By Russ Brown
NKyTribune correspondent
LOUISVILLE — If things progress as expected, the University of Louisville football team could have about 10,000 more fans watching its games within a few years.
UofL athletics director Tom Jurich had previously announced plans to enlarge Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, and Thursday he said the school is kicking off a capital fundraising campaign to fund the project.
Jurich, who appeared at a press conference with associate AD Mark Jurich, his son, said the new look of the stadium “will be a real crown jewel.” The 10,000-seat expansion and upgraded amenities is estimated to cost $55 million.
The project involves closing the open north end of the stadium and also expanding the 40,000 square foot Howard L. Schnellenberger Football Complex, which contains the football offices, meeting rooms, locker rooms, weight and training facilities and a recruiting lounge, among other things.
Jurich didn’t make any promises about when the expansion to 65,000 seats would be completed, but said he hoped it would be finished in time for the 2019 season opener against Notre Dame. Depending on how the fundraising efforts — dubbed “Coming Full Circle” — go, it could be completed in time for the 2018 season.
Even though the Cardinals drew less than the 55,000 capacity for all but one game last season — Clemson drew 55,396 — Jurich says he is confident UofL’s future success will justify the expansion.
“You’re always going to have attendance ebb and flow,” Jurich says. “But you want to make sure you’re ready for the big games. This is going to have all the bells and whistles.”
At this point, however, UofL has just two big games every other year — Kentucky, and Clemson or Florida State — and one the rest of the time. Last season, for instance, Clemson was the only marquee opponent to visit Papa John’s. Next season FSU and UK will be the main draws.
College football attendance has been declining, but the Jurichs said they believe UofL is a growing program with an expanding fan base.
“We would not do this project if we didn’t feel this was feasible,” Tom Jurich said.
At the press conference, UofL presented a video rendering of the stadium expansion and announced that PepsiCo has donated $5 million for naming rights to a new suite area, and that Planet Fitness has provided $3 million for the project.
In addition to announcing the fundraising plan, Tom Jurich also said he expects to extend coach Bobby Petrino’s contract soon.
“Petrino 2.0 has done everything we’ve asked of him,” Jurich said. “I told him I would make that happen soon.”
In two seasons, Petrino is 17-9, with two third-place finishes in the Atlantic Division of the ACC and two bowl appearances — a loss to Georgia in the 2014 Belk Bowl and a win over Texas A&M in last year’s Music City Bowl.
DEFENSE DOMINATES CARDS’ RECRUITS
With many of its key defensive players due to depart after the 2016 season, the main focus of Louisville’s Petrino’s recruiting was on restocking that side of the football. The Cards signed eight linemen/linebackers and three safeties and a cornerback among its 23-man class Wednesday.
“We felt we really had to do a good job of getting our defensive replenished,” Petrino said. “A year ago we got a lot of good offensive players, so going into it we went in with the idea of doing a really good job defensively.”
Said defensive coordinator Todd Grantham: “College football nowadays is really about the ability to dominate the front, and if you look at the guys we were able to get, I think that’s going to help us develop and be a dominant front team.”
While the emphasis was on defense, the standout recruit was Jawon Pass (6-4, 214), a four-star quarterback who is UofL’s first U.S. Army All-American recruit under Petrino. He is the brother of UofL redshirt freshman safety Khane Pass.
“Jawon’s a young man who can really throw the football, has great size, and one of the things we were really impressed with was his ability to learn,” Petrino said. “He’s a quick learner, and obviously he’s a tremendous athlete.”
Pass, from Columbus, Ga., is rated the No. 3 dual-threat QB nationally by 247Sports.com. He had verbally committed to the Cards last July after turning down offers from a Who’s Who in college football, including Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, LSU, Ohio State and Notre Dame.
Louisville’s recruiting class landed in the middle of the ACC, being rated No. 6 in the ACC by Rivals.com and ESPN.com. It was judged No. 34 nationally.
LEE MISSES PRACTICE
UofL basketball coach Rick Pitino said on his radio show that leading scorer Damion Lee has a bruised knee that caused him to miss practice that day, but that he expects the senior wing to play against Boston College Saturday.
Lee is coming off perhaps his best games of the season, accounting for 24 points and five rebounds in Monday night’s 71-65 win over No. 2/1 North Carolina. He is averaging 17.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals and is on the watch list for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
Pitino also said that junior forward/center Mangok Mathiang, who is recovering from a broken foot, should return to the court on Monday, then start practicing the next week.
GRANNY NO. TWO
If sophomore Anas Mahmoud is fouled against BC, look for him to join Chinanu Onukau in shooting free throws underhanded, or granny style. Pitino said he started working with Mahmoud in that style this week, after the 7-footer missed all three of his free throws against the Tar Heels.
Mahmoud is shooting a team-worst 39.4 percent (13-33) from the foul line.
“I think Anas is going to go that (underhanded) route,” Pitino said. “I’ve had it with his free throws. I think Anas can be better at it than Nanu because he’s got smaller hands and a good touch.”
Onuaku shot 46.7 percent on his free throws last year, but has raised that to 66.2 (15-23) since switching to an underhanded shot this season.”
CARDS IN A ROUT
Pitino says nothing aggravates him more than for someone to tell him that the Cards have an easy game coming up. So, at the risk of drawing the coach’s ire, I will say this about BC: The Cards have an easy game coming up.
The Eagles (7-15, 0-9) are the only remaining winless team in the ACC and have been borderline non-competitive, losing by an average of 20 points and failing to come within single digits in any of their defeats. The latest was a 61-47 loss at Virginia Wednesday, which, ironically was almost identical to the score in the Cavaliers’ 63-47 win over UofL.
If the Cards don’t win this one by 20-30 points, then Pitino should retire to his $26 million mansion in Miami.