Ron Mann hires Sheehan as assistant...Tom Collen hires his wife (again)...Big Ten hires Nebraska

SATURDAY CARDINAL COUPLE :

-TARYN SHEEHAN joins UofL Track and Field staff

-FORMER UOFL WOMEN'S BB COACH HIRES WIFE

-NEBRASKA OFFICIALLY JOINS BIG 10...uhhh 11...maybe 12...whatever!

Ron Mann has announced that Taryn Sheehan has joined the UofL Track and Field team as an assistant coach. Sheehan competed as a distance runner at UofL for a year (2007-08) and comes to Louisville from Western Michigan...where she held a similar job.

She was Taryn Gibson when
she ran the 3000m in record
time for the Cards.

"We wanted to bolster our distance program to prepare for the NCAA Cross Country Championships when we host it in 2012. Taryn's addition will certainly help us from that standpoint. This also provides us with the opportunity to build the Louisville family with coaches who have been a part of the program in the past and are familiar with Louisville and our supportive community" Mann said about the hiring.

Taryn sounds excited to be back in Louisville:

"When we (her and her husband) were driving in this week and we crossed the (Ohio) river, I felt like I was home again" Sheehan confided. "I loved my time here as an athlete and I started my coaching career here as a volunteer. The chance to come home and take the women' team specifically to another level is an opportunity I'm very excited about."

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Former UofL head women's basketball coach Tom Collen is up to his old tricks again, bring wife Nicki on boards as an assistant coach down at Arkansas. She replaces Tim Eatman, who was Collen's assistant coach and defensive guru. Eatman heads to Boston College to take a similar position in the rough and tough ACC. Nicki will take over the defense and work with the guards. She is the second new hire to Arkansas's staff in the last two months....Tari Cummings joined the Razorbacks when Zenarae Antonie, who was with the Collen's at Louisville, took the head coaching job at Texas State.

Nicki Collen was an assistant for her husband at Colorado State and Louisville in previous years and also held the assistant coaching position at Ball State. She also did a little radio work as color commentator for Lady Cards hoops.

We'll always remember Tom for a couple of things...he did help develop the talent of Jazz Covington, Candyce Bingham and Angel McCoughtry...three of the best to ever don a Lady Cards uniform...and his acceptance of the Arkansas slot gave Tom Jurich the chance to bring in a highly praised Maryland assistant by the name of Jeff Walz.  

Maybe Tim Eatman got an offer he couldn't refuse at B.C. Maybe he saw the writing on the wall that the Razorbacks weren't going to become the bullies of the SEC. In Eatman's four years as an assistant to Collen at Arkansas , the team has complied a 69-63 record. In four years at Louisville...they were 88-37. Best of luck to the Razorbacks as they slug it out in a SEC Western Division that isn't nearly as strong as the Eastern Division.

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Nebraska officially joined the BIG TEN Friday. Gives them 12 teams now. Since the BIG 12 name is already taken, the BIG TEN is stuck with their current moniker. They'll officially start play on Aug 19th. as a BIG TEN member when their women's soccer team battles North Carolina. They may do well in the BIG TEN in women's basketball...leaving a conference that has Baylor and Texas A&M powerhouses....along with always tough Oklahoma and Texas. BIG TEN women's hoops hasn't been relevant in years...with Purdue and maybe Michigan State the only two teams to fear.

Despite the drop-down in competition for women's hoops...the Cornhuskers are going to be a part of a powerhouse football conference with Michigan, Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State and the rest. Can you name all 12 teams in the BIG TEN?  Which one was the hardest for you to come up with? In OUR case...Paul had to stretch to remember that Minnesota was a member and Sonja always gets confused on whether Iowa or Iowa State is a member. (It's Iowa).

OK, we've given you over half the conference here...see if you can name the other five members...

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Big East waits out the shuffle

It's only fitting that on a stormy, thundering morning in Louisville, KY the news about the storm brewing in college conference alignments rains down on the sports enthusiast.

Texas A&M to the SEC. Colorado to the PAC-10. Nebraska to the Big 10. Suddenly, the Big 12 is starting to look like a horse drawn buggy at the Indy 500. The dice are rolling, logos changing and Louisville and the rest of the Big East sit in the balcony and watch...waiting, wondering and maybe a bit worried.

We report and write on women's sports here at CARDINAL COUPLE...unless Paul goes off on one of his horse racing jags. This is a scenario where stakes runners have lined up to have a heated battle down the stretch and the Big East is a $5,000 claimer in non-winners of one at 99-1 odds....far behind the leaders and lop-legged in the final furlong.

Paul has box of old sporting event programs from UofL games. There are Missouri Valley Conference, Metro, Conference USA and Big East logos on these. Yes, we've been thru change over the last 40 years. Maybe not as big as the potential impending one...but UofL athletics has always managed to survive and prosper.

What will happen is anyone's guess...but don't get your hopes up that the Big East is going to get out of this thing unaffected. Currently on the chopping block...Syracuse, Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame. Whether they'll become part of the mega Big 10, 16...whatever name they come up with remains to be seen. Whether the non-football playing schools in the Big East follow thru with their threat to disband the conference if two of the football playing schools leave is anyone's guess. The catholic coalition against the state schools.

The Big East doesn't have a lot of options. Will they scoop up the remnants of the doomed Big 12? Do they raid Conference USA? Do they even continue to exist if they get raided by the big dogs? Can I substitute if I don't like the sides on the daily special?

One thing is for sure. Womens' sports are taking a seat at the back of the bus because of the power and profitablity of football and men's basketball. Would I mind seeing a conference where Jeff Walz got the chance to play Baylor or K-State? Would I groan if the Lady Cards had East Carolina and Southern Miss in their division? Will I have any say in the matter?

UofL athletic director Tom Jurich continues to say that the Big East is where he is comfortable and where Louisville needs to be. But, if the raiding continues...could the Cards receive an invite to an expanded ACC? Just how comfortable are those of us who aren't making a handsome athletic directors salary?

Close your eyes, hold your nose...grab your ankles and down it goes. Louisville recently lost amusement park Six Flags at Kentucky Kingdom. The rollar coaster ride, though...is far from over.

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. As Randy Newman wrote many years ago:

"It's money that matters."

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ZENYATTA roared down the Hollywood stretch from last place yesterday to win the Vanity Handicap yeserday by half a length over impressive ST. TRINIANS. A typical Mike Smith ride...hold the powerhouse back far behind the early speed and come roaring down the stretch like a runaway diesel locomotive. The big girl gets her 17th straight win.

Don't fool yourself. RACHEL ALEXANDRA is a fine filly...probably the second best in horse racing but ZENYATTA is the gold standard, the prime cut and the best that is out there today. I hope they get a chance to meet in the Breeders Cup. I hope RACHEL doesn't get whipped too badly. The question has been raised if ZENYATTA will adapt to a dirt surface instead of the synthetic.

Believe me. This horse could run in quicksand and still threaten the track record.