Tulsa coach Steve Kragthorpe is expected to be named the new coach at Louisville, a source told CBS SportsLine.com.
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| Get a good look, Cards fans: Steve Kragthorpe is likely the new face of UL football. (US Presswire) |
At a press conference Monday, Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich said Monday that he expects to move quickly to replace Petrino. Jurich said the list of potential candidates was "very short" but did not identify any specific coaches.
"I'm going to rely on my gut a lot," Jurich said. "I want somebody that's gotten a proven track record. I'm not going to talk about those names."
Jurich met with Louisville players Monday afternoon to assure them a coach would be hired quickly.
"The main message was just to trust him," said center Eric Wood. "He said in the next couple days he'd like to have us all looking our new coach in the eye."
Wood said he heard Sunday from former New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms, whose son Matt has verbally committed to Louisville, that Kragthorpe was a leading candidate.
"Phil said that with this guy we'll be in good hands with him, and we'll be fine if he comes here," Wood said.
The Louisville Athletic Association Board of Directors' personnel committee has scheduled a meeting for Tuesday at 4 p.m. in case a candidate is selected. Any new hire must be approved by the committee. Sports information director Kenny Klein said Jurich will be interviewing candidates on Tuesday and the meeting could be pushed back if a finalist is not selected.
Whomever Jurich hires must move quickly to convince junior quarterback Brian Brohm and injured running back Michael Bush to return. Both players have until Jan. 15 to decide whether to enter the NFL Draft.
Brohm, the MVP of Louisville's win against No. 15 Wake Forest in the Orange Bowl, is considered one of college football's top quarterbacks. Bush, who broke his right leg in Louisville's season-opening win over Kentucky, has applied for a medical redshirt that would give him another year of eligibility.
"I hope a lot of these guys don't jump to any rash decisions," Wood said. "It's a long offseason ahead of us. This happens at all big programs, and we just have to bounce back from it."
Petrino's departure comes in the middle of recruiting season, and with national signing day less than a month away Jurich knows the sooner he names a successor to Petrino, the faster the new coach will be able to hit the recruiting trail.
