Stewart Mandel of CNNSI writes an excellent piece on Louisville's expectations for next season. Petrino and company have large expectations in a weak conference, which we see as primo conditions for yet more BCS-shaking scenarios involving three or four undefeated teams and two bowl slots. The Cardinals will score, but despite Stranko's man-crush on Spurrier I'll say this anyway: a glorified OC of a coach will need a serious DC to balance out what he blatantly ignores. Spurrier found his in Stoops, and it got him a national championship. We'll think about Louisville when Petrino finds his-see the Miami game last year for why we think current DC Cassity isn't the answer.
What makes Mandel's piece really interesting is the emphasis on the behind-the-scenes restructuring the school performed to create the team out of the shambles of "the worst athletic department in the nation." ADs scrambling for funds from alumni, million dollar marketing campaigns, the endless drama of holding onto a hot and perpetually upwardly mobile coach...it would make great reality tv, I think, provided you tweak it a little to bring the kids on board. How about Flavor Flav as a compliance officer? Or Paris Hilton as..."massage assistant" to the team? Just a thought guys-you know where to reach my people...
Louisville's new compliance officer? In my perfect world, yes, he would be.