Monday, April 9, 2012

UK has full blown case of the Krags

Three more players have left the UK football team, including former Central standout Tim Patterson who Strong and Joker once tussled over and whose landing was a super-mega-major big deal at the time.

Still stinging from the loss of their most talented assistant in Tee Martin, Patterson now departs the defense, along with sophomores Justin Henderson and Nermin Delic who were booted for violating team rules. That brings the total to seven players that have left last year's team for reasons other than graduation.

Something is clearly amiss with Operation Win, most notably absent the "winning" part. It nearly parallels UofL's situation under Kragthorpe. Joker Phillips is not "the guy", it's quite clear to everyone he is not "the guy", yet they cannot pull the trigger because of those unwritten coaching laws that mandate everyone gets a certain amount of time before you can be proactive about finding "the guy".

While UK's failures never make me unhappy, I do think Joker is a classy man and a decent coach; it's tough to see anyone go through such prolonged punishment. It's like watching an insect slowly get its limbs torn off. Whatever is going on down there, however, Charlie Strong's famous words about "never losing to them again" are beginning to look less boastful and more like realism.

And if Tim Patterson wants to correct his mistake and come home, I'm sure Linebacker U can make room for one more.
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2 comments:

  1. Joker will get the axe at the end of next season and it will be VERY interesting to see what becomes of Bobby Petrino. I have no doubts that UK would pursue him HARD. And based on where they're at, I can't say I'd blame them.

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    1. I agree I think that prospect is at least on the table. For the lonnnnng list of Bobby Petrino's failings, none of them are for running a dirty program. He's the King of All Weasels, for sure, but none of his many transgressions are really automatic disqualifiers. And you make a good point about "where they're at" and desperate times call for desperate measures, etc. Recall UK was once "above" hiring John Calipari before the Billy Clyde fiasco. But when you're on a losing trajectory, you'll get into bed with some strange fellows to turn things around.

      And finally, I don't think you can overestimate the "sticking it to UofL fans" fervor that the move would presumably generate. I think it plays a bigger role than most would care to admit.

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Mr. Red is also known as Timothy Johnstone. He is a graduate of the University of Louisville.

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