Tom Jurich Fired...Women's Soccer tonight -- Asia Durr Honored -- Thursday CARDINAL COUPLE

BOARD OF TRUSTEES TERMINATES TOM JURICH

(Photo by Charlie Springer -- UofL Card Game)

Wednesday afternoon, by a vote of 10-3, the UofL Board of Trustees fired Tom Jurich...with cause. Just what the "just cause" is...is anyone's guess. 

Insubordination? 
Sticking by Rick Pitino? Inability to get along with interim President Greg Postel? 

Postal wasn't talking about the ramifications yesterday after the board meeting ended. 

He did reference to the hope that the UofL students and community would "rise to the occasion"... a phrase that adidas, ironically enough, has on Cardinal t-shirts...but his refusal to explain just what the "just cause" sure seems like an absence of accountability. 

Saying it's about the legal proceedings...when a man has spent almost 20 years building the athletic program to unfathomable heights...is a lame and unacceptable answer. 

The other shoe has dropped.

 Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, Jim Patterson Stadium, Lynn Stadium, The Louisville Lacrosse Stadium, The "Little" YUM!, The big Yum, The Bass-Rudd Tennis Center, The Ralph Wright Natatorium, Trager Stadium, Cardinal Park, Cardinal Arena and Ulmer Stadium all became realities and Cardinal venues during Jurich's reign. 

Every coach in the UofL Athletic Department...save Rex Ecarma...was hired by Tom Jurich. Jeff Walz, Bobby Petrino, Sandy Pearsall, Dan McDonnell, Rick Pitino, Bobby Petrino, Ken Lolla, Arthur Albiero, Kelly Young, Karen Ferguson Dayes, Dani Busboom Kelly, Anne Kordes, Rick Pitino, Kenny Klein, Justine Sowry, Mark Crabtree, Courtney Trimble, Derek Copeland, Dale Cowper and Mark Beckham all were hired by Tom Jurich. Even Steve Kragthorpe. 

A current coach, who wished to remain anonymous, told me Wednesday: 

"We all are a little nervous now. Tom is all we've known. All we can do now is try to work as hard as we can to make our student-athletes successful, in sports and life, because that was what Tom was all about. We'll work with Vince [Tyra] because that is who we have now. As far as staying here at Louisville? I'll see. This was a destination job but with Tom gone, the next moves are going to weigh a lot with me. There's a lot of questions." 

This was a bad move. The wrong decision. You don't throw out the baby with the bath water. Tom Jurich will have no problems finding another job. And Louisville? Time will tell who ascend those stairs and becomes the new A.D. up there on the 3rd floor of the S.A.C. 

Chairman David Grissom and Interim President Greg Postel were able to finally breathe a collective sigh of relief. They’ve been plotting behind the scenes for quite a while now, wanting to remove Tom Jurich from his job at the University of Louisville.

Rally around the student-athletes. They and the coaches need you more than ever now. Don't boycott games. Show righteous rage if you must. Be dis-satisfied with this blunder by the board but don't back off your love and support for these kids and their coaches. 

It's still UofL. It's still the ACC. It's still the red and the black. 

But, it's a sadder day and a inconceivable move. And, if you think politics had nothing to do with this...wake up and look at the landscape. 


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#15 WAKE FOREST TO FACE WSOC TONIGHT

The Demon Deacons from Winston Salem...those Wake Forest kickers...will be in Lynn Stadium tonight for a 7 p.m. math on the pitch against the Louisville Cardinal women's soccer squad. 

Louisville needs this one badly. In eighth place in the ACC and hoping to make the ACC Tournament (which accepts eight teams)...a Cardinal win in their final home game of the regular season is greatly needed. The Cards have 9 points in the standings (a win gets you three points and a tie gets you one). The Cards are 3-4 in conference. N.C.State, Boston College and Notre Dame have 10 points. Clemson has 8. Wake Forest has 13 and is in third place in the standings. 

The Cards could go a long way in securing a bid tonight with a win. They end the season in North Carolina with games against UNC and NC State. Difficult, but not impossible. 

Do this, WSOC. GIve the beleaguered UofL fans a bright spot in what has been a really tough week.  

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DURR HONORED

UofL junior guard Asia Durr has been selected as the 2017-18 ACC preseason Player of the Year, as voted on by the league's coaches.

In addition to the award, Durr, senior Myisha Hines-Allen and freshman Dana Evans earned All-ACC preseason honor from both the league coaches and the Blue Ribbon Panel, the conferences media and sports information directors

Durr and Hines-Allen were named Preseason All-ACC, while Evans was one of five players named to the Newcomer Watch List. 

This is the second straight season that a Louisville student-athlete has earned ACC Player of the Year honors. Myisha Hines-Allen got the 2016-17 nod. 

The Cards were picked to finish second in the league by the 15 coaches...getting one first place vote, while the Blue Ribbon Panel also put Louisville second. Notre Dame was picked first in both polls. Duke was selected third. Florida State came in fourth and Virginia rounded out the top five in the coaches poll. The Blue Ribbon Panel agreed on 1-4 with Miami getting fifth in their poll. 

The preseason All-ACC teams were: 

BLUE RIBBON

Lexie Brown - Duke
Rebecca Greenwell - Duke
Shakayla Thomas - FSU
Myisha Hines-Allen - UofL
Asia Durr - UofL
Stephanie Watts - UNC
Paris Kea - UNC
Arike Ogunbowale - Notre Dame
Marina Mabrey - Notre Dame
Chanette Hicks - Va.Tech

COACHES

Lexie Brown
Rebecca Greenwell
Shakayla Thomas
Francesca Pan (Georgia Tech)
Asia Durr
Myisha Hines-Allen
Paris Kea
Arike Ogunbowale
Marina Mabrey
Elisa Penna (Wake Forest) 


Congratulations to these three Cardinals! The season begins


paulie
xxxxx

Rick Pitino Fired...Taylor Stone named ACC Field Hockey Defensive Player of the Week -- TUESDAY CARDINAL COUPLE

STONE ALSO SCORED GAME WINNER VS. UNC

It was a pretty good week, last week, for Taylor Stone...a defensive back on the University of Louisville Field Hockey team. The Herndon, VA junior not only scored the deciding goal in a 3-2 win over #4 UNC on the road in Durham, NC...but she was also named the ACC Field Hockey Defensive Player of the Week. 

Stone's score helped the Stick Girls increase their win streak to seven games and stay tied for first place in the ACC with Virginia. These two squads will meet on Saturday noon at Trager Field in the final ACC regular season game for both squads and to determine the regular season conference champion. 

"T"...as she's called...is part of a staunch defensive wall that the Cards throw at opponents. Louisville (11-4)  has allowed just 23 goals in 15 games this season (1.53 per contest) and the Cards are 6-0 in Trager this year. Along with "Stone Wall" in the back, Ayesia McFerran guards the net, and sophomore Carter Ayars and frshman Alli Bitting also form the back line of resistance for opponents seeking to score.. 

Stone has played on the USA Field Hockey team the last four years (U 17, U 19, U 21) and started all 21 games last year for the Cards as a sophomore. Her freshman year saw her on the field in 16 games with eight starts...missing four contests with an injury. 

Her father played basketball at American University and grandfather (Bill Stone) is a former member of the UofL Board of Trustees. Don't mess with her...she also holds an orange belt in Karate. 

Maybe the new phrase for opponents when they leave the Trager with a loss should be: 

"You just got Stoned..." 


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SEE YA RICK

The UofL Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Monday to terminate Rick Pitino from his job as head men's basketball coach. 

In other news...grass is green, cars run on gas (or electricity, in Worldwide's case) and it's still dark at 7:05 this morning.  

See ya, Rick. Don't let the door hit you in the butt on your way out. Rick knew absolutely nothing during his time at UofL (just ask him) and that included a player's parents living in the Galt House...sponsored by UofL? 

We'll find out the fate of Tom Jurich Wednesday. Pitino didn't show up yesterday. Steve Pence represented him. 

I hear Miami is nice this time of year. Maybe you could go buy some plastic flamingos for your front lawn. Do us one last thing...offer Check Smrt a room in your guesthouse. What is this man's role (still) with UofL and why is he advising the board after his abysmal advice earlier? 

Smrt, Pitino and Pence....the new Three Stooges. 



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JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO TURN YOUR RADIO ON AGAIN...

Thanks to The Morning Jam guys at WCHQ 100.9 FM (Crescent Hill Radio)...Kevin Cox and Bryce "Blue" Gill for inviting me to join them on a regular basis to do a sports update segment on their show Monday thru Friday. 

I'll be with the guys at 7:45 and 8:45 a.m. to update the previous days action and stories and to give out information on upcoming local and national events and stories. 

I hope to be in studio for a lot of these but will also send them in via DropBox if I am not in studio. 

Another reason to listen to WCHQ...(or delete it from your pre-set stations). Maybe I'll get a key to the executive washroom now...plus learn the secret handshake! 


paulie
xxxxx