The House of Blue

Jurich must be fried out of his freakin' skull.

And he 'fired' his OC after a year and change and his RC is linked to one of the biggest recruiting scandals (Miami) in quite some time. Yep, that's fully deserving of an extrension. Surprised that they didn't give him a lifetime contract. He's earned it.

Hey I actually applaud the move. With things like this Im not worried about 1 win every 5 years.

If Mitch came out today and gave Joker a 7 year extension, I think the UK fans would riot.
All the UL fans are excited about this. They keep telling me that he is doing good things.

It's a brilliant move for recruiting. Imagine how tough it will be for Joker to recruit now that the fanbase is calling for his head. Kids everywhere will know that Charlie will be there. Not so much here in the "Fire the Head Coach" and "Bench the starting QB" region of the state.

So, a kid has two offers, one from UK, and the other from UL. Both programs are struggling. The kid like's both coaches. One coach has a long term contract. The other is on the hot seat. Seems like a simple decision all the sudden.

I'm not saying that's the only factor, or this is the case for all recuits, but it does matter.

Plus, there is very little risk for UL. The worst thing that could happen is they have to buy out his contract if he contiues to struggle.

Agree, UL is trying to play this as, UL is the only stable BCS school in KY. But the product that Ol Cholly is putting on the field doesn't back that gamble up. Both UK and UL have sub par Head Coaches. This is all spin that will eventually cost UL a boat load of money.

I think UL is assuming he will have the program headed in the right direction and receive offers that will make him bolt. If so, UL won't be the one buying out the contract.

What is the big picture take away from today's announcement about the Strong agreement?

Well, none of us know if Strong is going to be a great coach or not. "BUT", this is another example of Tom Jurich showing that he and the University of Louisiville is "all in" with regards to football.

Why?

With Strong's new contract, he is being paid more than several SEC coaches, specifically Dooley at UT, Mullen at MSU, Franklin at Vandy and Joker at UK. It puts him within shouting distance of Spurrier's contract at South Carolina.

How does Strong's contract compare to the Big 12 coaches ?(where UL is headed) Strong's deal makes him the 3rd highest paid coach in the Big 12 behind only Mack Brown at UT and Stoops at Ok! Third highest! Ahead of Pelini at Nebraska! Grundy at OSU and Mike Sherman at Football Factory Texas A&M!

Add to the fact the Jurich reiterated today that Coach Strong essentially has an open checkbook to hire the coaches he wants to hire, it's symbolic of the fact that the UL administration completely supports their football program to the fullest potential.

Jurich talked toady about how they've been able to completely refurbish ALL of their football facilities in the brief 5 year peried they've been in the Big East. He reiterated today that they will continue to INVEST in their largest revenue generator for the school. Think of the money they'll reinvest into football once they're on the receiving end of that Big 12 televeision deal.

Again, Strong and his assistants may not be worth the money, but at least UL is showing they want to compete and at least attempt to build a legitimate football program, which is certainly more than we can say around here.

Well if UK wants to be like UL then it will have to stop putting money into the University and start taking money from it.

Is Strong really an attractive option for other schools?

His stock was higher at UF and he couldn't hardly get a job then. I'm not sure anyone is going to come beat down his door to take over their program.

It doesn't matter what companies are located in Lexington. UK should be the flagship school for the entire state, and that should be reflected in donations.

Take Georgia for instance, all of the big business in the state is located in Atlanta, yet UGA gets the big corporate donations, not G-Tech. Same with Tenn and Memphis. There are dozens of examples.

UK hasn't been getting crap from the corporate donors in Louisville over the last 10 years. It wasn't always like that, though. Jurich did a great job getting in with those people, and Mitch simply did not.

Example- UK and Barnhart had a below average relationship with John Schnatter and the Papa John Pizza Corporation. Luke warm at best. UK simply couldn't make any headway with Papa Johns as they were aligned with UL and Jurich for donations.

Barnhart and UK tried for over 5 years to make a bigger dent with those folks.

Out of the blue, John Calipari arrives in KY as the UK coach. Within 2 weeks of being named UK coach, he had forged a stronger relationship with John Schnatter (sp) than the UK brass could manage in 5 years. The "Papa" hosted a dinner in Louisville in honor of Cal 3 weeks later. IN THE CITY OF LOUISVILLE!!!!!!!!

Since then, Papa Johns gives more to UK than at any other time in their business relationship.

Need more?

One of the first things John Calipari told Barnhart upon arrival was that he needed a new dorm or "Lodge" for the team. The current one was obsolete in his opinion. About 2 months later UK told him that an exploratory committee had reached out to donors, but the money simply wasn't there.

John Calipari then hits the road HIMSELF going to meet with alumni and former donors. Within 3 weeks he had commitments from people to donate enough to build the new "Coal Lodge".

Simply put, guys....we have the poorest fund raisers in the last 50 years running UK athletics. UK football will not be fixed without money. UK's current administration can't raise money. Not a good combination. LOL