If I hear one more UL fan say that this was even partially Bobby P's fault I'm going to hit something.  You either don't know anything about football or you're too far up someone's rear to see the light.  Here are the facts:

1. BP did take some players that were questionable and may have had shaded pasts.

2. He was a dictator and had no problem telling the players that.

3. If you screwed up as a player, it was dealt with internally.  (you might end up running PJ stadium steps for getting caught after curfew, etc.)

4. Kragthorpe sends mixed messages.  Some kids that rub him the wrong way have been told to hit the door, while others who screw up on the field over and over and over again, are told "you can do it."  No, put a foot in their a## every now and then and sit them on the bench and let them watch if they don't get it....then they'll get it.....get it?

5. Kragthorpe has released or run off some of the best talent UL had.  Two cases in point.  Anthony Allen and Matt Simms.  Anthony Allen, for you that don't know, is now a RB at Georgia Tech and a fine one at that.  If I'm not mistaken he ran for 2 TDs and close to 100 yards this past weekend.  Ouch!  Matt Simms is being heavily courted by Tennessee and will most likely be signed as their number 1 or 2 QB for next season.  Tennessee for crying out loud!  (I'm a UT fan so thanks for that one)  I could name three or four others who have gone on to bigger and better things either in the pros or in college. 

The bottomline is that there were 14-15 starters from the Orange Bowl team coming back the next season.  He had a QB who was being mentioned as a Heisman candidate preseason.  He had NFL prospects galore on both sides of the ball and yet people are still saying to this day that it was BP's fault?  Please. 

This was nothing more than an AD giving the job to a mediocre mid-major coach who had NO business stepping up to the next level.  Successful coaching at this level requires split second decisions, disciplined athletes, and aggressive play calling at least some of the time on one or both sides of the ball.  You can count on both hands the number of plays that they run on offense (there may be 50 but they are so closely run they are virtually the same) and you can count on both tiems the number of times the Defense blitzes.  Its predictable, boring and it loses game after game.  That has nothing to do with the former coach, other than to say that it is the polar opposite of BP.   Steve Kragthorpe is the anti-Bobby Petrino!!!

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that UL football is in the crapper.  BUT, what UL fans need to be worried about is what happens next.  As I write this blog, Tom Jurich had better have a short list of very high profile coaches that he is in contact with about the coaching job at UL next year.  I say high profile because right now, anything less could mean the total destruction of the program for 5-10 years.

Here's why.  Even with a high profile coach like a Gruden or Tubberville, it will take at least 2 years to get things back on a winning track.  It will take two full years of recruiting classes and two full years of players learning a new system before anyone can expect to see real improvement.  That's with a high profile coach who can immediately recruit top talent.  Think Lane Kiffen at UT.  If Jurich goes after another up and coming mid-major coach, regardless of how good he is, its doomed.  The chance for that was with Kragthorpe, and we know how that turned out.  Now is the time to pull out the wallet and pay the big bucks cause that's what it will take to succeed in turning around the program. 

If he hires a Boise State, TCU, BYU type of coach, turn in your season tickets and wait for basketball season to roll around cause otherwise you're going to be watching 2-10 seasons for the next few years.  Let's just hope that Jurich learned his lesson and does what needs to be done to move past this terrible black eye on UL football.