TYRA TALKS
-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.
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!
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
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.
ReplyDeleteVince 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
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)
ReplyDeleteThe 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.
There was never a firm amount of seats named, just a estimate.
DeletePaulie
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
DeleteWhy 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.?
DeleteQuit complaining. Isn't there enough of that lately?
Curtis Franklin
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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
DeleteI hope he becomes our Athletic Director.
Paulie