Heading East
Cardinal Athletics gear up for the first season in the Big East
By Kevin Hyde
Wading through a river of giddy U of L fans, fried food and ice-cold beer, Sean Moth began to list the 15 universities U of L will join this fall as teams begin their first season of play in the Big East Conference. The large contingency of Cardinal supporters who packed the shaded beer garden at Mike Linnig's restaurant in Louisville's south end loudly counted along.
"St. John's."
"Seven!"
"Syracuse."
"Eight!"
"Connecticut."
"Nine!"
As Moth finished the countdown--a roll call that takes a little practice to keep straight--he summed up the attitude of Cardinal fans across the country: "There we go folks! Get to know it. That's our new home. That's the Big East."
Moth, public address announcer for several Cardinal sports teams including basketball and football, was emceeing the fourth of six stops on the Cardinal Caravan, an annual summer tour in which U of L coaches and players visit with alumni and fans throughout the region. The caravan shoved off in early June and made stops in Elizabethtown, Covington, Louisville and Southern Indiana.
This year's theme was pretty obvious.
"We are in the Big East. Learn it. Get to know it. Get to love it," Moth told the cheering crowd on a humid summer evening on the Ohio River.
Beginning competition this fall, U of L's teams will be members of an athletic conference that boasts 24 national titles in six different sports and supports championships in 23 different sports. The new Big East will include eight members for all sports, including Louisville, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, South Florida, Syracuse and West Virginia. An additional eight schools--DePaul, Georgetown, Marquette, Notre Dame, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall and Villanova--will compete in all sports except football.
The Big East features schools in major markets such as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington D.C., and its geographical reach stretches from the Great Lakes through the Mid Atlantic region to the major cities of the East Coast and the west coast of Florida. The conference's market includes 25 percent of all television households in America and more than 27 percent of the U.S. population.
Tom Jurich, U of L athletics director, said the Cardinal Caravan was an opportunity to build anticipation as the Cardinals prepare for their first season in the new conference.
"Our fans are legendary in their support of our teams and there is a growing excitement as we move to the Big East Conference this season," he said.
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That growing excitement certainly was fueled last season. Cardinal sports teams are coming off one of their most successful years in university history. After a thrilling Final Four run in men's basketball, a spectacular football season that saw the Cards finish sixth in the nation, a volleyball team that advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 and several major successes in other sports, U of L will ride into the new conference on a wave of heady momentum.
"You couldn't script it better," said Jason Puckett, a 1997 graduate and a marketing assistant in the athletics department. "The season we had last year has really gotten a lot of people pumped up."
Puckett, who attended all six Cardinal Caravan stops, said that what makes him particularly proud as an alumnus is how balanced the athletics program is becoming.
"We're not just a basketball or football school," he said. "We're across the board now. And personally I like being that kind of school."
Three Letters: B-C-S
Ever since U of L head football coach Bobby Petrino arrived on campus in 2003, he has consistently repeated the mantra; "We must get better every year."
Last season, his team finished 11-1, won the Liberty Bowl, won the Conference USA championship, boasted the country's No. 1 offense and No. 15 defense and ended the season ranked sixth in the nation.
How do you top that?
For starters, you step into a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conference.
In Conference USA, the championship team earns an automatic bid to the non-BCS Liberty Bowl in Memphis. In the Big East, the teams are playing for a shot at the Orange Bowl in Miami or perhaps even a berth in the National Championship game, a prospect that was pretty much impossible coming out of a mid-major league like Conference USA.
Because the Big East recently lost football standouts Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College, several fans and sportswriters have said Big East football really needed Louisville's blossoming program. Perhaps, but Petrino said his team's new conference has plenty of good football programs with great tradition.
"Pittsburgh has a real fine football team that won the conference last year," he said during a Cardinal Caravan stop at St. Stephen's family Center in Louisville. "They have a really good quarterback coming back. West Virginia does a lot of interesting stuff offensively that we're already thinking about. Syracuse has a great tradition and a new coach, and they'll be tough too."
He added that Connecticut's football program has made a successful transition from Division 1-AA to Division 1. UConn had a big season in 2004, earning a bowl bid, and the Cards will have to play the Huskies in Connecticut Dec. 3.
"We've got to get some snow in here so we can practice," Petrino joked.
A fan at St. Stephen asked Petrino about the biggest adjustment the Cards would have to make entering their new conference. "We're going to see more of a running game and a lot more physical football than we did in Conference USA where we saw a lot of the spread offense," he responded. "We've been preparing for that for a couple of years, working hard to make our offensive and defense lines bigger and faster.
Petrino was joined at St. Stephen by returning tailback Kolby Smith, line-backer Matt Sanders and former Mr. Kentucky High School Football and Louisville Male High School graduate Michael Bush. As fellow former Mr. Football and Louisville product Brian Brohm steps into a starting role as quarterback this season, the two local stars will share the backfield on several plays.
"It's really exciting for the city of Louisville to see Brian Brohm hand the ball to Michael Bush," Petrino said.
Bush said he gets excited every time he steps on the field of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. "I love it. When we run out on the field and see all the red and white, it just feels real good. It's a great atmosphere to be in."
They Want More
Coming off a magical 38-5 season that saw the team advance to the Final Four and finish third in the nation, the men's basketball program might be entering the strongest and deepest basketball conference in the history of the college game.
 U of L Basketball coach Rick Pitino chats with the Rev. Kevin W. Cosby, senior pastor at St. Stephen Baptist Church, during a Cardinal Caravan stop in Louisville. |
"When you start talking about going on the road and trying to win at some of those places, it's going to be a war," said Marvin Menzies, who recently joined head coach Rick Pitino's staff as an assistant coach. Menzies used the caravan stop at Mike Linnig's as an opportunity to introduce himself to Cardinal fans after coming to Louisville from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas where he was an assistant.
"We'll be equipped for the Big East battle," he said. "It's just a matter of doing the preparation, and no one in the country is better at preparation than Coach Pitino. So we'll be ready."
Pitino is the only coach in college basketball history to take three different schools to the Final Four (Providence, Kentucky and Louisville). He told the crowd at St. Stephen that the Final Four run has made next year's team even hungrier.
"Once you've played in the NCAA tournament and you've smelled the success, you're hungry to get back," Pitino said. "Getting there that first time is so difficult, but once you get there and the players taste it, they want more."
A young fan asked the coach which departing player from the Final Four team he'll miss the most.
"They're all different," Pitino smiled. "Francisco (Garcia) had the most talent. We may be the most proud of Larry (O'Bannon). Otis (George) had the most energy.
"But the guy who is probably the most difficult to replace from a heart and soul standpoint in term of winning is Ellis Myles."
Menzies, whose role will include recruiting, skill development and scouting, said Cardinal basketball fans have plenty to look forward to. "You only have to look at who's coming back."
Among those is point guard Brandon Jenkins. While he agreed that entering the Big East and playing the conference tournament in New York City's Madison Square Garden is exciting, he and his teammates will be once again focused on a big NCAA tournament run.
"We're going to continue to do what we've been doing," Jenkins said. "We're going to try to make another Final Four."
Collen Challenges Fans
Tom Collen, head coach of the U of L women's basketball program, was a fixture on the Cardinal Caravan. He viewed it as an opportunity to impart the significance of his program's jump to the Big East.
"A lot of people might not realize that the Big East is the best women's basketball conference in the country," said Collen, whose first season in the Big East will be his third at U of L, coming off two 20-win seasons and a berth in the NCAA tournament last year.
"Two years ago there were nine teams from the conference that made the NCAA tournament," he said. "Five of the last six national champions have been out of the Big East. The competition is going to be very tough, but we think we can compete with any of those schools."
Returning forward Sarah Norman, a junior this coming season, says playing teams like Connecticut and Notre Dame will be a dream come true.
"I'm ecstatic," she beamed. "When we get out there and play the big teams, it will be amazing."
Connie Neal, who will be a senior guard this coming season, says she hopes the increased profiles of visiting teams will bring more fans to their games.
"We can't wait to see more people in the stands because we hear all of you and we really appreciate it," she said. "We can't express it enough."
Their coach then issued a challenge to fans: "You've got to understand that when we play at Connecticut we're going to play in front of 17,000 people. That's a daunting task to go to an arena like that."
"When we bring UConn and Notre Dame into Louisville, we have got to fill Freedom Hall. That's my challenge to you. Be there for us."
Rising In The East
Up and down U of L's roster of teams that will compete for the first time in the Big East this season, you see one thing in common--upward momentum. One of the university's best sports stories last season came in softball.
The Cardinals went into the last weekend of the season second place in Conference USA behind nationally ranked DePaul. The Cards pulled out an unlikely conference title by traveling to Chicago and sweeping the Blue Demons, a team they had never even beaten on their home field.
The Cards will return most of the players from that team as they enter the Big East this season.
"We'll have our work cut out for us," head coach Sandy Pearsall said of the new conference. "But we return with so many great players. I really feel like we can go out there and compete right off the bat."
That is, if her team can adjust to the weather, she added. "It might be a tad bit colder than we're used to up there."
Speaking of the weather, several Big East baseball teams were pretty thrilled when U of L, South Florida and Cincinnati joined their league. The first part of the baseball and softball season can be pretty cold in the Northeast.
"They're all excited because they get to come south," said assistant baseball coach Brian Mundorf. "Our sport is a warm-weather sport. Instead of being one of the northernmost schools in the league, now we've become one of the southernmost schools. So they will all be excited to get to Louisville."
And in the newly christened Jim Patterson Stadium at the corner of Central Avenue and Third Street, those teams will be treated to playing in one of the newest and nicest college baseball parks in the country.
Tom Colavecchia, head coach of the men's soccer team, said that the Big East schools are looking forward to visiting Louisville for more reasons than the weather. He had just returned from Big East meetings in Rhode Island when he addressed the Cardinal Caravan crowd at Mike Linnig's.
"The consensus among soccer coaches, without any question, is that they can't wait to play here because of our community, our support," he said. "They're thrilled because our facility is one of the finest in the country and we bring some of the biggest crowds."
 When the U of L basketball team advanced to the NCAA Final Four in St. Louis this past spring, university officials thought it would be an excellent stage to make a good first impression on the Big East. A poster featuring Coach Rick Pitino was produced that read: "At the University of Louisville, we realize your first impression of us may be based on Coach Pitino and our Cardinals--the first team to earn a spot in this year's Final Four. But we'd like to take a moment to introduce you to some of our other famous firsts." The poster listed 10 university "firsts" not related to athletics. The idea was to show there was more to U of L than sports. The poster was run as a full-page ad in the New York Times and St. Louis Post-Dispatch during the Final Four weekend and helped stir up enough publicity to inspire some national news stories. |
The wait is almost over for another fine sports facility at U of L. When Ralph Wright Natatorium, at the corner of Floyd and Warnock streets, opens in August it will be the men's and women's swimming and diving venue as well as a recreational facility for the university community.
Arthur Albiero, head coach of U of L's swim teams, which set 32 school records in 42 events last season, is looking forward to hosting the Big East's elite in the new building.
"I've been here for two years and since day one it has been all about getting ready to go to the Big East," he said. "And if you know Tom Jurich and the athletic department, we have lofty goals. Our goal is to win the Big East. We're not bashful about that."
Once U of L team might feel like it has already won. This past season the men's tennis team advanced to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year. In the first round, the Cards drew Big East champ Notre Dame and promptly thumped the Irish 4-1.
"Their coach came up and said, 'Do you want our 2005 Big East trophy?' "Rex Ecarma, men's tennis coach, relayed. "I said, 'No, just keep it. We'll take the 2006.'"
The U of L volleyball team, coming off a stellar 30-3 season, just wants a chance to play Notre Dame. There has been a sense that the Irish have been dodging the Cardinals emerging program over the last few years.
Assistant volleyball coach Chad Norton got a big cheer at Mike Linnig's when he told the crowd, "The biggest thing for us going into the Big East is that Notre Dame can't hide from us anymore."
The Big Move
Chris Locke stood smiling in the back of the auditorium during the Cardinal Caravan stop at St. Stephen. The 1996 U of L sociology graduate, who now works at Metro United Way, said he senses a growing vitality across the U of L community.
"Certainly the new conference has generated a lot of excitement, but everything that's going on at the university is pretty exciting," he said. "You can really feel it when you visit the campus, from the Cardinal logos on the street to the new natatorium to Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. And the new baseball stadium is second to none.
"The Big East is going to be great not only from a sports standpoint but from an academic standpoint too. This really takes us up to a different level. This is a big move and the excitement in the city reflects that."
