Hell in the Hall – Louisville Sports Blog

I assure you:   This is NOT a rumor about Jon Gruden coming to U of L.

This is simply one man’s reasoned ruminations, one might say, as a business owner —and a former owner of a exec search firm.  If I was Tom Jurich, I would:

• Give my current Koach his 3rd year with certain expectations about the team at least  playing hard and showing progress.
• As TJ, I might even have seen a few good things in that defeat to UK. But …the second half of that Pitt game might have really pissed me off, since our team quit playing hard and in effect gave up.
• I would have decided to start the search process then, given the 1-2 record at that time, and the ugliness of the Pitt game.

• I’d concentrate on my #1 target, and make him an offer.  I think TJ’s #1 target is Gruden.  I think I’d offer him somewhere around, oh say,  $3.8 mil/yr.
• While negotiations are going on with #1 candidate,  I’d still be in on-going contact with my other top candidates too.
• If my top candidate  committed, I’d have him start lining up his staff right now, so they could hit the ground running immediately on recruiting, etc. as soon as a coaching change was announced.
• If the #1 target is indeed Jon Gruden,  I’d probably allow him to  make his brother, Jay Gruden, the OC, because of his proven track record and history with U of L.  I might also allow him to bring in  others he is familiar with, that have U of L connections and proven records of success– say someone like a Mark Sander.

• I would have Coach Nord handle most of the visits and contacts with recruits right now– he is the one most likely to be retained from the current coaching staff.  I’d have him emphasize the recruit is committing to U of L, not the coaching staff.

• Once negotiations are concluded with my #1 candidate, I’d be ready to announce it at any time–but I’d probably wait until the current Koach is statistically assured of a losing season.  This may occur as soon as after the Syracuse game, or almost surely after we play South Florida.
• So, if I was Jurich, I’d probably be ready to make my announcement as soon as the South Florida game…which happens to also be where my #1 target, Jon Gruden, lives.
• And if my #1 coaching candidate had committed to U of L by that South Florida game, well then  heck, I think I’d make my announcement then, just so I wouldn’t lose any time on recruitment.

Yep, now that I think about it some, that’s what I believe I would do if I was Tom Jurich…