Josh Heird Extended Through 2030 -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

ULAA Votes to Extend Heird Through 2030

Photo by GoCards

Fans flocked to social media Sunday evening and Monday morning following the announcement of a special ULAA meeting scheduled for 3:00pm Monday. There was no expected bad news that anyone seemed to know about in advance, but the topic of personnel matters certainly raised concerns across CardNation. It's crazy to think Louisville and the fans have been through that much craziness and trauma that everyone's minds went straight to bad news.

In fact, we were blessed with good news as the University of Louisville Athletic Association (ULAA) Board voted to extend the contract of Josh Heird through 2030. Heird, whose title is University of Louisville Vice President and Director of Athletics, had been 2.5 years through a five-year contract.

The move is not official yet. The ULAA Board does not get final say. It now passes onto the Louisville Board of Trustees, who are scheduled to meet this coming Thursday at 1:00pm. There is every indication that the UofL BOT will approve the contract extension.

Photo by Sports Illustrated 

"This is a vote of confidence that I want to be able to provide," said UofL president Kim Schatzel. "I am happy to take this to the board. I believe that we have one of the finest athletic directors in the country serving the University of Louisville, and the building of the team and confidence and performance he has brought to the athletic department are things we want to continue. He's the right person for the role."

Heird has already played a critical role in the two most profitable programs at UofL- football and men's basketball. He oversaw the departure of Scott Satterfield and the hiring of current football coach Jeff Brohm. Brohm is 18-8 with an ACC Championship game appearance under is belt in two years.

Heird also helped with the negotiation of Chris Mack's exit during the 2021-2022 men's basketball season. Following the recommendation and support of major donors, Heird hired Kenny Payne. However, after two unsuccessful years, Heird negotiated the departure of Payne and the hiring of current basketball coach Pat Kelsey. 

Note: Heird was interim AD at the time of Mack's departure and the hiring of Payne.

Josh Heird and Amy Calabrese at UofL Volleyball

With Heird as AD, Louisville has been selected as a host location for the NCAA Championships for volleyball (2024) and field hockey (2026). Louisville as also been selected to host the first and second rounds of the 2027 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. 

Following the 2023-2024 season, nine Louisville teams advance to the postseason. Louisville All-Girl Cheer won its 10th consecutive NCA National Championship. On the academics side, Louisville had a 93% graduation rate and set another record for number of student-athletes on the AD Honor Roll.

From a financial standpoint, UofL has been able to work and structure new deals since Heird arrived. Louisville finalized a $41 million deal for the naming rights to change Cardinal Stadium to L&N Stadium. Louisville also finalized an agreement with Angel's Envy to rename the Brown and Williamson Club to the Angel's Envy Club at the football stadium. UofL also recently formed a partnership with local bourbon brand Mr and Mrs Bourbon. 502 Circle, Louisville's first NIL collective, was founded and partnered with UofL in 2022.

Heird is the third full-time athletic director Louisville has had in nearly 30 years. Tom Jurich served i as AD from 1997-2017. Vince Tyra served in the same role from 2018-2021. 

There are plenty of folks who still look back on the Jurich days or Tyra days, but Heird has been finding ways to help balance the ever-growing Athletics budget, especially with increased travel costs due to the addition of Stanford, California, and Southern Methodist to the ACC. Heird has also been a regular to several Louisville Athletics events.

Happy Tuesday and Go Cards!

Jared

Jeff Goes in 4 directions -- SUNDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

Guess Who's Back

Yes, I've been gone from the pages of Cardinal Couple for a couple of weeks taking a big vacation, but I'm back in the chair, refreshed and rejuvenated, and ready to bring you some joy and excitement around UofL women's sports.

As we are diving into the heart of summer, we will be doing a lot of checking in on former Cards now playing at the next level of their sports, mostly professionally.  Today is certainly no exception.

WNBA

No WNBA play yesterday, so no scores or updates to bring you, but that does mean pretty much the whole league will be hitting the court today.

Asia Durr with the New York Liberty will be hosting the Minnesota Lynx.  The Lynx did have Angel McCoughtry on their roster, but bought her out for the season giving her more time to recover from nagging knee troubles.  2 pm tip time.

Emily Engstler joins her Indiana Fever in a road trip to Atlanta to play the Dream.  3pm start.

Dana Evans and Chicago Sky play host to Myisha Hines-Allen and the Washington Mystics at 6pm

TV coverage for these games is all over the place.  The Fever may have something on their Facebook page?  The Sky/Mystics game seems to be primarily available on Amazon Prime streaming?  It sure would be nice to have something nice and consistently available.

US Open

We've been following former Card Lauren Hartlage as she starts to show up in the LPGA.  The current event is the US Open at Pine Needles in South Carolina.

A rough day yesterday for Hartlage as she tumbled down the ranks with a +7 round.  That puts her 18 strokes away from the lead, in a tie for 53rd place in the event.

Volleyball Nation's League

The Volleyball Nation's League has been playing their first week of play with the first selection of players that, for the US, included former Card Anna Stevenson.

The US squad faced off against Brazil, a country with quite a great tradition in volleyball.  Despite that, the US wins this in a 3-0 sweep; 25-21, 25-20, 25-18.

For Stevenson's part, she's playing in her usual middle blocking position paired with Dana Rettke in the other middle rotation.  Stevenson got four kills and a pair of blocks against Brazil.

Overall in the VNL, the US has not dropped a set, yet.  Their first match in the overall event was against the Dominican Republic, 25-21, 25-17, 25-18.  Then after a couple of days off, they swept Canada on Friday; 25-14, 25-22, 25-19, before taking on Brazil yesterday.

The last game of this first week of VNL play for the US is today at 4pm EDT against Japan.  These matches have been played in Shreveport, LA.

The VNL is a multi-week event with the teams able to make different roster selections every week.  So it's possible that we won't see Stevenson play after this week.  The 2nd week of play opens June 7th, so we can check rosters then and see if she made the roster selection for the coming week, at least.

NWSL

Two former Cards are on rosters in the NWSL, of course.  Emina Ekic is making some noise with the local club, Racing Louisville FC, as we well know.  Gaby Vincent, however, is still making appearances with the Washington Spirit.

Both teams were in action yesterday, but both went down to defeat.  Racing lost in a disappointing 3-0 decision against the NC Courage.  Ekic came on in the 67th minute for Alex Chidiac.

The Spirit lost 1-0 against the NY/NJ Gotham FC.  Vincent was not listed as being available for selection in this one.

Both teams in action next Saturday, though the Spirit do have a mid-week game at Chicago against the Red Stars on Wednesday.

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast

The CCRHP is also back.  Case is ensconced in his new home office, Jared, Paul, and myself were all on the call.

The group spent a fair bit of time discussing the permanent hiring of Josh Heird as Athletic Director at UofL.  We also showed some love for Carmyn Greenwood getting the All-American tag in Softball, Kelsi Dahlia joining the Notre Dame Swimming coaching staff, and Lauren Hartlage in golf.  We took a quick look at the Women's College World Series, and a swing around the WNBA.  We had a quick discussion about the WNBA, the Cards playing in it, a few who are not, and potential expansion of the league and potentially coming to Louisville.

It was a full hour for sure.  Check it out at:

https://anchor.fm/cardinal-couple/episodes/News-Galore-in-Cardinal-Country-e1jgfvv

JMcA

Louisville's Next Athletic Director -- Kelsi Worrell Dahlia lands coaching gig; FRIDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

FRIDAYS WITH DARYL 

Welcome to the weekend, readers. Last day of work before vacation for me!  We have been gearing up for summer camp at the YMCA and I have been counting down the days until this vacation for 6 months! 

With that said, I will be absent next week and my goal is to have no goals and to check my phone minimally.  So.. with that said..  some administrative news to share today. 

University of Louisville Athletics Director

The University of Louisville will hire Josh Heird as its new athletics director, according to a report from Sports Illustrated writer Pat Forde, who cited sources close to the search in a Twitter post.

The hiring is likely to be made official after this post goes live as the school has scheduled a news conference for a "special announcement" at the on-campus University Club at 8:30am.

A meeting of the University of Louisville Athletic Association is scheduled for 8 a.m. Friday to discuss the position. The ULAA will make a recommendation on the hiring to interim UofL president Dr. Lori Stewart Gonzalez. She will hire the person who will become the program's next AD.

Heird, of course, has been the interim AD for Louisville and we wish Josh the best of luck and fortunes in the position.  


University of Men's Basketball names new Director of Ops

Stephanie Diebold Davis, who has been a member of the University of Louisville men's basketball staff since 2001, has been named as Director of Men's Basketball Operations for the Cardinals under head coach Kenny Payne.

"Stephanie has been invaluable to me and is the perfect person for this operations position," said Payne. "She is a hard worker, has high integrity, and has been a loyal member of the UofL basketball staff for many years. She is experienced with all facets of our operation and has personally made my transition easy since my arrival in March. We look forward to continuing to have her with us in this new role."

"For over 20 years, I have been fortunate to be a part of the Cardinal Basketball family," said Davis. "I am honored that Coach Payne has entrusted me with the opportunity to be the Director of Basketball Operations and I look forward to being able to take a more hands-on role within the program and with the players. The future is bright for Louisville Basketball and I am excited to be along for the ride!"

Davis has worked as an administrative assistant for UofL Basketball since 2001.  This role manages the operations such as recruiting travel, business operations, compliance, fan requests, alumni ticket requests and event planning, assisting in team travel and many other tasks. She will continue to do those items in an expanded role, as well as overseeing student-athlete housing, prospective student-athlete campus visits, visiting team needs, player tickets and other matters.

I think this is an awesome move by the program.  I have no doubt if Stephanie has 20 years under her belt with UofL, she will shine in this role and inspire many women in the industry.   I know I look forward to seeing her on the sidelines next season! 

Kelsi Worrell Dahlia Joins Notre Dame as Associate Coach

Dahlia swam for new Notre Dame head coach Chris Lindauer, hired in April, during her stellar career at UofL. Associate head coach Kameron Chastain also coached with Lindauer in Louisville.

“I’m very thankful to Chris and the administration at Notre Dame for the opportunity and honor of coaching at this historic university,” Dahlia said in a Notre Dame press release. “I’m so grateful for the lessons I’ve learned as a swimmer, and I couldn’t be more thrilled to take those experiences into this coaching role. I’m looking forward to supporting the student-athletes at the highest level, both academically and athletically. I am so excited to support the lofty goals the team sets and will fight together to accomplish!”

Womens College World Series began Thursday night at Hall of Fame Stadium.  No ACC teams made it to Oklahoma City as the 3 seed Virginia Tech Hokies were upset by the Florida Gators. The final 8 teams include:
#1 Oklahoma

#5 UCLA
#7 Oklahoma State
#9 Northwestern
#14 Florida
Texas
Arizona
Oregon State

Lauren Hartlage fires even par in first round of US Open

Lauren Hartlage shot a 72 in the first round of the womens' US Open yesterday at Pine Needles in North Carolina' 

Hartlage had four birdies, four bogeys and 10 pars in her 18 hole tour. 72 is tied for 28th place in the Open and -7 under leads the way after Day One

Cardinal Couple Radio Hour Podcast - Like I mentioned, I will be out for the podcast this weekend and next traveling but the rest of the gang should be back on the show after the holiday weekend break.  The show is scheduled for an 11 a.m. start and will be available online for replay following the show. 

As always, Go Cards! 

~Daryl