W hat’s next?
Tyra met with every coach on campus in the
first two days of his hiring, he met every team
on campus in the first three weeks and he seems
intent on keeping his focus on exactly the right
thing: the student-athletes on campus.
One of Tom Jurich’s most-effective leadership
traits was focusing on the student-athlete
experience and making sure they had everything
they needed to be successful. Tyra seems intent
on continuing that tradition, asking the athletes
he meets, “What can I do to make you successful?”
That’s such a powerful question when executed
with the right intent.
Is Tyra the long-term solution? No one is sure,
including Tyra.
His pay structure — $100,000 per month of his
employment — is set up to be fairly indefinite.
Much like Louisville basketball, Louisville
athletics will have no shortage of elite candidates
who would crawl to come to campus to run
athletics in the future. With the nearly $400
million in facility assets on campus and a primo
spot in the ACC, the future of Louisville athletics
looks strong as long as athletics isn’t diminished
under a future UofL administration.
What’s next for other Louisville coaches?
One of the most common questions over the
last several weeks has been what happens to the
other coaches that Tom Jurich brought to campus?
Let’s start with this: None of the coaches will
leave immediately. They have seasons to coach
and have very lucrative contracts in place with
compensation to boot. But the long-term success
of UofL will depend on the board of trustees
finding an athletic director who can continue
Louisville’s upward trajectory.
Certainly, Tom Jurich could be a firebrand,
but the board would be making a mistake if they
overcorrected and brought in a milquetoast,
meager manager to replace Jurich.
Someone with a lack of vision could derail
the forward progress in many of Louisville’s 23
sports and could cause Louisville’s current set of
all-star coaches to start listening to other offers.
What’s next in local sports media?
UofL is building a new $8 million TV and
production studio on campus. The new studio
is part of the ACC’s contract requiring every
school to have its own production studio up and
running by the end of 2018 before the launch of
the new network in 2019. So what does this mean
for local sports media? Well, with schools and
leagues taking over more production and shows,
the amount of access granted to local media
outlets may diminish. Conversely, the amount
of options for fans to learn about their favorite
team will be at an all-time high, with much of
the slickly produced video content coming from
the school directly.
As a side note, the new studios and production
team will allow UofL students the ability to
leave college with real broadcast experience for
the first time in decades. That could be a nice
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