This is the part of the college football season that I dislike the most. News is dominated with coaches shuffling all over the college landscape and now there seems to be some uncertainty surrounding our head football coach. Here’s my two cents on this speculation.
On December 9, 2009, Charlie Strong was hired as Louisville’s 21st head coach. Strong had been a defensive coordinator for 11 years at South Carolina and the Florida Gators, studying under the likes of Lou Holtz and Urban Meyer. Strong has had an instant impact in getting the fan base fired up about football again. His passion and enthusiasm for the game has spread through Card Nation like a virus. Just this past season alone has seen some of the highest ticket sales ever for the Louisville Football program and every home game was a sell-out. Louisville Fans may not be “big-time” caliber but they are improving. More importantly, they are ingesting and processing what Strong wants them to know and do. But there are rumblings that even this rise in interest hasn’t fully satisfied coach Strong.
The wheels started to come off two seasons ago during the spring workouts. Our football program was getting ready for an upcoming season but the basketball team was heading to New Orleans for the Final Four. In a state like Kentucky, where basketball rules, the local media was particularly distracted by the round ball. That did not make Strong too happy. So, he banished the local media from practice for more than a week. He wanted the people to understand that the football program at Louisville was not going to sit in the back seat of the car, even if people thought of the place as a “basketball school.” And just maybe the straw that broke the camel’s back was the lack of coverage that the Russell Athletic Bowl got this past weekend amidst the coverage of the annual UofL vs UK basketball game. Of course this like most of the stuff you read about Coach Strong’s feelings are just speculation. He has complained about the fans, but has also called us the best in the country. Guess it just depends on the day of the week.
I really can’t hold it against coach Strong if he decides to take his ball and go home. The guy is football to the bone. He was born in the heart of football country and football is his greatest passion. And, he has now been in the heart of basketball country for the last 4 seasons. Unless your last name is Brohm you aren’t born a football fan in the state of Kentucky. This state is and will always be about basketball. And no matter how hard Charlie tries or how much he preaches about what the fans role is we are never going to live up to his expectations (In My Opinion). We are just cut from a different cloth around these parts.
If Charlie does decide to stick it out then, we (as fans) need to do our part and try to make it out to those spring games, those open practices and all the other events surrounding the football program. We do need to get to the games early and stay late. I think it will get better especially with the level of competition going up with the ACC coming to town. However, Charlie has to be more of a realist and he must understand that it is what it is. Louisville’s football fans are never going to be like those “big- time” football fans (whatever that is). There is just not enough of us. But even if we never see 100,000 butts in the seats on Saturdays the 50 or 60 thousand folks that are there will be cheering their hearts out for the Cardinal Red.
Regardless of who will be coaching next season (still a chance it will be Charlie), the fact remains that we will have a great group of young men returning and those kids are what deserve our support the most. And I would like to thank coach Strong and his staff for helping us reach that next plateau of performance. The dark days are gone and there is only a bright future ahead. #L1C4