It was hard for me to find any optimism left after another letdown by Coach Satterfield and his staff in this game. You have to beat the in-state rival. But Satterfield always seemed apathetic about this game. The same type of apathy that was here with a guy named Kragthorpe. The type of apathy that took years to get out. I never thought it would go this way for Coach Satterfield. He had a good reputation and background from App State. We were on board.

This coaching experiment by former AD Vince Tyra didn’t work. But thanks to our friends to the north it’s no harm no foul. We are good. Now let’s go get a football coach who understands Louisville Football understands the tradition, and knows that it’s not ok to lose to Kentucky in anything.

Now picture if you will a family born and raised just miles from Cardinal Stadium with Louisville Football flowing thru their veins. A family legacy like no other in college sports. A story that has College Gameday written all over it.

If your last name is Brohm you are born a football fan. They are arguably the first family of football in this hoops-crazy state of Kentucky and in the city of Louisville they are football royalty. The Brohm family, including mother, Donna, and sister, Kim, were recently inducted into the Louisville Catholic Sports Hall of Fame for their contributions to the game.

It all started with the patriarch of the Brohm family Oscar. Oscar Brohm was a Football standout at Flaget High School in Louisville during the 1962-65 seasons. An all-state performer he led Flaget to a 10-1 record and the Louisville City Championship in 1965 setting a Louisville city school record with 23 touchdowns. He was a passing QB when passing wasn’t cool. Oscar played QB for the Cardinals during the 1968 and 69 seasons.

He would pass his offensive prowess down to his sons and they all helped create a football dynasty at Trinity High School in Louisville and for the hometown Cardinals. Four Brohm family members are letter winners at the University of Louisville, Oscar (quarterback 1966-69), Jeff (quarterback 1989-93), and brothers, Greg (wide receiver 1989-92) and Brian (quarterback 2004-07).

Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm had an outstanding career at Louisville from 1989 to 1993. He ranks among the Cardinals’ career leaders in touchdown passes. Jeff Brohm also served as an assistant coach at Louisville (quarterbacks coach in 2003-06, assistant head coach/passing game in 2007, and assistant head coach/offensive coordinator in 2008).

Greg Brohm is the executive director of administration and operations at Purdue. He was the starting wide receiver during the Cardinals’ 1991 appearance in the Fiesta Bowl, catching passes from his brother, Jeff. Greg served as the director of football operations at Louisville from 2004 to 2008. He also worked in local media and served as an analyst for the Louisville Cardinals’ radio broadcasts.

Brian Brohm is the Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks coach for Purdue… Before there was a Teddy and Lamar it was Brian who led the 2006-7 Cardinals to a 12-1 record, an Orange Bowl championship, and a #5 final ranking in the Associated Press poll. His 30 touchdown passes that season is tied for second in school history with 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson, and one behind Minnesota Vikings’ 2014 first-round draft pick Teddy Bridgewater. Brian is the only Louisville QB to be so close to a National Championship. In my humble opinion, that team was a field goal away from playing for the Title. What could have been that season still haunts me.

During their three seasons together Jeff, Greg, and Brian helped lead the Louisville program to 32 wins, a Liberty Bowl win, Orange Bowl Championship, Conference USA, and Big East championship, and twice finished in the Associated Press top 10. And by popular opinion were a field goal away from a possible National Championship. There isn’t anyone who has had a bigger impact on the rise of the Louisville football program than the Brohms.

This family making their way back to the Louisville Football program would not only be the answer it would be the biggest sports story in 2022. I can hear Michael Rapaport narrating the story on College Gameday. If this blog post finds the right audience I hope they understand how big this could be.

The decision that Josh Heird and the administration make regarding the current state of Louisville Football could offer up two very different extremes. I know what extreme I choose.

Go try to convince the first family of Louisville Football to come back home. Have Cardinal Stadium busting at the seams and the College Football World is ready to watch how this great story plays out.

I read an article lately talking about how it’s not so much where Louisville Football is now but where it’s heading if things don’t change. It’s time to breathe new life into Louisville Football. The same new life that the athletic department and Basketball program got this past year. New energy is good especially if there is a great legacy behind it. Our new AD Josh Heird is a perfect example of that. I hope he can relate to what a Brohm hire could mean around here.

Of course, all of this is under the assumption that Jeff Brohm and his family would consider coming back to Louisville. I don’t know why they wouldn’t. I know that their hearts are still here. And they do have some unfinished business. If this program wins a National Title someday it would be much better to do it with family.

I’m ready for a change. A few years ago Cardinal Stadium came full circle. Now it’s time for the Brohm family legacy to come full circle.

This is my plea…

Go Cards!

It was the day that every Louisville Cardinal fan had waited for. We would no longer play second fiddle to truck pulls, horse shows, and rodeos. And we would no longer have to watch as our arch rival Kentucky played a game on our home court. The University of Louisville Basketball team would finally have a home to call its own. Tickets were grabbed up fast by Cardinal fans and that first Red/white scrimmage was sold out in days. Louisville Fans weren’t going to pass up the chance to see their new digs.

A year later on Oct. 14, 2011 the Red and White Scrimmage would take the National stage when Louisville was one of 11 schools featured during “ESPNU Midnight Madness”. It was a four-hour program that did live cut in’s showcasing how some of the top programs in the country were starting their practices that year.

After that big night the Red and White scrimmage became a staple for the program and on Sunday afternoon it will usher in another new era of Louisville Basketball. Coach Mack hit the ground running when he was hired as the Louisville Basketball coach. That Louisville Brand everyone thought would take years to repair hasn’t missed a beat on the recruiting trail. It just goes to show you what happens when you get a young hungry guy like Coach Mack. He rolled his sleeves up and went to work. I really love his blue-collar approach.

He has also managed to fix the distance between alumni and current program. He has everyone feeling ownership again and Cardinal pride has never been stronger across the board. The way Coach Mack has attacked all of these challenges in just a short period of time is really impressive and don’t know of many who could have done it any better. I know this guy is a helluva basketball coach, but he is also a magician. He has made the blues disappear.

The team’s motto this season is Tough, Together, Unbreakable and in talking with these guys at media day they are living up to every word of that. These guys have transformed their bodies, are transforming their games and transformed their minds. I don’t think it’s going to be easy for anyone to break this teams will.

We owe it to this staff and to this roster of players to pack the Yum Center for Sunday’s Red and White Scrimmage just like we have in the past for big moments. Fans need to follow Coach Mack’s lead. Let’s show the College Basketball world that the NCAA didn’t slow us down. They only woke us up.
Stay woke…

L’s Up!

Media Day Interviews

Ryan McMahon

Darius Perry

Jordan Nwora

Khwan Fore

VJ King

Mlik Williams

Akoy Agau

Christen Cunningham

Sports writers found all kinds of creative ways to describe what was then (and might still be) the most hyped game in Louisville’s history. Even with the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs, Louisville football was the biggest story in town that week. I remember some of the local news guys doing live feeds from inside an empty (then) Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium on that cold November 2nd morning before the game.

By nighttime, a crowd of over 43,000 fans packed the stands, (a record crowd at that time) most of them were wearing black to take part in what Louisville Football promoted as a “blackout.” First Blackout promotion of Bobby Petrino’s career. He really hit peak Bobby Petrino that night when his team beat #3 WVU ending their 14 game win streak and propelling the Cardinals into BCS Title Talk.

“We keep track of our run-pass ratio. We wanted to stay aggressive and our players like to play that brand of football.”

“If we only score 28 points, we feel like we’re struggling. Our guys are very motivated to be No. 1 in the nation in total offense.”

These are few of Coach Petrino’s quotes from that game… Man those were the days. He was a coach that wanted to beat you and wanted to score a hundred points doing it. I loved watching that brand of Louisville football. After that first Blackout game, the Cardinals were 8-0 celebrating the biggest win in school history. A win that vaulted the Cardinals into the heart of the national championship race that year.

We all know the story too well on how that season ended… Looking back at it now everything really started to unravel for Bobby Petrino after that November night in 2006. His BCS Championship hopes vanished in New Jersey. He left Louisville on the first train out of town to the NFL after that season. An experiment that didn’t end very well for him. Then he got his shot coaching in the mighty SEC only to have his infatuation with SEX ruin that coaching stop.

But everyone loves a good comeback story and at the Blackout game on Labor Day in 2014, it looked like we were all going to have a front row seat to one. Our Cardinals beat Miami on that Monday night 31 to 13. The victory provided a successful Atlantic Coast Conference debut for the Cardinals and to Bobby Petrino’s second coaching stint at the school.

There was a lot of similarity to his first Blackout game at Louisville that night. The hype and all… The Cardinals took the field under the lights in all-black uniforms with matching chrome helmets to thunderous cheers from a record crowd of 55,428, all but a few dressed in black. 31 points! That Bobby offense was back. The hype was back.

Maybe the Louisville Football program and Coach Petrino are trying to recapture some of that Blackout game magic announcing the promotion this week. But the hype is gone. Sports writers are just trying to find the motivation to write about this game. There won’t be any live feeds from an empty Cardinal Stadium on Friday morning. The stadium might be empty at game time Friday night. A Blackout game in Louisville used to be the hottest ticket in town. Even eclipsing horse racing royalty one time. This week I’ve got alerts every day from a ticket app on my I-phone about ticket prices being slashed.

The Cards won’t be playing Friday night to be in the conversation of College Football’s elite. Instead, the loser of this one will be considered one of College Football’s worst. A harsh reminder for this College sports fan that things can change quickly and boy things have changed around here quickly. But hey I’m still a sucker for a good comeback story. Maybe there is some magic left in those Black uniforms.

“If we win out, there’s no way they should leave us out.”

Running back Kolby Smith said that after a program-changing win in that first Blackout game in 2006. Now he is the Louisville Running Backs coach. I’d love to see his group come to life on Friday night. Freshman RB Hassan Hall looked like a younger version of his coach in the game against Florida State. And I’d love to see WR’s Jaylen Smith and Dez Fitzpatrick channel some of that Mario Urrutia and Harry Douglas magic of Blackout old. Maybe Puma can channel some of that Will Gardner swagger from that game in 2014.

2006 was a good year for Bobby Petrino and it is the reason he is where he is today. Brought back in and given an ironclad contract by Tom Jurich. I’m sure he thought he’d see Coach Petrino recapture some of that fire. He wasn’t ready to throw in the towel on an old friend and I’m not ready to throw in the towel folks. But we need to see some signs of life from that guy who used to want to score a hundred points. I am a sucker for a good comeback story. I want this team to succeed and will be cheering my ass off for them on Friday night.

Go Cards!

(photos in this story courtesy GoCards.com)

Coach Petrino and the Cardinals are 21-11 heading into year five of ACC play. There will be a few more questions heading into this season than in seasons past. Who will step up and fill the roles left by guys like Reggie and Lamar? How will life without Lamar look? You don’t replace that. And who is ready to step up and bring the pop for Coach VanGorder on defense. I expect these to be a few of the many asked over the next three days.

Senior Wide Receiver Jaylen Smith will be one of eleven student-athletes at ACC media days who were chosen first-, second- or third-team All-ACC in 2017. He will also be one of 7 returning starters on the offensive side of the football for the Cardinals. He had 980 yards with 7 touchdowns and became a highlight reel catching some long passes from Lamar Jackson. He averaged over 16 yards a catch in 2017. Jaylen will highlight a very talented Louisville receiving corps. He is sure to be a big target for the Puma this season.

The Louisville defense lost seven players. A lot of tackles and a whole lot of heart graduated last year. One of five returning starters on defense and next man up is Jonathan Greenard. Greenard led the team with 15.5 tackles for loss and tied for team honors with 7.0 sacks in 2017. He finished 32nd nationally in tackles for loss and 47th in sacks… James Hearns was nasty at that linebacker spot. He will be missed. But Geenard could help fill some of that void.

Seven of the returning starters on the offensive side of the ball is on the offensive line. Big, athletic and quick on their feet this will be our best group up front in a long time. Coach Summers has those guys ready to win those battles in the trenches. That and a young hungry and talented group of defensive players has me optimistic about year five in the ACC. The first four years of this great conference has been a blast. I’ve been on many cool adventures and watched a helluva lot of good football. I’m looking forward to another season of that.

You can watch all the happenings at ACC media days on the ACC KICKOFF PAGE. The Coastal Side of the conference will be at the podium on Wednesday. The Atlantic side will get the spotlight on Thursday. Coach Petrino and the guys are up from 11:30 am till noon on Thursday.

Cunningham missed a majority of last season due to an illness but was cleared to play another season. The former Henry Clay star is returning home. The last time he was here he put up 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists on our Cards at The Yum last season.

Cunningham is a true guard and with the loss of Q this will pay out huge. He will be a huge experience boost on the court and at the guard position. He is an assist monster, so with some of the shooters that I think will step up this year including McMahon I think it will blend well.

Cunningham is a huge boost for our program for what he brings to the court, but also to the program as a whole as we are rebounding from a rough spot in recruiting.

Welcome to the Ville Christen!!!
L’s UP!

Fans showed these players that their love for the Louisville program means more than an NCAA bid. They showed that the passion for Louisville basketball extends well beyond wins and losses. Somewhere in the second half of that first NIT game, the current team got that message and responded.

Over the past week, the players were reminded that sometimes it’s not about wins or losses but how you play the game. And somewhere in all of this, the players started to have fun again. They’re enjoying playing the game that they love with their teammates.

When you’ve hit rock bottom there’s only one way to go. And the Louisville Basketball program has shown the college basketball world that we aren’t going away. The NCAA gave us lemons and we packed the Yum Center with thousands of screaming fans for the NIT. Our team has turned them lemons into a big old glass of Red lemonade and are a few games from winning the whole damn thing.

There is still meat on the bone and the Cardinals will face a Mississippi State team that is drinking some of their own lemonade. They took out the top seed Baylor on Sunday and will come into the Yum Center riding a lot of momentum.

The Cardinals are outscoring teams by 12 points and allowing just 40.2 percent shooting at home this season. Mississippi State is being outscored by nearly six points and scoring under 70 points on the road this season. They are a very efficient offensive team but if the Cardinals play defense like they have been it will be another great evening for the home team.

We have a chance at a redo. It’s going to be the last time we see all of this current team together playing on the Yum Center court. Hopefully, this final farewell will have a better ending. One game away from NYC.

#WinTheWholeDamnThing

With all the positive moments that sports brings to our lives there are times that they bring a dose of reality. Yes, sometimes sports serve as a sobering reminder that we are only human, and humans can do horrible things. Sports have reminded Cardinal fans just how much it can relate to real life. And while it’s happened before I’ll never get used to watching human failure.


The Louisville Basketball Program is facing the consequences of human failure. The actions of a few threatens to put a damper on things for a while. Most of us were confident that we’d get a mulligan this season with the current team having so much talent, but expectations have been lowered after back to back losses to Purdue and Seton Hall and now blowout loss to UK.

Maybe we underestimated the toll all of this would have on the current group. 
Regardless we need to get behind this program and team more than we ever have. It’s time to Fan-Up. It’s easy to go to games, cheer and be loyal when things are going well but a true fan is the guy or gal that is sitting thru those tough times with the same passion. I learned a lesson in life back in 1988.


I was a zit faced teen living in rural America. My hometown had maybe two or three families that were UofL fans. One happened to be the owner of our local drug store. They made it a point to sell Louisville gear in their store. I had become a sports fan during my 6th grade year when Louisville won the Title during the 85-86 season. I watched them win it on an old Zenith console TV that was bigger than some cars nowadays.


My mom took me to Morgan & Thomas and got me geared up. My Cardinals were the National Champions and I was going to let my fandom be known to the world. I had a hat that was a big Cardinal Beak. It was hideous. I wore that damn thing to school every day. I was the only Louisville fan in the middle school that year.


The first day of my 7th grade year I was even more geared up. My mom did most of my school shopping at Morgan & Thomas. I couldn’t wait for basketball season to watch my Cardinals. The Cardinals would go 18-14 and not even make the tournament that season. 
During my middle school days, the Cardinals didn’t have much success over the Blue either. I was tormented by my friends every season when they lost that game. During 7th grade Rex Chapman scores 26 points in a complete ass whipping. Several of my friends wore that 34-point victory on their T-shirts that year. Yes, they were even making T-shirts back then.


My 8th grade year was a heartbreaking 1-point loss at Rupp… My friends were just as brutal and trust me they made it hard to be a Cardinal fan. Peer pressure is brutal at that age. But I stood strong and 30 years ago tonight on December 31st of 1988 on New Year’s Eve during my freshman year of high school “Never Nervous” scored 20 and my Cardinals finally beat the Cayuts by 22 points 97-75…

It was tough sitting thru those losses but man it made it that much sweeter when they finally won. I couldn’t wait to get back to school after holiday break and mock my friends. It was my turn and it felt good. Even better since I had stuck by them. 
It feels good to be on top all the time, but you’ll never forget that moment of success when things hadn’t been that great. I learned in middle school that loyalty to my favorite sports team felt good and I’ve never wavered since.


I’m 45 years old now and my Cardinals are struggling, and I got a lot of text from some of those same middle school friends Friday afternoon after the game. But unlike that silly 8th grade boy I know now that this stuff isn’t the end of the world. I have developed a lot of empathy towards others. I understand the human element involved. Those are young men who have been thru hell. They had their world turned upside down. They had people they trusted let them down. They didn’t ask for any of it and none of them were involved.


When rival crowds are screaming Hookers, FBI, and Cheaters to these guys during warm-ups… these guys are taking all the heat for something none of them had any part of. They are carrying that burden. As fans do we really want them to carry our burdens? As fans do we want to be just more folks who let them down?


I hope they roll thru conference play and make a title run in March. Not so I can gloat to my buddies but because I’d love to see this team succeed. They deserve some good. But if they don’t win another game I’ll be geared up, I’m going to go to games, and I’m going to cheer for the Cardinals like I have for over 30 years. And when our program finally does turn it around I can only imagine how good it will feel.


They say a picture is worth a thousand words and it would probably take a thousand words to explain what having a player like Lamar Jackson has meant for the Louisville Program. He might be the most talented and gifted college football player of our time. And is a great young man to go along with all of that. Louisville fans have sure been spoiled. We went from having a player like Teddy who will forever be known and admired for how he won big games to Lamar who will always be known for and admired for how well he plays the game. And both are great people. He might not win the Heisman but we all know who the best player is.

It hasn’t been the season that we all expected but we are finally seeing the Louisville Football team that most of us expected this season. Over the last two games the offense has looked like a well-oiled machine and the defense is making the plays they were missing just a few weeks ago. Coach Sirmon was running the side-line yesterday like his pants were on fire and his defense is finally responding. It was tough to watch these guys lose those games while giving up all those points. But it sure has been fun watching them turn things around.

And talk about turning things around Coach Summers has transformed the Louisville offensive line. There was a picture floating around Social Media over the weekend titled “4 up and 4 down”. It showed the Louisville O-Line standing over 4 Syracuse defense Line-men as they lay helpless on the ground watching Lamar Jackson trot for one of his touchdowns. Last year year at this time that photo would have looked a lot different. This group went from giving up around 39 sacks this time last season to around 27 this season. That’s a big improvement. When interviewed at Media Day Coach Summers talked about his guys winning the battle zone. It’s obvious this unit is winning more of those battles now.

Everybody is healthy, and everything is clicking at the right time. The Cardinals will now head to Lexington seeking their 4th Straight Win on that field. I was on the field at the Georgia Dome when Lamar made his College debut and will be at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday when he plays his last regular season college football game. There are plenty of seats available on StubHub for all of you to join me.

Here is the link: Louisville vs Kentucky for The Governor’s Cup

Enoch is your typical Pitino type player. He was in the 2015 recruiting class with Donovan Mitchell, Deng Adel, Ryan McMahon and Ray Spalding. And like those guys was labeled as a recruit with a lot of upside. Enoch was a 4* recruit and ranked #99 in the ESPN100. Here are what scouts said about Enoch in 2015:

Enoch is a late blooming big man who barely played high school basketball as an underclassman but has continued to both grow and develop at a rapid rate. He’s got good size with a naturally strong build and long arms. He’s a solid athlete who can change ends and play above the rim. His skill set has been well developed so that he is a consistent shooter from 15-18 feet and a threat from behind the three-point line. He’s starting to develop a jump hook over both shoulders with his back to the basket but also has a naturally high release point in or around the paint. He’s quick in catch-and-finish situations, a solid rebounder, and good shot-blocker.
Weaknesses:
He’s largely unproven against high level competition and still very much a work in progress. Consistency is arguably his biggest problem right now as he can disappear for long stretches at a time. He’s a product of a skill development generation and so while he can look great in a workout, he’s still learning to adjust to the many variables that game conditions and defenders create.
Bottom Line:
His recruiting has taken off by his long-term potential, now it becomes a matter of backing up his newfound reputation as he’ll have to turn potential into production on an increasingly frequent basis.

Enoch’s production and development at UCONN has been a slow go it seems, but having that year to work out with Coach Pitino and his staff will really be a big boost to that. I Look for Enoch to be a big-time contributor for the Cardinals in 18/19 season as well as his senior season 19/20… A great add to the program.