October 22, 2025 • 11 mins
University of Louisville athletics director Josh Heird chats with Terry Meiners on the post-Miami victory buzz, other schools chasing Jeff Brohm or other Cardinal coaches, upheaval from UofL's G League standout commit, NIL, Kansas Jayhawks showcase exhibition, 2013 banner status, and special tailgating hours for Saturday's ACC Network show THE HUDDLE broadcasting live from THE ALLEY.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A Cardinal cannonball. Baby, Let's bring in the athletics Director
of the University of Louisville, Josh here, Josh, welcome back.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thanks Terry.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
How are you? How fun was it to walk into
ACC meetings this week after that Miami football game versus
our Cards?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It was, you know, I think obviously everybody in that
room's had good days and bad days when it comes
to winning and losing. And but yes, that one, that
one felt pretty good after Friday night.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm not gonna lie. It always feels good after a
big one like that. And you know, I loved how
many people were in the Louisville section of the stadium
the other night. That that was very rewarding. There's a
lot of Cardinal love in South Florida.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Oh, there's a ton. As any any Card fan knows
going to going to South Florida, We're gonna have a
big crowd there, big contingent. We obviously did in Miami,
and it was it was great. There was a few
times when a play happened and all the Miami faithful
we're pretty quiet, but the Cards fans weren't, and so
(01:04):
it was just it was a unique. It was an
incredible environment down there, and for our football team and
Jeff Brown to come out with the victory, it was,
like you said, it was a pretty special day.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
And nice that we're teed up for a seven point
thirty kickoff on Saturday night. Obviously, no one likes noon kickoffs,
but you don't have any control over that most of
the time. But this will be a great showcase for
the fan base on Saturday night. You're expecting pretty full house.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, I think we're gonna have a great crowd. I
think it's just gonna be a great week for the
university as a whole, coming into Homecoming week here and
race am l Day today and tomorrow, and that's our
annual day of giving. I guess days of giving seven
and ninety eight minutes of giving, and that rolls right
into the Alumni Awards tomorrow night. And then we've got
(01:50):
a little exhibition basketball game on Friday night at the
Youm Center, and then acc Huddle's going to be here
Saturday broadcasting live from the Alley and then flip that
over to the football game at seven thirty. So a
lot to be excited about this week.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
This giving campaign goes until midnight tonight, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
It started at six oh two yesterday, six oh two
pm and runs till midnight tonight.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So and it's you know, any anybody that is a
University of Louisville fan, and I don't mean just athletics.
Your your support be some some reason that you could
help or some cause you could help out there. So
if you have a few extra dollars in your pocket
or your bank bank account, feel free to help us
out for some race and l day here yesterday and today.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Absolutely yeah, And you reference the ACC Network show Little
Be Here that's in the alley tenttil noon on Saturday,
and that's important that we get a lot of fans
out there just to roar and make it a wild
show here obviously hours before the game itself. Does that
change anything in terms of the hours that we open
up for tailgating on Saturday?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Now, So what we're gonna do is we are going
to allow everybody that wants to come and be part
of the set for the alley park at the sole
A Lot, So the old Silo A Lot. Everybody knows
that it's just a gravel parking lot now, so anybody
can go in there and park and then at noon
we will open the parking lots, which is obviously two
(03:20):
and a half hours earlier than normal, But we didn't
want to go down the path of opening them opening
them at you know, nine thirty or you know, just
from a staffing cost standpoint, It just those things add
ups were like, if you know, we'd love to have
you out in the alley starting at ten o'clock, but
we've got a parking lot reserved for the inglis park
in the alley there, and then if you feel like
(03:41):
you really need to get seven and a half hours
of tailgating in, you can go scoop your cart up
in the sole a lot and then head over to
wherever your parking spot is. At that point.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Should be wild on Saturday. But you already referenced basketball
and here we go. Here comes Kansas. I love that
you get to showcase these exhibition games now with huge talent,
to see what your huge talent can do against the
best of the best. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I think it was a fantastic change that was made
in the rules this year that allows Division One teams
to play a Division One opponent and not in one
of these goofy super secret scrimmages that nobody can watch,
and so we took advantage of it, and as did
Kansas and scheduled a home and home opportunity from an
exhibition standpoint. So they're going to be in the Young
(04:27):
Center seven thirty on Friday, and then we'll return. We'll
return to Lawrence next year.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Excellent. And I know you've seen a lot of squawking
about a G League player that's headed to Louisville. Looks
like in a year. So Jimmy Dike's online, there are
no rules. What are we doing? Coach tom Izzo losing
his mind yesterday, many others chiming in saying, I didn't
know what's happening, what's going on here? So there was
a shift in the opportunity to find talent in new areas.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, And I think think I'll put this under the
call it the purview or the premise that I think
a large majority, if not all, of our coaches operate under.
And I know we operate under from a department standpoint,
and I say it all the time, Evolver or die,
And that's something that you know, if we can create
a competitive advantage because a rule changed or something happened,
(05:20):
then we're going to try to do that. And so
there was no you know, there was no circumvention of
rules or doing something that nobody else couldn't do. This
was just an opportunity that Pat and his staff looked
into and got an opportunity and took advantage of it.
And that's it. That's it. You know, if we if
we live in the world, it was, we're going to
get left behind pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, that's that's the critical phrase. Evolve or die. You
got to run with all this. You've been asked over
and over again too about like the twenty thirteen banner, this, that, whatever,
and you said we'd take a look into that. You
said that a month or two ago. Where are we
now in terms of people saying just hang that banner.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, we're still having those conversations directly with the NCAA
A and as you can imagine, those those conversations can
take a little time, and I would still consider them
very informal conversations. Uh, but they are happening and just
trying to get to a good outcome for for everybody involved.
And look, I understand just hanging the banner. You know,
(06:23):
the NCAA is not going to do anything. But it's
a lot more complicated than that. And so look, we're
going to do everything we can to try to get
that banner hung up in a cooperative manner, and and
and then we'll look at our options if if that
doesn't if that doesn't transpire. But I do I have
a lot of faith in the current leadership of the
n c a A. And uh so, like I said,
(06:46):
we're going to continue that, continue that dialogue and hope.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
For the best. There's still a lot of eyeballing on
the NIL concept in college sports. How healthy is Louisville's
NI l bag?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Josh, Well, well, we've you know, we've had to shift
and everybody's had to shift with the House Settlement being
approved and essentially universities being allowed to compensate student athletes
to the tune of twenty point five million dollars. And
now that next call it quote unquote competitive advantage is
(07:21):
how can opportunities be created for our student athletes for
quote unquote above the cap dollars? So how do we
create opportunities for our student athletes to get deals that
are approved through this innil go system. I'm probably getting
into the weeds a little bit here, but essentially quote
unquote true in I L You know, our student athletes
are going out into the marketplace, They're creating deals on
(07:44):
their own because of their name, image and likeness, their popularity.
Businesses in the community think that that is going to
help them things of that nature. And I do think
Louisville as well positioned there because of the city that
Louisville is, the businesses that support the University of Louisville
and our department. And So to answer your question, how
healthy is our NIL bag or program, I feel good
(08:07):
about it. You know, are we competing with the likes
of Ohio State or Texas from an NIL standpoint, No,
we're not. But that's when you get into the size
of our alumni base and some different things like that.
For the University of Louisville and for us doing what
we want to do, which is compete at a really,
really high level and give our student athletes and our
(08:28):
coaches a chance to win championships. I think our NIL
situation is is well positioned to do that.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And we saw that Danny Wimmer made a sizable contribution
to health the university. He's the guy that presents louder
than life in Bourbon and beyond, and that was great.
So aren't you in kind of a King Solomon role though?
In terms of how you're going to divide between Jeff
Brohm and you know, Pat Kelsey's got this, Jeff Walls
has that, volleyball, baseball, all these other coaches are there?
(08:56):
Is that how that works? Do you guys all sit
down together, you have d visual talks with folks and
say here's how we cut the pie.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, well yes, they all come into the room and
they make their case and then and then a decision.
Now I'm kidding, no, it's it's a really it's a
really collaborative effort. And as I've talked about, we're really
looking to call it three decision points when we make
these decisions. First is opportunity to generate revenue. So what
(09:28):
programs give us the best opportunity to generate the most revenue?
That one's that one's a pretty simple answer. It's going
to be men's basketball in football. And then what sports
give us the most exposure from an external standpoint, from
a pr standpoint, So if we have success in this
sport or that sport, are there going to be more
eyeballs on this sport as opposed to that sport because
(09:49):
that success is transpiring. And then the last one is
just simply what has been the track record of success
relative to the leadership in that sport a KA, what
has the head coach done in previous seasons in previous
years for us to be able to say, hey, if
we throw some more support behind this program, we feel
(10:10):
confident that those dollars are going to be used in
a really effective manner and we're gonna we're gonna be
competing for championships if we do that.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Josh Hurd, I appreciate the insight into what you're doing there.
I know it's always balance and there's always all this
talk online they're going to come after our coach this
or that or whatever. Looks to me like you've got
a lot of happy coaches here at the University of Louisville.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I think so, I really do. I, as I've said,
I wouldn't trade the group of coaches we have right
now for any other group of coaches in the country,
and I sincerely mean that that's not me just putting
my pr hat on. If you get a chance to
be around the group of head coaches that we have,
and I don't just mean Jeff you know, Jeff Brown,
Jeff Walls, Dan McDonald, Pat Kelsey, and know I'm getting
(10:53):
into track coaches and swimming coaches, and you know, tennis coaches,
just all all all of our twenty three sports. They're
an unbelievable group that really really supports one another, really
has the best interest of the University of Louisville at
heart and the decisions they make.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So I do.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I have a lot of confidence in the leadership in
our athletic department right now, So feel.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Good about things. They say the same thing when you
talk with these coaches individually. They're happy to be here,
They're rooted in and it's good to see. All right, Josh,
we're looking for a big Friday Saturday combo, so let's
have fun and keep rolling.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
As always good to talk to you. You bet you.
That's Josh Hurd, athletics director of the University of Louisville
back in a minute on news radio Wait forty whas
A Cardinal cannonball. Baby, Let's bring in the athletics Director
of the University of Louisville, Josh here, Josh, welcome back.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Thanks Terry.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
How are you? How fun was it to walk into
ACC meetings this week after that Miami football game versus
our Cards?
Speaker 2 (00:18):
It was, you know, I think obviously everybody in that
room's had good days and bad days when it comes
to winning and losing. And but yes, that one, that
one felt pretty good after Friday night.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
I'm not gonna lie. It always feels good after a
big one like that. And you know, I loved how
many people were in the Louisville section of the stadium
the other night. That that was very rewarding. There's a
lot of Cardinal love in South Florida.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Oh, there's a ton. As any any Card fan knows
going to going to South Florida, We're gonna have a
big crowd there, big contingent. We obviously did in Miami,
and it was it was great. There was a few
times when a play happened and all the Miami faithful
we're pretty quiet, but the Cards fans weren't, and so
(01:04):
it was just it was a unique. It was an
incredible environment down there, and for our football team and
Jeff Brown to come out with the victory, it was,
like you said, it was a pretty special day.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
And nice that we're teed up for a seven point
thirty kickoff on Saturday night. Obviously, no one likes noon kickoffs,
but you don't have any control over that most of
the time. But this will be a great showcase for
the fan base on Saturday night. You're expecting pretty full house.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Yeah, I think we're gonna have a great crowd. I
think it's just gonna be a great week for the
university as a whole, coming into Homecoming week here and
race am l Day today and tomorrow, and that's our
annual day of giving. I guess days of giving seven
and ninety eight minutes of giving, and that rolls right
into the Alumni Awards tomorrow night. And then we've got
(01:50):
a little exhibition basketball game on Friday night at the
Youm Center, and then acc Huddle's going to be here
Saturday broadcasting live from the Alley and then flip that
over to the football game at seven thirty. So a
lot to be excited about this week.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
This giving campaign goes until midnight tonight, yes, yes.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
It started at six oh two yesterday, six oh two
pm and runs till midnight tonight.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
That is correct.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
So and it's you know, any anybody that is a
University of Louisville fan, and I don't mean just athletics.
Your your support be some some reason that you could
help or some cause you could help out there. So
if you have a few extra dollars in your pocket
or your bank bank account, feel free to help us
out for some race and l day here yesterday and today.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Absolutely yeah, And you reference the ACC Network show Little
Be Here that's in the alley tenttil noon on Saturday,
and that's important that we get a lot of fans
out there just to roar and make it a wild
show here obviously hours before the game itself. Does that
change anything in terms of the hours that we open
up for tailgating on Saturday?
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Now, So what we're gonna do is we are going
to allow everybody that wants to come and be part
of the set for the alley park at the sole
A Lot, So the old Silo A Lot. Everybody knows
that it's just a gravel parking lot now, so anybody
can go in there and park and then at noon
we will open the parking lots, which is obviously two
(03:20):
and a half hours earlier than normal, But we didn't
want to go down the path of opening them opening
them at you know, nine thirty or you know, just
from a staffing cost standpoint, It just those things add
ups were like, if you know, we'd love to have
you out in the alley starting at ten o'clock, but
we've got a parking lot reserved for the inglis park
in the alley there, and then if you feel like
(03:41):
you really need to get seven and a half hours
of tailgating in, you can go scoop your cart up
in the sole a lot and then head over to
wherever your parking spot is. At that point.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Should be wild on Saturday. But you already referenced basketball
and here we go. Here comes Kansas. I love that
you get to showcase these exhibition games now with huge talent,
to see what your huge talent can do against the
best of the best. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I think it was a fantastic change that was made
in the rules this year that allows Division One teams
to play a Division One opponent and not in one
of these goofy super secret scrimmages that nobody can watch,
and so we took advantage of it, and as did
Kansas and scheduled a home and home opportunity from an
exhibition standpoint. So they're going to be in the Young
(04:27):
Center seven thirty on Friday, and then we'll return. We'll
return to Lawrence next year.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Excellent. And I know you've seen a lot of squawking
about a G League player that's headed to Louisville. Looks
like in a year. So Jimmy Dike's online, there are
no rules. What are we doing? Coach tom Izzo losing
his mind yesterday, many others chiming in saying, I didn't
know what's happening, what's going on here? So there was
a shift in the opportunity to find talent in new areas.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
Yeah, And I think think I'll put this under the
call it the purview or the premise that I think
a large majority, if not all, of our coaches operate under.
And I know we operate under from a department standpoint,
and I say it all the time, Evolver or die,
And that's something that you know, if we can create
a competitive advantage because a rule changed or something happened,
(05:20):
then we're going to try to do that. And so
there was no you know, there was no circumvention of
rules or doing something that nobody else couldn't do. This
was just an opportunity that Pat and his staff looked
into and got an opportunity and took advantage of it.
And that's it. That's it. You know, if we if
we live in the world, it was, we're going to
get left behind pretty quickly.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Yeah, that's that's the critical phrase. Evolve or die. You
got to run with all this. You've been asked over
and over again too about like the twenty thirteen banner, this, that, whatever,
and you said we'd take a look into that. You
said that a month or two ago. Where are we
now in terms of people saying just hang that banner.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Yeah, we're still having those conversations directly with the NCAA
A and as you can imagine, those those conversations can
take a little time, and I would still consider them
very informal conversations. Uh, but they are happening and just
trying to get to a good outcome for for everybody involved.
And look, I understand just hanging the banner. You know,
(06:23):
the NCAA is not going to do anything. But it's
a lot more complicated than that. And so look, we're
going to do everything we can to try to get
that banner hung up in a cooperative manner, and and
and then we'll look at our options if if that
doesn't if that doesn't transpire. But I do I have
a lot of faith in the current leadership of the
n c a A. And uh so, like I said,
(06:46):
we're going to continue that, continue that dialogue and hope.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
For the best. There's still a lot of eyeballing on
the NIL concept in college sports. How healthy is Louisville's
NI l bag?
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Josh, Well, well, we've you know, we've had to shift
and everybody's had to shift with the House Settlement being
approved and essentially universities being allowed to compensate student athletes
to the tune of twenty point five million dollars. And
now that next call it quote unquote competitive advantage is
(07:21):
how can opportunities be created for our student athletes for
quote unquote above the cap dollars? So how do we
create opportunities for our student athletes to get deals that
are approved through this innil go system. I'm probably getting
into the weeds a little bit here, but essentially quote
unquote true in I L You know, our student athletes
are going out into the marketplace, They're creating deals on
(07:44):
their own because of their name, image and likeness, their popularity.
Businesses in the community think that that is going to
help them things of that nature. And I do think
Louisville as well positioned there because of the city that
Louisville is, the businesses that support the University of Louisville
and our department. And So to answer your question, how
healthy is our NIL bag or program, I feel good
(08:07):
about it. You know, are we competing with the likes
of Ohio State or Texas from an NIL standpoint, No,
we're not. But that's when you get into the size
of our alumni base and some different things like that.
For the University of Louisville and for us doing what
we want to do, which is compete at a really,
really high level and give our student athletes and our
(08:28):
coaches a chance to win championships. I think our NIL
situation is is well positioned to do that.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
And we saw that Danny Wimmer made a sizable contribution
to health the university. He's the guy that presents louder
than life in Bourbon and beyond, and that was great.
So aren't you in kind of a King Solomon role though?
In terms of how you're going to divide between Jeff
Brohm and you know, Pat Kelsey's got this, Jeff Walls
has that, volleyball, baseball, all these other coaches are there?
(08:56):
Is that how that works? Do you guys all sit
down together, you have d visual talks with folks and
say here's how we cut the pie.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, well yes, they all come into the room and
they make their case and then and then a decision.
Now I'm kidding, no, it's it's a really it's a
really collaborative effort. And as I've talked about, we're really
looking to call it three decision points when we make
these decisions. First is opportunity to generate revenue. So what
(09:28):
programs give us the best opportunity to generate the most revenue?
That one's that one's a pretty simple answer. It's going
to be men's basketball in football. And then what sports
give us the most exposure from an external standpoint, from
a pr standpoint, So if we have success in this
sport or that sport, are there going to be more
eyeballs on this sport as opposed to that sport because
(09:49):
that success is transpiring. And then the last one is
just simply what has been the track record of success
relative to the leadership in that sport a KA, what
has the head coach done in previous seasons in previous
years for us to be able to say, hey, if
we throw some more support behind this program, we feel
(10:10):
confident that those dollars are going to be used in
a really effective manner and we're gonna we're gonna be
competing for championships if we do that.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Josh Hurd, I appreciate the insight into what you're doing there.
I know it's always balance and there's always all this
talk online they're going to come after our coach this
or that or whatever. Looks to me like you've got
a lot of happy coaches here at the University of Louisville.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I think so, I really do. I, as I've said,
I wouldn't trade the group of coaches we have right
now for any other group of coaches in the country,
and I sincerely mean that that's not me just putting
my pr hat on. If you get a chance to
be around the group of head coaches that we have,
and I don't just mean Jeff you know, Jeff Brown,
Jeff Walls, Dan McDonald, Pat Kelsey, and know I'm getting
(10:53):
into track coaches and swimming coaches, and you know, tennis coaches,
just all all all of our twenty three sports. They're
an unbelievable group that really really supports one another, really
has the best interest of the University of Louisville at
heart and the decisions they make.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So I do.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
I have a lot of confidence in the leadership in
our athletic department right now, So feel.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Good about things. They say the same thing when you
talk with these coaches individually. They're happy to be here,
They're rooted in and it's good to see. All right, Josh,
we're looking for a big Friday Saturday combo, so let's
have fun and keep rolling.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
As always good to talk to you. You bet you.
That's Josh Hurd, athletics director of the University of Louisville
back in a minute on news radio Wait forty whas
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