Wednesday, September 16, 2015

No More Mr. Nice Guy



By Raashaan Myers

     There is something different about Bobby Petrino 2.0. I was very excited when it was announced he had been chosen to come back for a second stanza as the University of Louisville head football coach as many where. While he definitely had some fences to mend and deal with venom and hate from both the local/national media and opposing fanbases. There was no doubt that Bobby was both the best and correct man for the job leading the Cardinal program into their voyage to the big time pigskin spotlight of the ACC. Now one season and 2 games into Coach Petrino's Back to the Future there are both things I like and dislike so far that are manifesting itself so far. All that being said there is one thing that definitely needs to change. The UofL football program needs Bobby Petrino to lay down the white hat and again wear the black hat. The Cards NEED mean Bobby back!

     It almost reminds me of those popular commercials "Hi I'm Bobby 1.0 and I have DirectTV, and I'm Bobby 2.0 and I have Cable". Well I'm here to tell you I am already tired of Bobby the Cable Guy and am ready to see the beast back on the sidelines. While I appreciate that upon his return Bobby did all the things necessary with the situation at hand being very open and available to the media, fans, and boosters. He was very candid and engaging in interviews and tried to be a much more likeable guy. That’s all fine and good but it seems to me that some of that Mr. Nice Guy has creeped into the locker room and may be the reason for some of the issues manifesting themselves on the football field.

     I could several former Petrino 1.0 players as friends that I have talked to and had conversations with and one overriding notion was apparent. Bobby demanded perfection from his guys and there was no room for debate. If a guy missed a blocking assignment he would immediately be yanked and given the 3rd degree and a 2nd offense would mean possible loss of your job. If a wide receiver dropped a pass no matter the difficulty of the catch because your job is to run the route to perfection and catch the ball. And turnovers? If you turned the ball over once you may not see the field again the rest of the game! This time around it seems to be more of asking for perfection and accepting less than. There was a good healthy amount of fear in making a mistake under the old regime that just doesn't to seem as prevalent. I think that mistakes right now still frowned upon, but I don't see the same rule with an iron fist as there was before.

     Now I don't want to make it seem like all that ills UofL will be taken care of by an attitude change but I do think that more swift and stern justice will help to clean up some of the issues. But the fact of the matter is that the offensive line while improving still has a LONG way to go and settling on a quarterback as well as a style of play that fits that quarterback need to be worked out as well. But at this point one thing is for sure. The old Bobby could really give this young UofL team a nice little boost of much needed attitude.

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