Make-or-Break Year Approaching for Louisville's Steve Kragthorpe

(Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Petrino's Cardinal football teams won their fair share of games, but a slew of arrested players and run-ins with the law in the months following his departure served as an indicator that a lot of problems within the program may have been masked by on-field triumphs during Petrino's tenure.

From the time that he arrived at Louisville, Kragthorpe has made a concentrated effort to try to head a premier program comprised of quality young men who are not only productive on the gridiron, but also in the community.  It's an admirable effort, but is certainly something that has come under fire given the failures of his teams on the field.

Kragthorpe's years at Tulsa remain as a slight glimmer of hope for Louisville fans, and stands as a reason why he still should be given more time to prove himself as a leader. 

He has clearly not forgotten how to coach, and molding a program under a certain image and philosophy takes time, usually at least a four year span in which a coach can stay long enough to oversee the duration of his first recruiting class' time in college.

So where does that leave Kragthorpe and his Louisville football program at this point?

The Cardinals will enter Kragthorpe's third season with very low expectations, almost unanimously picked to finish seventh out of the Big East's eight teams. 

Virtually every player from the Orange Bowl team is no longer there, and the remaining crop of players are largely unproven, or have yet to demonstrate that they can be impact players on a top-tier college football team.

Jurich, the man whose opinion in this whole situation matters the most, has preached patience to the Louisville fans and boosters, and at this point seems to be Kragthorpe's biggest ally. 

He has been on record as saying that the 2009-2010 season will not be a "make-or-break season" for Kragthorpe, but has explicitly stated that he wants to see progress being made.

Despite Jurich's assurances, it's pretty hard to envision an already irate fan base tolerating a season in which Louisville fails to make a bowl game for the third straight season.

The ideals and beliefs of giving a program time to grow and develop sounds great, but with conference championships and major bowl appearances under Petrino still fresh in every fan's mind, it becomes so utterly confusing how a program that once had so much promise and potential has turned into an also-ran in a weak football conference in a span of only two years.

From confusion, in this particular case, stems anger, disappointment, and bitter rage.  And for the sake of Steve Kragthorpe, Tom Jurich, and Louisville administration and fans, Kragthorpe's third season better show some sort of measurable progress.

If not, Louisville may find themselves in the same situation they were two and a half years ago—looking for a coach, only this time it will not occur in the wake of a BCS bowl win, but rather after a run of mediocrity that may have just set this program back to where it was decades ago.

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