Congrats on Getting Backyard Brawl

[Sultan__of__Swine]

Really was happy to see the news this morning on ESPN that the Backyard Brawl is back! For those of us who love college football in general this is really nice to see two schools keep alive such an interesting series.

I would think this could be a first step in hopefully opening the doors to get WVU into the ACC!

 

[WiiWii]

We play big boy football. You can keep that ACC invite.

 

[COOL MAN]

Hey Swine.....speaking of rivalry games (and I don't know your age).......do you have any perspective as to how much the politicians intervened to get UL and UK back to playing again full-time ??

I presume the matchup was historically viewed by UK fans much as we Mountaineer fans view a similar game with Marshall. Of course, UL eventually began.....when Schellenberger finally arrived, I guess.....its institutional move forward toward the critical mass it ultimately achieved on and off the football field. Marshall isn't even remotely blessed with the kind of juice that UL has....financially or public support-wise......so we have the luxury of maintaining our current obstinance toward the entire idea.

Anyway, I guess I just figure it initially took political pressure to get the series restarted permanently back (I think) in the early 90's.....and presumably without Cawood Ledford and Ralph Hacker's blessing :wink:

 

[Sultan__of__Swine]

Hey Swine.....speaking of rivalry games (and I don't know your age).......do you have any perspective as to how much the politicians intervened to get UL and UK back to playing again full-time ??

I presume the matchup was historically viewed by UK fans much as we Mountaineer fans view a similar game with Marshall. Of course, UL eventually began.....when Schellenberger finally arrived, I guess.....its institutional move forward toward the critical mass it ultimately achieved on and off the football field. Marshall isn't even remotely blessed with the kind of juice that UL has....financially or public support-wise......so we have the luxury of maintaining our current obstinance toward the entire idea.

Anyway, I guess I just figure it initially took political pressure to get the series restarted permanently back (I think) in the early 90's.....and presumably without Cawood Ledford and Ralph Hacker's blessing :wink:

I heard an interview with long time UK announcer Dave Baker who said that there was pressure by those in government to renew the series in 1994. However UK's athletic director, C.M. Newton needed the game as much as UofL wanted it. At that time he had hired Bill Curry to be the Wildcats football coach and Curry was struggling. Ticket sales were lagging and Newton felt the game would benefit attendance/season tickets and help Bill Curry's perception with the fanbase by beating Louisville. Newton gambled on two fronts 1) he said that the game HAD to be played at Commonwealth Stadium up and until Louisville built a new football stadium, 2) he fully expected that UK would field an "SEC" caliber teams that would not lose to Louisville. He felt that it was a pretty safe bet that Louisville would never get their stadium before the initial series deal would be completed and that Louisville would never field a team that could beat Curry. Well it blew up in his face, as not only was Louisville competitive against UK they got their stadium built and thus locked UK into the series for the foreseeable future, Curry was fired the next season when Louisville beat UK at Commonwealth in the second game of the series.

So UofL can credit C.M. Newton with helping get Papa John's Cardinal Stadium built and elevating the overall perception of the program in the state and now nationally! Thanks UK!!!

 

[COOL MAN]

I heard an interview with long time UK announcer Dave Baker who said that there was pressure by those in government to renew the series in 1994. However UK's athletic director, C.M. Newton needed the game as much as UofL wanted it. At that time he had hired Bill Curry to be the Wildcats football coach and Curry was struggling. Ticket sales were lagging and Newton felt the game would benefit attendance/season tickets and help Bill Curry's perception with the fanbase by beating Louisville. Newton gambled on two fronts 1) he said that the game HAD to be played at Commonwealth Stadium up and until Louisville built a new football stadium, 2) he fully expected that UK would field an "SEC" caliber teams that would not lose to Louisville. He felt that it was a pretty safe bet that Louisville would never get their stadium before the initial series deal would be completed and that Louisville would never field a team that could beat Curry. Well it blew up in his face, as not only was Louisville competitive against UK they got their stadium built and thus locked UK into the series for the foreseeable future, Curry was fired the next season when Louisville beat UK at Commonwealth in the second game of the series.

So UofL can credit C.M. Newton with helping get Papa John's Cardinal Stadium built and elevating the overall perception of the program in the state and now nationally! Thanks UK!!!

That's an interesting story, SOS. I've lived in Cincinnati for 30 years......and spent a lot of time in Louisville on business (though less in Lexington)......and have never heard that. Also interesting that CM embraced the match-up; guess UK was having more trouble selling football tix in those days than might have been evident even for someone like myself in Cincy (where UL, and especially UK, get a fair amount of coverage).

Speaking of stadiums, we've seen the images of that proposed new north EZ structure at PJS. I don't get the impression.....perhaps mistaken......that UL is in all that desperate need of additional seating for the general public (though, for all I know, the project is more about luxury boxes than seats). Anyway, is there any kind of timeframe for completion; I thought I read it was a project still searching for support.

That comment actually surprised me; particularly since I've never gotten the impression TJ has had much difficulty in recent memory generating support.....either institutionally-speaking, or from the boosters.....for pretty much any facility-related project.