CARDINAL COUPLE

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Friday, February 9, 2018

Vince Tyra Addresses Media... Spring Sports Start Today... FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE



TYRA TALKS


The big news of the night came before the men players ever took the court.  Interim athletic director Vince Tyra took some time to address the media down at the KFC Yum! Center and gave news to help lighten the seemingly darkening mood around the athletics program.  Here are a few points my hopeful-to-be new full-time athletic director made last night:

-The Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium expansion number has been revealed.  Although 10,000 seats had been hinted by Tom Jurich an exact number was never stated.  The real number is 6,000.  That number is lower than we all expected but is still obtainable in the goal of selling out the now 61,000-seat stadium.  I appreciate the honesty we saw from Tyra regarding the topic.

-Tyra voluntarily took a pay cut from his position as interim athletic director of the University of Louisville.  In a society where everyone is constantly pushing to make more money than they already do someone willingly taking a pay cut is almost unheard of.  When he accepted the position at UofL Tyra was making roughly $1.2 million.  After averaging the salaries of the three highest-paid athletic directors in the ACC Tyra decided to take a $350,000 pay cut and will now make $854,000 annually.  In my book that is quite admirable.

-Three coaches received contract extensions.  Men’s soccer coach Ken Lolla, women’s soccer coach Karen Ferguson-Dayes, and volleyball coach Dani Busboom Kelly will all be at Louisville a little bit longer.  The details of the extensions have not been released but it shows Tyra believes in and trusts the coaches.  Lolla took men’s soccer to back-to-back Elite Eights and has built the program into a national powerhouse.  Ferguson-Dayes turned a women’s soccer program into a team lucky to see two wins in a season to a team receiving high recruits internationally and finishing about .500 in the extremely competitive ACC.  Kelly won the ACC in her first season as volleyball coach and hopes to grow the program from there.

-Athletics will be going through a department reorganization.  Fans were outraged at the departure of Mark Jurich.  This is not a power struggle between Tyra and the Jurich family, it is “in the best interests of our department”, as he stated.  There will be two new positions created: one for student athlete health and wellness, and one to handle administrative duties such as human resources, tickets, and Title IX regulations.

When UofL first announced Vince Tyra would be the interim athletics director after visiting the president’s suite at a football game for a drink I voiced my displeasure.  I questioned the leadership of Tyra.  After witnessing firsthand of what he has and is doing for Louisville I respect the man.  Tyra is cleaning up the parts of athletics were corruption made its way into the shadows, is being open and honest about the happenings in athletics and is putting the best interests of athletics as a priority. 

I am now an advocate of hiring him full time.


TRACK AND FIELD

Indiana University is only a two-hour drive from Louisville.  If you are looking for something to do today, why not head to the Hoosier Hills Invitational?  The event is held indoors so weather will not be a problem.  Both the men and women will be competing against IU, SEMO, Tennessee State, Butler, DePaul, Missouri Baptist, Indianapolis, Franklin, and Fontbonne.  No, I have not heard of the last school before either.  They are located in St. Louis, just a hair west of downtown.


LACROSSE

Another two-hour drive from here is Cincinnati.  Lacrosse opens their season against the Bearcats.  We finally get to see the hype about Scott Teeter.  There are nine seniors and graduate transfers on the 24-player roster.  The Cards will be looking for the leadership of those seniors this year.  On a side note there is only one sophomore and two juniors this year.

The Lacrosse team does come home on Sunday for the home opener. See you out there!  

SOFTBALL

My favorite spring sport starts today.  And they are playing in one of my favorite cities (hint: Walt Disney World and Universal Studios).  The Cards have two games today at noon and 2:30. Butler has the honors of being Louisville’s first win of the season (hopefully) and the UCF match-up will happen shortly after.  While we are having our regularly scheduled Cardinal Couple Radio Hour the Cards will have first pitch against North Florida.

CARDINAL COUPLE

I hope your calendar is a 4 x 4 because with spring sports starting up and winter sports still going on the list goes from here down to Florida.

Cardinal Couple tries to bring you the latest from each of the women’s sports.  Here is a list of sports you should be seeing covered by us in the upcoming weeks: women’s basketball, women’s tennis, women’s swimming and diving, women’s track and field, lacrosse, softball, rowing (mid-March), and women’s golf.  Okay, go on and catch your breath.

Enjoy your Friday and Go Cards!

Jared

7 comments:

  1. I will point out that Jurich (Mark) was probably going to leave Louisville after finishing his graduate courses this spring. He and Tyra are friends, so letting him go had to hurt.


    Vince has done a remarkable job and deserves a shot at being the Athletic Director, not the interim. When this decision as well as President and Men's Basketball coach will be decided is anyone's guess. In the mean-time, still continue to support the student-athletes and we'll do all we can here at CC to keep you updated.

    Paulie

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Bird Lady2/09/2018 10:00 AM

    I liked Tyra from the beginning and hope he gets the gig. I was impressed with the steps he outlined yesterday. I like that he was more honest about the expansion and not sure why Jurich was indicating a number almost twice as high (Eric Crawford broke down the numbers and the seats come out to be just under 5200 but not sure if that included suites)

    The Mark Jurich parting of the ways was inevitable. I have nothing against MJ. It just wasn't going to be healthy for him or the dept for him to stick around long term.

    Jared, your enthusiasm for the spring sports is infectious. I have never been able to attend A lot of spring sports but excited to check out some softball and Lacrosse this year and possibly some Tennis and track & field.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There was never a firm amount of seats named, just a estimate.

      Paulie

      Delete
    2. The Bird Lady2/09/2018 6:42 PM

      But an estimate that was double what it turned out to be. You can't believe Jurich didn't have more accurate numbers but led us all to believe it was higher. Not calling him a liar but he was putting major spin on it I assume for fundraising/marketing purposes

      Delete
    3. Why are you attacking Jurich when he's already gone? What purpose does that solve? Why complain because it isn't as big as you want it? It'll be beautiful and how does he use it for "fundraising/marketing" purposes in relationship to size? Let it go, Bird Lady. Fly away from it. The best athletic director in sports has been wrongly terminated. Are you a spy from the B.O.T.?

      Quit complaining. Isn't there enough of that lately?

      Curtis Franklin

      Delete
  3. Say what you will about Tyra, but he is just a pimp for the Board of Trustees. Clean 'em all out and hire some names.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't see that. He's trying to just do a job that needs doing until an athletic director is in place. I know Vince and he's his own man. Not a pimp. The man has incredible insight and I'll stand with Jared 100% on this.

      I hope he becomes our Athletic Director.

      Paulie

      Delete

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