Sirmon Says “Simple”
By Howie Lindsey
Sirmon’s ‘simple’ defense might be what the Dr. ordered for Louisville
Photos courtesy University of Louisville Athletics
WHAT’S THE OLD PHRASE? KISS:
KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID?
Well, for Louisville football, the defense might
co-opt that acronym: KISS: Keep It Simple,
Sirmon.
Louisville coach Bobby Petrino made a change
in his defensive coordinator at the end of the
2016 season to bring in Peter Sirmon. Part
of Petrino’s charge to Sirmon was to revamp
Louisville’s defensive efforts for the 2017 season.
And how did Sirmon plan to improve
Louisville’s defense? By keeping it simple.
Some of the key phrases Sirmon heard when
talking with defensive players at Louisville when
he arrived were “complicated” and “confusing.”
That’s not what you want to hear from a defensive
34 EXTOL SPORTS / SEPTEMBER 2017
group tasked with stopping an offense.
While all college football defenses are
more complex than just “See ball, get ball,”
the UofL defense seemed to be suffering a bit
from overthink on the part of former defensive
coordinator Todd Grantham (now at Mississippi
State).
“I want to take pride in keeping it simple,”
Sirmon told reporters back in the spring.
He has, and the players seem to be responding
well.
“It’s not that much different, but the words
are different, easier to understand,” senior
defensive lineman Drew Bailey said.
“The vocabulary is brought down so we can
get the plays quicker,” said senior linebacker
Stacy Thomas. “We had a couple games where
they would run hurry-up, and then we would
have trouble getting the call and then echoing
it to everybody, so that was an issue last year.”
“I want it to be player-friendly,” Sirmon said.
“I’m not so sure if simple is better or complex
is better. I don’t know if it is better or worse.
What I know is my job is to develop that locker
room and find the best combination of players
to get on the field. It was probably 18 to 20
years ago when free agency started hitting
and getting wild in the NFL, and it was at that
time that you saw defensive coordinators start
to simplify their concepts because the owners
needed to see the new players come in and
play immediately. In the 70s and 80s you had
teams that had players for eight to 11 years and
they grew up in a system. There wasn’t a lot of