Louisville Football - Strong Hires New OC: Mike Sanford... WOW!

Charlie Strong announced the hiring of former UNLV head coach Mike Sanford. When I saw the first report my immediate reaction was to say, "Wow". I just stared at the Louisville Courier-Journal story in a trance. Great hire.

This is amazing news for Cardinal fans. Sanford may be the best Spread Option offensive coordinator since the scheme emerged. He certainly is in my opinion.

Strong said:

“I'm thrilled to get an offensive coach like Mike Sanford to direct our offense. While at Utah, he directed an offense that was one of the best in the country, averaging 43.5 points per game and helped in the development of Alex Smith. Mike will be an excellent addition to our staff.”

Those 43.5 ppg were scored mostly in the first half of those Ute contests. Sanford could have run up the score to 60+ in most of those games. Sanford's version of the Spread at Utah was the about smoothest scoring machine I've seen in many decades of watching football. Poetry in motion.

Sanford's offense was not so effective at UNLV. Sanford felt that the UNLV brass failed to provide sufficient resources to ensure success. UNLV has been a floundering football program for many years. Sanford could not turn the tide. 

Sanford is a Brilliant OC. Period. Frankly, it was my hope that Meyer would bring Sanford to Florida to replace Addazio at OC. Oh well.

So, now my #1 OC and #1 DC are both at Louisville. I have a new team to follow. I can't wait to see the Cards in '10.

Louisville may be at the top of the Big East soon. These are two outstanding coaches. This will be an exciting team to watch. A BCS bowl could come as early as 2011.