Long winter gives Cards time to work on what went wrong in '07

Louisville coach Steve Kragthorpe didn't expect his first season with the Cardinals to end in November.

But even a stirring rally in the season-finale against Rutgers did little to take the sting off a disappointing 6-6 debut that left Louisville home during bowl season for the first time in a decade.

Close games. Blowouts. Upsets. The Cardinals found maddening ways to lose in 2007. The last-second shocker at Kentucky. The stunner at home to Syracuse. The blown 10-point lead at Connecticut and the nightmarish 38-point loss at South Florida.

Louisville's six losses this season were more than in the previous three years combined, not exactly the honeymoon fans expected when Kragthorpe replaced Bobby Petrino last January and hometown hero Brian Brohm opted to stick around for his senior season.

Things slid downhill so quickly Kragthorpe was forced to call an impromptu news conference the day before Thanksgiving to deny rumors that he was mulling a job offer from lowly Southern Methodist because the pressure of coaching the Cardinals was taking a toll.

Fans, frustrated by the apparent step back taken by one of the nation's emerging programs, left early or didn't come at all. There were visible red swaths of open seats at Cardinal Stadium after Louisville's 20-game home winning streak came to an end against the Orange.

When Brian Brohm and kicker Art Carmody lifted Louisville to a 41-38 win over Rutgers last week, the stands were less than half full as Carmody's game-winning field goal sailed through the uprights.

"I accept the fact I didn't do as good a job as I needed to to put this team in position to win more football games," Kragthorpe said. "Certainly I know a lot of people who are frustrated. ... I'm going to do everything I can to work as hard as I possibly can to win more ballgames next year."

It won't be easy. The Cardinals lose Brian Brohm and wide receiver Harry Douglas -- the heart of an offense that finished eighth in the country in yards per game. The defense loses more than half of its starters, though looking for replacements on a unit that finished 93rd in points allowed might not be a bad thing.

"There is a lot to be found out, a lot of unknowns going into the 2008 season," Kragthorpe said.

Kragthorpe answered a couple of the questions early. The team released defensive coordinator Mike Cassity on Sunday, and offensive coordinator Charlie Stubbs resigned.

Jeff Brohm, a former Louisville quarterback and Brian's older brother, will call the plays as coordinator next season. He was assistant head coach and passing game coordinator this year.

Though Kragthorpe said he's likely to keep the same system in place next year, he's unsure who will step in to fill the void. Quarterback Hunter Cantwell, who played well in relief of Brohm in 2005 and 2006, would seem to be poised to finally take control. Redshirt freshman Matt Simms also waiting in the wings.

"Hunter is not the starting QB in 2008," Kragthorpe said. "He'll have the opportunity to compete for that position ... but he's not going to be named starting QB today and he knows that."

Cantwell, at least, has some name recognition and experience. The same can't be said at other positions like tight end, offensive line and linebacker, all of which have been hit hard by graduation or been thinned due to transfers or disciplinary issues.

"The four previous recruiting classes before I got here, there are 43 guys who are no longer in our program, and I'm not talking about guys who graduated or went to the NFL," Kragthorpe said. "We've got to get some guys in here that can play quickly because we don't have a lot of experienced players or depth coming back."

Kragthorpe has been careful not to blame the team's discipline problems on Petrino, but several players struggled to stay out of Kragthorpe's doghouse after he took over. A handful of players were dismissed from the team in Kragthorpe's first year while several others served short suspensions for violating team rules.

"I'm going to give a guy a certain set of rules, and I expect those rules to be followed," he said. "If those rules aren't followed, then I'm going to to punish you by taking away playing time. That's a last resort.

"You sting them on the tail one time, they go, 'Oh, maybe I won't do that anymore."'

The players refused to place blame on Kragthorpe, saying Louisville's fall out of the preseason Top 10 toward the muddled middle of the Big East was their fault.

Brian Brohm, who threw for 4,024 yards and a school-record 30 touchdowns, said there was never any infighting among the Cardinals even as the season crumbled.

"This team, we never quit," he said. "We lost quite a few close games. We tried to come back in some of them and have some heroic comebacks and wins, but we never gave up."

Maybe, but Kragthorpe knows he'll need to make progress during his second season. The Cardinals will likely begin the year without the pressure of having to live up to a Top 10 ranking, but in an era where the window for coaches to prove themselves if growing ever smaller, Kragthorpe said winning is the only way to silence the skeptics.

"We all know what this industry is all about, we all know the volatility of it," he said. "We all chose to get into it and we all love it. Any pressure people put on you from an outside standpoint pales in comparison to the pressure you put on yourself and the drive you have to succeed."