The one thing that I noticed at Media Day this past weekend is that the winning attitude and personal drive for excellence is very much engrained into this Louisville program. This is a program that now has everything it needs to get to that next level of competition and compete for both conference and national titles. It’s not easy climbing the ranks of College Football and it hasn’t been easy for Louisville.

Every year at the Media Day event we are provided a great hard bound copy of the media guide. As I was flipping through it this weekend I was reminded that it had been ten seasons ago that Coach Petrino left the first time and we were just headed into year number one of Kragthorpe.

Ten seasons ago Louisville Football fans were still dealing with the loss of Coach Bobby Petrino as he headed to chase his NFL dream. We were headed into year number one of the Kragthorpe era. After being a field goal away from a possible National Championship appearance Cardinal fans had to sit thru three seasons of sub 500 football 15-21 overall record and a 5-16 Big East record. Not to mention three straight losses to Kentucky.

What had taken generations to build up Steve Kragthorpe came along and in three seasons tore it all down. He was even responsible for the worst jersey in Louisville’s history. “The Ville” jerseys… Yea remember those… As I watched during that 2009 season my heart broke seeing what had become of the Cardinal football program. And I wasn’t the only one.

After the rock bottom season of 2009 Tom Jurich sent Kragthorpe packing and brought in a guy that got the ship headed back in the right direction. Coach Charlie Strong cemented his legacy as the Louisville coach who done major damage repair and fast. It was Coach Strong who implanted that winning attitude and personal drive for excellence back into the Louisville program.

There is a lot to be learned from a disastrous coaching hire, but the biggest is not to ever do it again. That’s why when Charlie left to chase his dreams Tom Jurich didn’t hire another guy to build a foundation; he hired the guy to finish the job. It has all come full circle. Ten seasons ago Bobby left us holding the bag and this season could have us holding the trophy.

Working thru Media Day it was obvious that these players believe in themselves and in the coaches leading them. And the message was loud and clear that the coaches believe in their players. There is just something in the air folks. It’s that smell of success. Expectations are thru the roof and after what I’ve seen so far they should be.

After watching the Louisville program struggle thru those sub 500 years and not getting to celebrate at the end of the season in a bowl city has sure made me respect their success that much more. I’m excited about where the Louisville football program is and I’m excited about the guys leading it. I do think Coach Petrino will finish the job this time around and can’t wait to celebrate when he does.