base by hiring Hal Mumme, a Division II coach, instead of bringing in a veteran who was looking for a job. At Valdosta State in Georgia, Mumme had been the architect of a high-scoring offense that produced both wins and excellent entertainment value.
Newton reasoned, not unreasonably, that since UK had tried everything else in trying to find the next Bear Bryant, why not do something radical?
For the first few seasons, Newton seemed a genius. Mumme gave quarterback Tim Couch the keys to his offense and UK suddenly was putting points on the board unlike any time in its history. The Cats started going to bowls, too, and everybody in Catland was happy beyond belief.
But it all went to Mumme's head and he gave his trusty sidekick, Claude Bassett, the green light to bend the rules and cut corners. He betrayed Newton's confidence, in other words, and here came the NCAA for the first time since the Fran Curci era.
There's a cautionary tale here for Jurich as he looks for Kragthorpe's replacement. He doesn't need to do something radical. But he does need to get somebody who can win like Bobby Petrino without having Petrino's non-personality and raging ambition to move on and move up.
Personally, I'm confident Jurich will find and hire the right person. His track record for hiring coaches is phenomenal. The Kragthorpe hire was an aberration, that's all. Show me the CEO who has never made a hire he regretted and I'll show you somebody who's lying through his teeth.
Three names are at the top of my list and Jon Gruden is not one of them. I like Brian Kelly at Cincinnati, Mike Leach at Texas Tech, and Chris Petersen at Boise State. They win, they employ an entertaining style, they know how to schmooze the press and the public, and they don't cheat (at least so far as anybody knows).
But first the Kragthrope era must be brought to as upbeat an ending as possible. The only way for that to happen, as I see it, is for Kragthorpe to for himself and everyone else a favor by announcing his resignation very soon.
The guy's still got a lot of games in the season to be resigning at this point.
I don't doubt your reasoning at all, it just won't happen this soon.
Kragthorpe should probably express that he's going to resign privately and give Jurich a head start on finding a new coach. The public can learn about his resignation whenever the University feels comfortable.
why wouldnt gruden or phil fulmer be on the list? longshots i know. but why would someone leave a bcs school every year to come rebuild? id say put jeff brohm on the list
cars
homes
jobs
health
Ewww lol
1
Billy Reed