Posts Tagged ‘tom jurich’

At his Thursday morning press conference, Charlie Strong formally announced that he would be staying at Louisiville. But what he also did, whether he realized it or not, was show the importance of the relationship between a head coach and an athletic director in a successful football program. 

After nine moves in 26 years as an assistant (including four different stays at Florida), it was Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich that gave Charlie Strong 

"(Louisville AD) Tom Jurich gave me my first chance to be a head coach," Strong explained. "I had been on short lists, but Tom made it clear I was the only one on his list."

Strong led Louisville to a 7-6 record in his first two seasons at Louisville. After boosting the Cardinals to a 10-2 record and Orange Bowl berth this fall, other suitors came calling. Tennessee, in particular, put a strong effort to lure Strong away. 

"When I thought about leaving, I kept going back to 'we haven't finished the job yet.'," Strong explained. "So much has happened in the program and so much has been built in this athletic program because of Tom Jurich."

In case you aren't familiar with the history of Louisville athletics, Yahoo!'s Pat Forde last week detailed just how far Jurich has taken the Cardinals' program. This was a school that needed an intervention from then-Conference USA commissioner Mike Slive from being kicked out of the league. Now, they're preparing for an all-sports move to the ACC. 

"He's provided us with everything we need to succeed and he's done that for all of our sports," said Strong.

Jurich is scheduled for his own press conference later Thursday morning to detail Strong's extension. As has become the norm in today's college football, compensation for assistant coaches will be a key factor in keeping Strong in red and black.

"Tom and I haven't even sat down to talk about the details of the contract," said Strong. "I do want to make sure my assistants are taken care of."

Louisville AD Tom Jurich sat down with reporters earlier today to talk about his initial interview with Charlie Strong back before officially bringing him on in board in December of 2009.

Jurich said that he did all of the homework that he could possibly do on Charlie Strong, including calling Urban Meyer and Tony Dungy to get their thoughts, so when it came time to ask questions Jurich had just one question and three rules.

Jurich drove up to Strong's house to meet the day after Florida had played Alabama in the SEC title game to sit and talk and told Strong that he had three rules before they got started. Number one was that he didn't want to see any books, because "all coaches carry around the same recycled book". Number two was that he had to interview in sweats, or at least be comfortable in "Levi's and a golf shirt". The third rule was that he wanted Strong to have his entire family there.

Once Jurich sat down in front of Strong, he opened up with his one and only question.

"Before we get started, do you want to be the head coach at Louisville?"

Taken aback a bit, Strong finally answered "Yes". They then spent the next five hours hashing out how they were going to build the program back up.

Listen to more of the story from Jurich below. Really fascinating stuff in here, and that story is just the tip of the iceberg.

Numerous reports throughout the day state that Charlie Strong is close to signing an extension to keep him at Louisville, and after hearing this behind the scenes story, it's easy to see why Strong feels so strong about Louisville and the people there. Strong weighs in on what makes Jurich a special person to work for at the 6 minute mark.