The Right Move?

By Rob Niece

It shocked us all. We came down on our own program with strong arms and no sympathy for ourselves. But then again it is only one year. Looking at the big picture it seems like the correct move for school president Ramsey and living legend AD Tom Jurich.

But the question that fills the Louisville air at the moment is what about that players? By banning ourselves we remove two of our 5 year transfers from a chance to play in the NCAA tournament. A tournament which they have never gotten a chance to participate in, and now never will. They had nothing to do with the allegations so why let them be a part of the punishment?

This seems to be the reaction of just about every Louisville sports fan and reporter at the moment. As a former athlete, I would have been devastated and broken down by the news. I would have felt betrayed by my school. Downright disgusted.

But....This was the right move.

I am a lifelong cardinal fan. I will never cheer for another team if it effects my cards in a negative way and I will always want the boys in blue down the road to take a L. (Pun Intended) So when I say this, know it comes from someone with a red heart.

I look at the timing and how we will be affected. The news came days before the super bowl. The 50th super bowl. Maybe the biggest of all time. It contains a young, most likely hall of famer, Cam Newton vs maybe the best QB to ever play, in his last game ever, Peyton Manning. What more can you ask for? Do you really think national news will be focused on our program instead of this epic Super Bowl on Monday morning. The timing could not have been better for us.

This was the right move.

I also look long term. In the big picture we are going to miss this one year and hopefully the NCAA takes no further actions. I felt this team was solid with a lot of upside and really proved themselves against a strong #2 North Carolina team. And who knows maybe with the right seeding could have made a run for the title. But that was no guarantee, it could have went the exact opposite way. We could have gotten booted in the first round. So big picture guys, we are missing one tournament.

This was the right move.

In sports I feel we become so consumed with our team that it is very difficult for us to recognize or accept when we make a mistake. These allegations were not only morally terrible but we broke federal laws. We should be ashamed honestly. People do prison time for these types of crimes. So to say that we punished ourselves too much is something I feel we cannot say.

From all of the information I have gathered this ban from Tom Jurich came as soon as he was allowed to take actions after the investigations had been completed.

This was the right move.

Sometimes being a leader means making these gut wrenching decisions. Being a great leader isn't all glory. Everyone is happy when you are creating a power football program from literally nothing basically overnight. Not to mention when you bring in a hall of fame basketball coach to lead you back to being the powerhouse which you were in the 80s. Not to mention the success in basically every sport on campus. Not to mention bringing us from our humble C-USA days to maybe the best all around conference in sports right now. But we have seemed to turned our backs on Jurich which is maybe one his best decisions of his career here.

This was the right move.

With all of the scandals and amount of schools get in trouble how often do you see an AD take a stand and say we made a mistake and we are going to own up to it. You don't. This is what Tom Jurich did. We should applaud him.

And let me reiterate again. I feel the pain for Lee and Lewis. It is terrible for them. It was not fair for them at all. The NBA isn't fair either, players get cut and traded like property all of the time. Maybe this can be an eye opener for them to see that loyalty in sports is dead.

Hopefully they can both finish the season strong and begin their rigorous training for the NBA combine and draft. They will have more time, maybe this will give them an edge on other players who still have to finish another rough 2 months of basketball and then heal before they can train again. Who knows. Also outside of these two, will we not be losing anyone for next years. We prevented any of our players from transferring and it probably will not affect recruiting at all.

This was the right move.

So let's not be blinded by the love of our cardinals here. Let's realize these were horrible acts which were occurring on our campus and needed to be dealt with by our fearless leaders.

This was the right move.

Thanks Tom.