Thursday, March 01, 2001
Louisville basketball situation crumbling
By Mike Lopresti
Gannett News Service
LOUISVILLE — No way this ends pretty.Here in presumably the last days of Denny Crum, one almost winces at the agony that is Louisville basketball.
Where Final Four teams once roamed, there is disaster on the court, civil war in the program.
A Hall of Fame coach still works the sideline, his hair unmistakably thinning, not to mention his magic.
The record is 11-18. Seven losses by at least 20 points — or four more than Denny Crum lost in his first 15 years — and nine defeats at home.
If not for the big letters across the front of the uniforms, you would not recog nize this as Louisville.
An athletic director watches, the basketball facts of life telling him something must be done.
The talk shows and letters to the editor and leaked interdepartmental memos portray a divided, besieged empire.
“The whole thing has been degrading and sad,” said Darrell Griffith, a champion from last century.
Behold the cost that sometimes comes with a legendary coach who stays for generations. An untidy sunset. A goodbye more bitter than sweet.
How do you fire an idol?
At Louisville, the bill has come due.
“Growing up,” said Tom Jurich, the 44-year-old athletic director in the eye of the storm, “Denny Crum was my idol.”
Now Louisville waits to see if he engineers a buyout of Crum's contract the last two years.
It'd cost at least $2 million. There are rumors of an offer of $3 million, maybe more, funded by boosters. Peace at any price.
The two have not spoken in a month. Only by terse memos, later leaked.
Jurich to Crum: “The thing that is hurting our recruiting is not Tom Jurich, but the performance of our program ... To be continual ly attacked by you for lack of support is appalling.”
Crum to Jurich: “Many of my colleagues have told me that they cannot believe that I have been treated like I have. If they had accomplished one-half of what I have done here, they would be heroes at their schools.”
If only the Cardinals played defense with such hostility.
Crum on Monday: “I'm trying to ignore all this stuff. Not even worry about it. Though it's hard to do that.”
Jurich on Tuesday: “I think there were things said that both parties wish were never said. Unfortunately, there's definitely been a wedge driven between Denny and I. Certainly a line drawn.”
A tale of two halves
Crum's 30-year regime can be split into halves, as precisely as an apple. The first 15 years brought six Final Fours and two national championships. The past 15 years have brought only one trip to a regional final and two NCAA probations.
Why? Everything from struggles with Proposition 48 to the 3-point shot to the loss of key assistants. And there is always the question of whether an aging coach loses something off his fastball in recruiting.
Crum says his next class is a winner. We'll see. There is a textbook response when today is lousy: Remember yesterday and promise tomorrow.
What remains on the floor is a hard question. Do you honor a fading captain by allowing him to remain with a listing ship?
Crum, at 63 and still in the only head coaching job he has ever had, thinks the glories of the past ought to mean something. Jurich sees a program that has not won an NCAA Tournament game in four years.
There seems no good reason a coach with Crum's 674 wins should exit this way. Or that Louisville basketball should disappear off the radar screen.
The dilemma is, it may be impossible to address both. This is a two-front conflict.
The rumors swirl of replacements — Iowa State's Larry Eustachy one moment, Rick Pitino the next — as if Crum were already a ghost.
It is like a bloody war that both sides stumbled into. Louisville yearns for a clean, honorable compromise. None is in sight.
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