Louisville Cardinals

Infobox college athletics
name = Louisville Cardinals

university = University of Louisville
conference = Big East
division = Division I
director = Tom Jurich
city = Louisville
state = Kentucky
stateabb = KY
teams = 18
stadium = Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
baseballfield = Jim Patterson Stadium
arena = Freedom Hall
mascot = Cardinal Bird
nickname = Cardinals
fight song = Fight UL!
color1 = Red |Black Whitehex1 = CC0000
color2 = White
hex2 = ffffff
pageurl = http://uoflsports.com/
pagename = UofLsports.comThe Louisville Cardinals (also known as the Cards) are the athletic teams representing the University of Louisville. A member of the Big East Conference since 2005, they are known nationally as a traditional power in men's basketball and women's volleyball. In recent years, the football team has also gained national attention with a 38-11 record since 2004 and finishes in the top 6 in both the final Bowl Championship Series and AP polls in two of the last four seasons. On the gridiron, the Cardinals were the 2006 champions of the Big East Conference and the 2007 Orange Bowl.

The total sales of U of L merchandise has tripled since 2001, now ranking 32nd nationally in sales. Since 1997, the school has spent over $150 million, all from private funding, in upgrading its sports facilities. Since 2004, U of L has won conference titles in eight sports. U of L currently fields 13 women's teams and 10 men's teams.

In the Sears Directors' Cup final standings released in June 2007, U of L finished 28th nationally. In 2008, they finished 32nd.

Louisville team sports

Baseball

:Team Established: 1909:All Time Record: 1,356-1,284 (.513):2006 record: 31-29:Playing Facility: Jim Patterson Stadium (2005):Head Coach: Dan McDonnell:NCAA Tournament Appearances: :Last NCAA Appearance: 2007:College World Series Appearances: 1 (2007):Conference Titles: 2:Drafted Players: 50:Players In The MLB system: 5

The Louisville Cardinals Baseball team had a dream season in the 2007 season under the guidance of first year Head Coach Dan McDonnell. The Cardinals finished 47-24 and finished the season ranked as high as 6th in some major polls while advancing to the College World Series for the first time in school history. Throughout the NCAA Tournament the Cardinals were considered the Cinderella of the tournament and made national headlines for their powerful offensive play. Louisville also hosted an NCAA Super Regional for the first time in school history at Jim Patterson Stadium.

Men's Basketball

:Team Established: 1911:All Time Record: 1,529-816 (.652):Playing Facility: Freedom Hall (1956):Court: Denny Crum Court (2007):Head Coach: Rick Pitino:National Titles: 2:NCAA Final Fours: 8:Conference Titles: 11:NCAA Tournament Appearances: 34:NIT Appearances: 14:Last NCAA Appearance: 2008:All-Americans: 18:Drafted Players: 71:Players In The NBA: 1 (Francisco García)

Rowing

Lacrosse

To be added in 2007

occer

Women's

:Team Established: 1985:All Time Record: 125-234 (.348):Fall 2005 record: 11-7:Playing Facility: Cardinal Park Soccer and Track Stadium (2000):Head Coach: Karen Ferguson:Conference Titles: 0:All Americans: 1

Men's

:Team Established: 1979:All Time Record: 185-272 (.404):Fall 2005 Record: 5-11:Playing Facility: Cardinal Park Soccer and Track Stadium (2000):Head Coach: Ken Lola:Conference Titles: 2

oftball

:Team Established: 2000:All time record: 259-157 (.622):2006 record: 48-10:Playing Facility: Ulmer Stadium (2000):Head Coach: Sandy Pearson:Conference championships: 2

:NCAA Tournament Appearances: 2:Last NCAA Appearance: 2006:All-Americans: 1

Volleyball

:Team Established: 1975:All Time Record: 662-360 (.647):Playing Facility: Cardinal Arena (1990):Record at Cardinal Arena: 153-19:Head Coach: Leonid Yelin:Conference Titles: 16:NCAA Tournament Appearances: 14:Last NCAA Appearance: 2005:All-Americans: 2

Volleyball has traditionally been one of UofL's most successful programs, led by head coach Leonid Yelin, whose .772 career winning percentage ranks 9th among active coaches. During the 2005 season, UofL was ranked as high as #6 en route to a 30-3 record, a regular season tie for the Big East title, and a second straight trip to the Sweet 16. The team also had an average attendance of 1,215 per game in their 840 seat Cardinal Arena, with fans turned away at several games. Currently UofL is seeking state funding to expand the arena to better meet fan demands and prevent unsafe "standing room only" crowds. UofL also hosted both the 2005 Big East Volleyball tournament and the first two rounds of NCAA volleyball tournament at the Kentucky International Expo Center in Downtown Louisville.

In 2005, two Cardinals, seniors [http://uoflsports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/ustymenko_lena00.html Lena Ustymenko] and [http://uoflsports.cstv.com/sports/w-volley/mtt/hoffman_jennifer00.html Jennifer Hoffman] , were named second team All-American. Previously only one Big East volleyball player had been named an All-American. [http://www.bigeast.org/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/121405aah.html] Ustymenko was also named the 2005 Big East player of the year and Hoffman led the nation in hitting percentage in the Card's 6-2 offense. [http://www.bigeast.org/sports/w-volley/spec-rel/121405aah.html] The program has won 14 of its last 15 conference titles (with another in 1983) and has been to the NCAA tourney 16 times since 1982, with 44 players making their all-conference team. The team has a 153-19 all time record at [http://uoflsports.cstv.com/facilities/lou-facilities-cardinal-arena.html Cardinal Arena] .

Cross Country

Men's CC

2006: Finished 15th at NCAA Championships

2007: Finished 9th at NCAA Championships

Golf

wimming And Diving

Tennis

Conference Championships

Director's Cup

UofL has risen from 174th in the Director's cup standings in 1999-2000 to 28th in 2006-2007.

port Facilities

Average Per-Game Attendance by Sport, 2005-2006

** Volleyball total includes three games at the 3,000 seat Kentucky International Convention Center.

Notable athletic alumni

Radio affiliates

Nelligan Sports' Paul Rogers is the play by play person for U of L football & men's basketball.

U of L games are broadcast in Lexington KY on WMKJ 105.5 FM andWKRD 790 AM - Louisville, KY (Flagship Station)

Rivalry with Kentucky

The Louisville Cardinals rivalry with the Kentucky Wildcats is widely considered one of the most intense college rivalries in the United [cite web |url=http://espn.go.com/ncb/columns/katz_andy/1502933.html |title=Best teams make today's best rivalries |accessdate=2008-01-24 |last=Katz |first=Andy |coauthors= |date=February 2, 2003 |work= |publisher=ESPN] . It is also one of the few rivalries to be equally intense in basketball and football, and practically every other sport as well. The men's basketball game is called the Battle for the Bluegrass; the football game is officially called the Governor's Cup.

Unlike many in-state rivalries that have been played continuously for many decades, these two schools went through a long period from the 1930s to the 1980s of rarely facing each other. They did play frequently from the 1900s to 1920's, with UK dominating in both sports. The results have been mixed since the renewal of the men's basketball rivalry in 1983-84 and football in 1994, with UK leading the modern basketball rivalry (17 of 27 games or 62.9%) and Louisville leading the modern football rivalry (9 of 14 games or 64.3%). UK leads the overall football rivalry 11 games to 9 and the overall basketball rivalry 26 games to 13.

UofL's success in football has been aided by University of Kentucky alumni, such as former Head Football Coach Howard Schnellenberger, Co-Defensive Coordinator Mike Cassity, and Assistant Coach Greg Nord, as well as Lexington-area players Eric Shelton, David Akers, Frank Minnifield, and Travis Leffew. Additionally, native Louisvillians such as Brian Brohm and Michael Bush have helped move Louisville Football to an upper tier football program. Louisville also recruits heavily out of Florida.

ports trivia

* Within the intrastate rivalry with UK, the team that has won the football game has lost the following basketball game every year, except in 2003 when UofL won both.
* In 2005, UofL was among only a handful of schools to average better than 97 percent attendance to capacity in volleyball, men's basketball, and football.
* The film "The Replacements" was based on former Cardinal quarterback Ed Rubbert (played by Keanu Reeves), who led the Washington Redskins' 1987 strike team to a 3-0 record en route to the franchise's Super Bowl XXI championship.
* The high five was popularized by the Cardinal basketball team during its run to the 1980 NCAA Championship.
* UofL is one of two universities in the state of Kentucky to have a women's rowing team, the other being Murray State University.
* The UofL football program annually plays for the Governor's Cup (awarded to the winner of the Louisville-Kentucky football game) and the Keg of Nails (awarded to the winner of the Louisville-Cincinnati football game). The Governor's Cup is currently residing in Lexington, and the Keg of Nails in Louisville.
* The Cardinal volleyball team has won 14 of the last 15 conference championships. In the past two years the team has a combined 60-6 record with consecutive NCAA Sweet 16 appearances.
* The 2006 Baseball Cardinals broke the Big East Conference Tournament record with a .409 batting average. [http://uoflsports.cstv.com/sports/m-basebl/recaps/052706aab.html]

References

ee also

* Sports in Louisville, Kentucky

External links

* [http://uoflsports.cstv.com/ University of Louisville official athletic website]
* [http://www.bigeast.org/ Big East Conference official website]