Louisville football: Examining where Bobby 2.0 went wrong

I believe Bobby Petrino is not just a good football coach, but a great one. But for Louisville football the question has to be asked, where did it go south? What went wrong with Bobby 2.0?

It pains me to write this article as I’m one who believes in Bobby Petrino. I think if given the opportunity and ability to surround himself with some more proven staff, I think things would turn around rather quickly for Louisville football and Bobby Petrino.

Like I said, I think he’s a great football coach. Always has been. He didn’t just lose that ability overnight. His inability to attract and keep seasoned, desirable staff though has been troublesome and telling during his second stint.

Players being honest will tell you they dislike certain football coaches, but they dislike change and turnover even more. There’s been A LOT of turnover in Bobby Petrino’s second stint. Just look at how different the staff is this year in comparison to when Bobby arrived 5 years ago. Look at all the coaches and staff that have departed. It’s hard to build a consistent winner with so much turnover.

Bobby Petrino’s first staff included the likes of Garrick McGee (offensive coordinator), Todd Grantham (defensive coordinator), Terrell Buckley (DB coach), Lamar Thomas (WR coach), Tony Grantham (OLB coach), Chris Klenakis (OL coach), and numerous other experienced coaches.

It’s not really a hot take to say the current assistant coaching staff have an experience issue. The first couple of seasons of Bobby 2.0 had the kind of seasoned resumes you’d expect to comprise a major Power 5 football program. Yet you look at the staff under Bobby today and there’s multiple assistants with little to no D1 coaching experience, outside of a well traveled Brian VanGorder and Mike Summers.

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While on paper, the average number of years of experience per coach is almost identical between today’s staff and the staff from five years ago, it’s a bit misleading. Half of the assistants on staff now (5 positional coaches) have less than seven years previous coaching experience. Four of those coaches less than five years previous coaching experience and for two of those UofL is their first job as a position assistant coach.

Louisville is not a spot where coaches should be getting broken in at their first gig. This isn’t Conference USA. IT’S THE ACC! This is big time football. Heck! I’d say the same for really any Power 5 football program.

Even at the traditionally bad Power 5 football programs like Kansas, Rutgers, IU and UK who are perennially mediocre it would be hard to justify some of the coaches we have on staff. They’re just not ready. It’s nothing against them, but a Power 5 job just isn’t a job you generally jump into with little to no experience and succeed.

It’s not to say that all of them aren’t earning their salary, or haven’t risen to the challenge. I’m just saying as a fan, I may have overlooked some of the people who were inexperienced and on staff because I trusted Bobby. It now appears some of that faith may have been misplaced.

Maybe this staff is full of a bunch of assistant coaches that will be highly sought after years to come? Only time will tell, but as it stands right now, I don’t see it. You just don’t see the player development (evidenced by the lack of players being drafted in the past 2 NFL Drafts), nor the level of improvement we should be seeing week to week.

Some of these coaches if we’re being fair should currently be building their resumes at non-Power 5 conference football programs, and maybe even a few of should be coaching in smaller roles. They should be gaining experience and heightening their coaching acumen. Learning the different nuances and minutiae of the coaching game.

The competition at the Power 5 level is just too great on and off the field and the expectations that come with it are even greater. You’ve got to be able to deliver in all facets of the job and not all 10 assistants are doing that.

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I think Bobby has been forced to gamble on younger, inexperienced coaches because whether fair, or not, Bobby has been labeled as “difficult to work with.” There’s all sorts of speculation out there that former defensive coordinator Todd Grantham almost left after the first year of Bobby 2.0 to take a job with the Raiders because of these issues.

Ultimately, it was he and Bobby’s inability to work alongside one another that caused Grantham to leave after year three and land down in Starkville, MS. In turn we swapped defensive coordinators with Mississippi State which gave us the great gift of Peter Sirmon and we all know how that turned out.

If you’re into believing rumors, it’s apparently part of the reason why young aspiring recruiter and former LB Coach Cort Dennison chose to leave. As well as former recruiting coordinator Stephen Field. Both left to join Mario Cristobal’s staff out west at Oregon, but I digress.

If there’s one thing that’s for certain, it’s the mutuality between Bobby and each of his assistant coaches. Almost every single current assistant staff member either has a previous working relationship with Bobby and/or is a family member. Also just about every coach that has arrived on staff to replace one of the original Bobby 2.0 coaching staff fits that criteria. That’s a concerning red flag if you ask me.

Lastly, Bobby might be a victim of his own ghost. I think when Bobby was brought back and the Bobby 2.0 era came to be, many of us just assumed that the old Bobby was coming back. While there certainly have been some great times (and I’m extremely appreciative of all of them), something has always seemed a bit off. The whole thing just hasn’t ever fully materialized and come to fruition.

Bobby 2.0 has developed a reputation for being unorganized and undisciplined. Neither adjective I’ve ever found to be synonymous with Bobby Petrino football anywhere. When I think Bobby Petrino football, I think surgical precision, balanced, disciplined football.

Bobby Petrino says the staff was calling out a phrase that means the same thing for both a personnel grouping and a formation, which confused the players and led to four illegal substitution penalties.
— Jeff Greer (@jeffgreer) September 2, 2018

One thing that we as fans probably underestimated was just how essential that assistant coaching staff was to the Bobby 1.0 era. Paul Petrino, Mike Summers, Jeff Brohm, Greg Nord, Mike Cassity, Joe Whitt, Kevin Wolthausen. These guys were able to remain and work together for basically all 4 years and provide Bobby 1.0 stability. That stability helped them cultivate an environment of success.

They also did a great job of coaching up/maximizing talent and developing countless players who had long successful careers in the NFL. Even more telling is after they left UofL, they went on to be successful assistant staffers at other P5/NFL organizations as well.

At this point, Bobby 1.0 is almost like a mythical creature in Louisville folklore. Those were some great memories, but you compare it to the current state of Bobby 2.0 today and you’re hit with the stark reality that this program is not trending in the right direction.

With abysmal performances becoming the norm; an assistant staff that is practically handicapped in comparison to opposing staffs; the lack of player development/players not responding to coaching; the negative recruiting effect we’re beginning to see in the 2019 class. It’s not trending the way anyone wants.

If Bobby could shake up the staff and land the type of assistants needed to right the ship, you could make a case for another year. I just don’t see that happening after this season and sadly I believe we’re witnessing the final days of Bobby 2.0.

I obviously don’t want to speak for them, but I think off record many of the staff would tell you they understand this isn’t where the program should be. I also think they’d be able to identify numerous reasons as to “what went wrong with Bobby 2.0.” I hate it and I don’t want to see the Bobby era end this way.

Maybe I’m in the minority, but frankly I don’t care. I have a lot of respect for Bobby Petrino and his staff. All the hard work and sacrifice they’ve put in for our university and our community should be applauded. Bobby and his assistant staff have delivered us a ton of great times and memorable moments, including our first ever Heisman Trophy winner.

Next. 4 goals for the final four games of the season. dark

They’ve all worked hard, but there’s too many shortcomings in the program as a whole to ignore. If these last few games are it for Bobby and his staff at UofL, I hope the fans are as appreciative of everything and wish them all the best of luck in the future as I do.

– GO CARDS!

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