By Charlie Leffler
He has run with the bulls in Spain. He has jumped from an airplane and parachuted to the ground. Next year he may be going skiing in the Alps. Yet, the most adventurous deed of daring-do ever performed by football head coach John L. Smith may have been to travel to Lexington to meet with Cardinal fans.
This past Friday, Smith along with several of his assistant coaches made the trek into the heart of Wildcat country to meet with U of L alumni and drum up support for all of Louisville athletics. “We’re on enemy territory down here,” said Smith.
“It’s good for our fans though,” Smith added, “at least for the Cardinal people that have to live down here in Big Blue country, they suffer. So, it’s good to come down and see them at least once a year to show them some support like they show you.”
“It’s usually pretty good when we come down here,” said Smith. “I guess misery loves company… with what they’re going through. When you have to put up with what they do and fight through it all like they do, you’d better show them some support.”
On the Wildcat faithful web site someone tried to organize a protest march against the Cardinal invasion of Lexington but the message only got eight responses. There were no actual protesters to the coach’s presence but one Wildcat-blue clad lady waved her hand in disgust and walked away when she saw the event.
A definite sign of how far the football program has progressed under Smith was when he joked about the rivalry with Kentucky. “They told me when I came here I only had to win one game,” Smith said to the crowd. “Is that right?” The crowd responded with a unanimous ‘no’. “Oh, you’re changing the story now,” Smith replied. Even the fans in Lexington realize the Louisville football program has gone beyond the point of placing the emphasis of the season on a single game to reaching for national prominence.
Smith also emphasized the University of Louisville athletics is not only about football and basketball. The coach urged the Lexington fans to come support all Cardinal athletics. “It’s a legit product of good young men and women that are student athletes,” said Smith. “We need your support only in football and basketball but in everything that we do. There’s good people done there and some darn good products so come and see us.”
This past week, the newly hired athletic director at the University of Kentucky made the comment of UK getting back to ‘owning the state’. The statement was a direct jab at Louisville but also a sign that Kentucky realizes they no longer are the state-wide dominant program that they once were.
Therefore, Louisville is looking to reach out into areas that had previously been unthought of to find new fans. Just a few short years ago such a trip into Lexington most likely would have generated an organized protest but today the state-wide influence of Cardinal athletics is rivaling that of UK. “Tom Jurich said that we have to take the university out to the people,” said Smith. “You can’t just sit there in Louisville and let everybody come to you.”
“It’s great, it’s awesome to do that and I think it builds support,” said Smith. “And we need to build support. The more people we get on our side the better shape we’re going to be in. So, it’s a two way street. You can’t just sit there in your little ivory tower and expect people to come to you. Let’s go out and drum up support.”
Not only was the trip to Lexington important for the area fans, but the Cardinal presence in the area has it’s recruiting benefits as well. High school players throughout the state have come to realize that Louisville is the premier program in Kentucky and they are glad to see the school’s influence expanding.
“It’s vital that we come down here,” said Smith. “We do have a number of players from here, we have fans here, we have great support here, we have an alumni base here. The call that we get is that as a university we have to come in here more. Show them more attention than we’ve done. So, it’s good to get down here and do that. They have to put up with the Big Blue crowd and it’s tough on them.”
So, how does coming to Lexington compare with his other fantastic feats? “I don’t know,” said Smith, “this is more work, those were kind of adventures. This one’s not in there with those.”
