And thanks to them and Matt Jones, who was
starting up a new radio show on a different station
in the same building, I was still able to secure a
radio gig without much downtime, becoming
Matt’s first partner on “Kentucky Sports Radio.”
Not long after that, I was tabbed as a radio host
for ESPN St. Louis.
In hindsight, it was a blessing.
I only put that story here in the interest of giving
you my version of what went down in more detail
than what was penned in the Courier Journal
story. And my story is tame compared to others
that have had less-than-favorable run-ins with
the guy who many thought was the most powerful
man in the city of Louisville for the better part of
two decades.
JURICH’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS
GO UNMATCHED
That, however, does not preclude me from
applauding Jurich on many fronts.
He was undoubtedly the head man in turning
Floyd Street from a road known for its ugly silos
to a road full of beautiful sports-hosting facilities
worth well into the nine-figures in total.
He also was aware before many others in his
position all over the country, that women’s sports
not only mattered in the grand scope of college
athletics, but he was also successful in making
it known to companies who donated to such
endeavors that it was the “long game” to which
they would see their return on investment.
The fired athletic director also gets a bad rap
for how he handled the initial negotiations in the
lease that secured UofL as the anchor tenant at
the KFC Yum Center. The deal he helped negotiate
for the university, according to ESPN, meant UofL
kept “88 percent of premium seat licensing, 97
percent of suite sales, all program revenue and
half of concessions.”
This was a deal to which both the city and the
university agreed. A sweetheart deal. And isn’t
that what you’d want if you had a negotiator
working a lease for you? That’s what Jurich did
for the University of Louisville.
Where Jurich misses is claiming in the same
ESPN story that Louisville “took all the risk.”
Please. Where is that risk? Were you afraid that
the three percent of suite sales you had to give
NEVERTHELESS,
ALL THE POSITIVE
THINGS THAT JURICH
ACCOMPLISHED AT
THE UNIVERSITY
OF LOUISVILLE
SHOULD, OVER TIME,
SUPERCEDE THE
DAMAGE HE WAS, AT
BEST, COMPLACENT
IN HELPING PREVENT.
AND I THINK THEY
WILL. DOWN THE
ROAD, WHEN TIME
HEALS THE WOUNDS,
THEY’LL BUILD A
STATUE OF HIM.
AND THEY SHOULD.
away was going to cripple your program?
I also don’t blame him for being, at the very least,
a massive obstacle for the city of Louisville ever
being home to an NBA team. Jurich’s sweetheart
deal with the KFC Yum Center came with priorities
that effectively left the NBA zero options to place
a team in Louisville.
According to the original lease, the University
of Louisville’s men’s basketball programs had
control of the KFC Yum Center not only on days
of home basketball games, but also on the day
before and the day after each game.
In other words, for every UofL game at “The
Bucket,” UofL had reserved the arena for three
days. That meant that there was absolutely no way
that an NBA team could effectively schedule 41
home games at the KFC Yum Center.
Access denied. A win for Jurich.
Jurich and the school both wanted to keep an
NBA team from dipping their proverbial hands
in the UofL cookie jar full of donors and sponsors
that Jurich and his team had filled up to the brim.
And, again, who can blame Jurich for making
that deal. He was hired to fill up that once-empty
cookie jar. And keep it full.
There was so much money falling out of that
cookie jar thanks to Jurich, in fact, that former
president James Ramsey was sliding that money,
seemingly under the table, to Jurich in deals
that were probably less than forthcoming to the
taxpaying public.
Of course, that story is child’s play compared
to all the other shady dealing’s the former school
president had, which all came to light when an
audit of the university’s finances became public
earlier this year.
JURICH’S FIRING IS STILL JUSTIFIED
Tom’s contract reads like that of a made mafia
man. That is, if the mafia ever put anything in
writing.
Jurich’s contract leaves the university with
basically no route to not pay him at least a very
hefty portion of his remaining contract – a sign
of the lockstep in which Jurich and Ramsey
regularly danced.
The contract addendum, agreed upon in 2011,
says UofL has to pay Jurich a full year’s salary even
if he’s fired “for cause.” Translation: It’s more than
45