Jurich: Petrino sees UofL as 'destination job'
After giving football coach Bobby Petrino a contract extension and a raise during the spring, Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich said Wednesday that he believes in Petrino's second tenure with the school that the coach considers U of L a "destination job."
During his first stint at Louisville from 2003-07, Petrino was repeatedly mentioned as a candidate for other jobs before he ultimately left for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. But Petrino said in April after signing a contract extension through June 2023 that U of L "is where I want to be (and) the place I want to finish my career."
Jurich said Wednesday that he has seen a difference in the coach's approach during his second stint.
"He's been here almost three years, and he's done a phenomenal job," Jurich said Wednesday on host Howie Lindsey's "Louisville First" program on WKRD-790. "I couldn't expect any more from him, and he certainly has, I think, exceeded all our expectations. He's come into a very tough spot. He had a lot of eyes on him. He's been able to handle that and done a great job with it. He's been able to build a program the way we want it to be built."
Jurich said Petrino "obviously (is) going to be a lightning rod for a lot of things," citing as an example the coach's move in 2015 to inform South Carolina running back Matt Colburn that he would have to grayshirt to play for the Cardinals.
"Those (types of scrutiny) are going to come with the territory, and we're well-prepared for that," Jurich said. "But the great thing about him is he's matured so much. He's very much at peace with himself. The thing I like about him is he's not lost his fire at all. He's probably a much better coach than he was the first time around because I think he sees things differently. His glasses are a little clearer now. I think this is a destination place that he's at now."
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Jurich also revealed that during Petrino's first stint at U of L that the coach turned down a $25 million offer to become the coach of the Oakland Raiders. Jurich didn't specify which year that occurred.
"You have to remember that he was a very young coach when I hired him, and everybody was pulling at him," Jurich said. "Everybody wanted him to be their head coach, including the NFL. I remember getting a contract for him from (Raiders owner) Al Davis for five years, $25 million, on my desk, signed by Al Davis, to be the coach of the Oakland Raiders, that (Petrino) turned down. Those stories never got out there. He had everybody pulling at him. So how could you not be different this go-around?
"I think a lot of things have helped him, a lot of his maybe obstacles have helped him, to say it nicely. But I think the great thing he sees now is that this is truly a destination place, a great destination job. I think it's one of the best jobs in college sports. I think it's one of the best jobs in college football, and I think he's very, very happy here."
Jurich prefers 8 ACC games
In other football matters, Jurich told Lindsey that he prefers the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule remain at eight league games. On the heels of the impending launch of the ACC Network in 2019, the league's administrators have been pondering whether to move to nine conference games or stay at eight while mandating that teams must play two other power-conference opponents each year.
Jurich said he prefers the latter because U of L already is set to face one power-conference foe - Kentucky - every year and is scheduled to play Notre Dame every five years as well.
"I want to have the flexibility to schedule a couple nonconference games that we can truly play," Jurich said. "I want to make sure that if we do play an FCS team that we play a local-area team because that helps their programs quite a bit and something I've always believed. I feel that way because I've been at those schools. I've been at Northern Arizona and know what it feels like to get a paycheck to make your budget work.
"... I think it's important that we help out Eastern Kentucky, Western Kentucky, Murray State, Indiana State, Southern Illinois, whomever it may be in this area."
Jurich said, however, that he's "not married" to playing only eight conference games and that he'll continue to listen to the debate in the league.