Return of Big Red Louie: It’s a New Day In Louisville

It’s been almost one year exactly since BRL, aka, The Big Red Louie, was providing Louisville fans with fresh content. That stops today. Ladies & gentleman of CardNation… We’re back.

Man, what a year it has been for the University of Louisville. So many ups, and unfortunately, quite a few downs. The seasons had been filled with much fun, many unforgettable moments, yet so much frustration, and an abundance of head shaking. In all honesty, I can’t remember a season quite like this one.

For those of you who are wondering “who’s this guy resurrecting BRL back from the grave?” here’s my story.

I was raised right here in this beautiful city I call home. I grew up digesting nothing but Louisville sports. At a very young age, my mom put me in Louisville gear, tossed me a Louisville basketball and a hoop and well, the rest is history.

I went to games at Freedom Hall and I can remember the smell of roasted peanuts like it was yesterday. I reminisce on playing basketball in my number 32 jersey; pretending to kick my leg out, just like my favorite player Francisco Garcia. All I wanted to do was go to the University of Louisville as a student-athlete, and one day work with or for UofL athletics. I peeked as an athlete at an early age, but I would be blessed with an opportunity to go on to do the rest.

As a young fan, I got to experience so much triumph. I was 9 years old when the Cards went to the Final 4 for the first time in ages. I was in 6th grade when I went to the Orange Bowl in Miami and watched local superstars that I idolized (Mike Bush & Brian Brohm) win their first BCS Game since the early 90’s. This all prepared me for what I was going to be apart of as a future student at the University of Louisville.

In my sophomore year at UofL, I got to see things that most students at their respective schools could only dream of. In the span of one year, I was in the building for the opening of the Cards new arena, the KFC Yum! Center. Shortly thereafter, UofL made it to their first Final Four since 2005 with a team that caught everyone by surprise. Then I watched one of my favorite players in Louisville history lead the Cards to a Sugar Bowl victory over the University of Florida, in a game that expected to be a blow out.

I remember saying to myself, “I hope I get to watch my team win a National Championship before I die.” Next came along something that I never thought would happen in my wildest dreams.

Nothing will take away from the night of April 8, 2013. I had lost my best friend just a month prior. Being the cardinal fan that he was, he was buried in his red Louisville hoodie along with a Louisville basketball signed by the 2012-2013 team. That night meant something special to me, and it will never be forgotten. I cried like a baby as I watched the streamers fall on my beloved as they celebrated the school’s first title since 1986 in Atlanta. That win wasn’t just for me; it was for my buddy that would’ve been cheering them on right beside me.

I walked across the stage in December of 2015 as a proud alumnus, knowing that I had witnessed the “glory years” of the Louisville Cardinals. I was a part of “The Year Of The Cardinal.”

Everything just meant more.

But little did I know darkness lie ahead…

I was an employee at the KFC Yum! Center the day Rick Pitino, Tom Jurich and the University of Louisville administration announced that they would be self-imposing a tournament ban due to allegations of a sex scandal; in which a female escort alleged that a Louisville staff member paid her and other escorts to strip and have sex with players and potential recruits.

I watched that press conference with a few former Louisville players and staff members of the athletic department who could not believe what they were watching. And if I’m being honest, none were more hurt than I. I felt like I had been stabbed in the back by my own school. This was personal.

Over the coming years it seemed like the University of Louisville couldn’t figure out how to get out of its own way. The President of the University resigned after allegations of corruption inside of the school. Then the Governor of the state of Kentucky removed the Board of Trustees with executive orders in 2016, replacing them with “handpicked members.”

Next was the Notice of Allegations from the NCAA and a penalty from the “KP” (I refuse to say her name on this site) scandal, that rocked not only the University of Louisville, but its players, the fan base, and the entire city of Louisville. The banner that was earned by players who loved this University, who gave their blood, sweat, and tears to Coach Rick Pitino, to each other, and to the fan base, would be forced to come down. Wins would be vacated. And plenty of other stiff financial penalties would be enforced. UofL had hit rock bottom…

Then in September 2017, an FBI Investigation that came out of nowhere, revealed the dark under belly of College Basketball. Several schools and coaches were named as having been a part of “bribery” and “pay for play” scandals. A handful of assistant coaches were arrested and things got serious… fast. This wasn’t the NCAA coming for wins or financial penalties. This was the windbreaker wearing, bust your door down with no hesitation, FBI.

And of course… there Louisville was, right in the middle. AGAIN. My school was about to become the poster child and face of the biggest case against college sports in the history of amateur athletics.

That led to the firing of Head Basketball Coach Rick Pitino and the best Athletic Director in the country, Tom Jurich. That officially became the darkest day in Louisville sports history. The images of Tom Jurich and Rick Pitino walking down the stairs from Grawemeyer Hall, a place I had been in and around plenty of times, was almost scaring.

However, as we would soon come to hear, better and brighter days were ahead. A famous Philosopher of Athletics once said, “The darkest clouds produce the brightest lightning bolts.”

New days were ahead and ladies & gentleman we are in them now!

Louisville athletics will never go away. They can’t be diminished. They can’t kill us off. No NCAA punishments, no coach hiring or firing, no scandals, no drama in administration, no Board of Trustees, or Athletic Board can ever bring down the powerhouse of Louisville sports.

As long as people like me and the countless others who breathe, eat, drink, and sleep all things UofL are around to talk about Louisville Athletics, this place will thrive. There is no other town in America like this one.

With new Athletic Director Vince Tyra at the helm, along with the other 20+ coaches who dedicate themselves to this University and its athletes, brighter days are ahead people!

Big Red Louie will be here every step of the way. Providing you with fresh, compelling, and entertaining content centered around one thing… The University of Louisville.

I hope you’ll join us on this roller coaster ride that is Louisville sports. We’re going to have a blast, and we think you will too.

Godspeed.

Jacob Lane