Athletic director Tom Jurich has done little wrong since taking his job at the turn of the century. He's navigated Louisville's move up the ladder from the Metro Conference to the Great Midwest (? Conference), to Conference USA to the Big East. He has hired 'name' coaches like Rick Pitino, and others who have taken their respective teams to the BCS (Bobby Petrino), College World Series (Dan McConnell) and women's basketball championship game (Tom Cullen). The BCS appearance was in January of 2007, the Omaha appearance was the same year, and the women lost to unbeaten UConn just this spring. It certainly seems a world away for Louisville fans, which appear ready to pull the plug on what looks like Jurich's first failure. He hired Steve Kragthorpe from Tulsa, and the Cards went from a potential national championship contender under Petrino to two straight non-bowl seasons.

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To be fair, Kragthorpe inherited a mess of a situation that saw about 20 players leave the program for one reason or another during his first season. Of course, that lack of depth and quality depth catches up to you quickly. It leaves a lasting stain, too. Now the Cards are looking at a season with an unproven QB, but lots of weapons in skill positions around him. Kragthorpe is calling the plays on offense himself, and he's got six new assistant coaches in for the fall. The defensive line looks like a disaster on paper, as there is little to no depth. Despite that, new defensive coordinator Brent Guy wants to play an attack-oriented style that got the Cards burnt for 34 and 33 ppg in Big East play the last two years.

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