Now it’s time for the hard part.
For players at successful college football programs like Louisville, the spring and summer months have provided celebrations, congratulations and adulation.
Now that official drills for the 2007 grid season have begun, the off-season chatter of how great thou Cards art is being replaced by talk of what have you done for me lately.
That’s the way U of L head coach Steve Kragthorpe sees it, and it’s a philosophy he thinks most programs follow:
“Every year, it’s just like rebuilding an engine. You strip it down to the nuts and bolts - right back down to the ground floor - and build your team again because every year and every team is different,” said Kragthorpe who took over the Cardinal program just eight months ago. “I think that’s the same thing you’re seeing in the NFL with free agency and how it affects each team.”
While he’s blessed to have a roster that features 25 lettermen on offense and 25 on defense, plus four specialists, the Cards’ new coach is set to reshuffle the deck to face a tougher set of opponents under new circumstances.
“We have to start from scratch because we have a lot of players in our program who are new, a lot that have played significant roles, and a lot who will play bigger roles than ever before,” said Kragthorpe whose team opens its season with a nationally-televised game (ESPN) against Murray State on Thursday, Aug. 30.
“For the first two weeks of practice, we’re concentrating on making our team as good as it can be. Right now we’re trying to build our team and develop as much depth as we can,” said Kragthorpe. “As one of the sayings in our weight room reads: ‘Iron Sharpens Iron,' and that’s what we’re trying to do right now – sharpen each other by playing very competitive football every day we walk on the practice field. As coaches, we want to put our guys in position to become the best they can be.”
That means the time is over for media junkets, fan caravans and autograph sessions with the exception of the school’s official Kick-off Luncheon on Aug. 16.
For now, every ounce of praise for the Cards must be earned in the heat and humidity of daily workouts on the Belknap Campus because the focus has shifted from last year’s 12-1 run to the Orange Bowl title to the goal of competing for a national title.
“There’s no question that we want to play in the national championship game this year,” Kragthorpe said. “Some people will tell you that’s a bold statement, but if we don’t have that in our thought process, we don’t really need to be out there practicing.”
Winning a title is tough to do, and it always takes both talent and a bit of luck. But according to Kragthorpe, it should always be the starting point for virtually every program.
“I’ve never been in a position of going into the season without the objective of winning every game we play,” he said. “Certainly for us, there’s a long road ahead to get to that point, and that means we have to focus on getting better every day. If you take care of business with the short-term goals you have, the long-term goals will happen for you. But if you look only at the prize, you lose focus on what it takes to get where you want to go.”
Battling for the top spot this year will be a substantial challenge for the Cards in part because of the success the program has had for several years. The Cards know they’re good, but they’ll have to improve to win at places like Kentucky, N.C. State, West Virginia and South Florida where home-field advantage has proved to be a significant factor.
The situation will call for first-teamers to battle first-teamers every day, for receivers to run more precise routes than ever before, and for defensive players to somehow play with both emotion and discipline on every play.
What was good enough before won’t get the job done this season, and that will become evident when U of L faces a Kentucky team that’s been buoyed by its 8-5 campaign of a year ago. The Cards dominated 59-28 at home, but they know UK’s talent and confidence levels have changed. “That will be a big game for us,” said Kragthorpe. “Any time you get to compete in a game like this that’s been played for 14 straight years now, it’s a big deal. It’s big to people in the Commonwealth and it’s big to our program.”
At this point, however, thoughts of beating the Wildcats for the fifth consecutive time, repeating as Big East champs or making it to a BCS bowl must remain in the distance.
“The most important thing for us right now is to shape our team,” said Kragthorpe. “It doesn’t matter who we play, when we play or where we play, if we’re not the team we’re capable of being.”
After seeing his players work through spring drills, summer conditioning and a few August workouts, the Cards’ new coach believes his team’s work ethic is good.
But he warns: “If you look too far ahead, or if you look behind, you’re going to get hit in the mouth when you turn around.”
NOTE: Steiner has covered U of L sports on a daily basis for the past 23 years. He can be reached by e-mail at ron@louisville.com.
