Initial reaction: “WHAT THE HELL, SOME THANK YOU TO TOM, HUH? AHHHHHHHH!!!!”
Then, you take a deep breath, realize you have about 1% of the story, step back, and re-evaluate.
Re-evaluation
Coach Hurtt is heading to the Chicago Bears to follow his dreams of coaching in the NFL. I am happy for him.
He left a nice note on Facebook thanking the city of Louisville. Again, Bravo. He truly enjoyed his time here. Maybe one day he will be a star power head coach and will consider coaching the Cardinals. It was a classy touch, and it makes me miss him even more.
Ok, so he’s gone – what does it all mean? Yes, he was a great recruiter, but the Coach Hurtt we have now is not the one we had between 2010-2012
The Hurtt Impact
1. The players: High impact. They just got over Strong leaving, and now this. They are kids, loyal to their coaches, so this was a double bomb. Coach Hurtt met with them, and that went a long way as the messages on twitter were gushing with gratitude. The leaders (players) of this team will rally the guys, and they’ll be fine. Jermaine Brooks I worry about the most. One of his best friends (Chane Behanan), his head coach (Strong), and his position coach (Hurtt) are all gone. Tough month for the big fella. He will rally, but as fans we always overlook the impact to the kids.
2. Long Term Recruiting: Medium Impact. You could argue this is “high impact”, but he can’t recruit now due to the “show cause” penalty, and he is a future hot commodity. Someone was going to offer him a coaching upgrade on another team soon had it not been the NFL. By the time the “show cause” had ended, he would have outgrown his D-Line coach position. So “if he wanted to remain a D-Line coach forever at UofL”, yes high impact. Not likely. The man works hard and is respected, he was going to move up the ladder. If his dream was “to stay at Louisville” – raise it to High Impact, we now know that wasn’t the case.
3. Short term recruiting: Low Impact. He can’t recruit due to ‘show cause”. We were already losing D-Lineman commits, they commit more to the head coach. When they work with Hurtt – they fall in love with him (see #1). In the short term I see marginal impact.
4. Position Coaching: Low Impact. Coach Granthum has been coaching the D-Line his whole life. Here is his background.
| 1992-1993 1994-1995 1996–1998 1999–2001 2002–2004 2005–2007 2008–2009 2010–2013 2014-present |
Virginia Tech (DE/ILB) Virginia Tech (DT) Virginia Tech (DL) Michigan State (DL) Indianapolis Colts (DL) Houston Texans (DL) Cleveland Browns (DC) Dallas Cowboys (DL) Georgia (DC) Louisville (DC) |
|---|
Any Questions?
I think Coach Hurtt is grateful Tom stood by him. I think he is grateful to fans and city.
I also think that we as fans really like coach Hurtt, so we hate saying goodbye. Although we only really know Coach Hurtt from very few interviews, and even less social media – it was clear the players were crazy about him and that is usually enough for us.
He is just chasing his dream, and I am for everyone doing that. Life is short.
Chase that dream Coach Hurtt, and thank you for all the work you did for the Red and Black.
Go Cards.
@CrumsRevenge
Latest posts by @CrumsRevenge (see all)
- Bruce Dern Reflects of Working With Kirk Douglas of ‘Posse’: “He Could Fill Up a Doorway” - January 5, 2020
- Quentin Snider: Louisville’s Man of Mettle - October 12, 2017
- GAMEDAY 2016: Louisville defeats #2 FSU - September 11, 2017