Bobby Petrino knew the Louisville football team had enough to deal with before its season opener against Kentucky on Aug. 31.

The Cardinals had a new quarterback thanks to the graduation of Dave Ragone, a three-time Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year. They had to rebound from a 2002 season in which BCS hopes faded into 7-6 mediocrity. And they had a new head coach after John L. Smith left to take a job at Michigan State.

The Cardinals were nervous before a 40-24 win over the rival Wildcats. They didn’t need to know about the butterflies that danced in Petrino’s stomach before his first-ever game as a head coach.

‘I’m sure he was nervous. It’s natural to be,’ his brother and offensive coordinator Paul Petrino said. ‘He didn’t say anything to me. I don’t think there was anything he did that you could tell.’

So Petrino hid his nerves, burying them where his players and even his brother couldn’t find them. He covered them with mountains of game film and the monotony of routine – a routine that includes arriving at his office before 5:30 a.m. and often leaving after dark.

Petrino shouldn’t be as nervous this week when Louisville (1-0) faces Syracuse (1-0) at 1:30 p.m. in the Carrier Dome. He’s been around coaching all his life.

Petrino’s work habits were impressed on him by a man he still calls ‘the greatest coach he’s ever worked with,’ his father, Bob, an NAIA Hall of Fame coach who retired in 1998 after coaching Carroll College for 28 years. Prior to coaching at Carroll, Petrino Sr. spent time coaching both his sons at Capital High School in Helena, Mont.

At age 2, Petrino accompanied his dad to practice. He’d shag balls and run water out to overheated players. In second grade he started breaking down game film. In fourth grade he followed his dad down the sidelines, keeping his play charts. In school, while classmates chatted with friends, he’d diagram plays.

‘I ask (my dad) for advice all the time,’ Petrino said. ‘Sometimes he tells me to make my own decisions. I learned a lot about preparation, a lot about motivation.’

Petrino’s immersion created one of college football’s best offensive minds. He spent 1998 as an offensive coordinator with Louisville, then three seasons with the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars and a season with Auburn before landing his head-coaching gig.

His accomplishments – as an offensive coordinator he led both Utah State in 1996 and Louisville in 1998 to school records in total offense – have led critics to call him an offensive genius.

But he’s not incomprehensible like Einstein. Instead, he simplifies the game. Louisville Director of Athletics Tom Jurich lauds his attention to detail, and Petrino Sr. insists he would have been as good a detective as he is a coach. Unlike Smith, his predecessor, Petrino’s a perfectionist when it comes to technique.

‘Our center (Dan Koons) came up to me after practice and said that for the first time since he’s been here, he understands not just that he’s supposed to do certain things, but why he’s supposed to do them,’ quarterback Stefan LeFors said.

Rather than a complicated theory of relativity, Petrino’s theory is one of offensive ability. Simply put: ‘Feed the studs.’

Before each game, Petrino picks players capable of delivering big plays. Sometimes they’re his top players. Sometimes they’re based on opponent weaknesses. The team’s goal is to get the ball into each chosen player’s hands as often as possible. To ingrain his big-play philosophy, wide receivers run 40 yards after a catch on each reception in practice. Running backs run 20 yards on every carry.

Despite his offensive acumen, Petrino suffered while learning something more important than offense from his father. This offseason, Louisville started to learn the same lessons.

When Petrino couldn’t find a summer job, he’d work for his father, climbing steps at a minor league baseball game while hawking peanuts, candy and soda for his father’s concession stand. Dinner began at the same time every night. The same food was served on the same day each week, culminating in a typical Italian meal of spaghetti and chicken every Sunday.

‘He thinks I was pretty strict. I think that’s what he learned from me,’ Petrino Sr. said. ‘Routine and discipline. I think in order to have a good football team, you need a routine. I didn’t like to get away from it at all.’

Louisville could have used both last season. Infighting split the team apart, and the team averaged 92 yards in penalties, nearly 30 more than Cardinal opponents. Louisville drew unsportsmanlike conduct and taunting penalties with rapidity, turning big plays into bigger letdowns.

Smith, though, may have caused the team’s biggest letdown. His acceptance of the MSU job was announced on a Michigan radio station before Louisville collapsed in a 38-15 loss to Marshall in the GMAC Bowl.

‘It was a weird situation,’ LeFors said. ‘He never came out and told us. As a team, we felt screwed over. To be honest with you, though, I was kind of glad there was a change. It was a chance to start over.’

Petrino didn’t address the Smith situation with his team. Both Bobby and Paul Petrino coached under Smith and still respect him. But both knew the attitude on the team had to change. Talking wouldn’t fix things. The Cardinals had to be shown.

So Petrino again turned to routine. Winter weightlifting sessions, which began at 5:30 a.m., became mandatory. Under Smith’s watch, players could wander into the weight room at any time of day.

LeFors said that while Smith and his coaching staff were never present for the early morning workouts, under Petrino, coaches made it a habit to arrive before players. Unlike Smith, who was mainly a supervisor in each practice, Petrino spent time with players when they were broken down into small groups.

Although players were warned against showboating in the winter, the lessons didn’t set in until spring practice, when offenders were chased the length of the field by Petrino and sentenced to sets of up-and-downs or push-ups performed in front of the entire team.

After attending Louisville’s training camp this summer, Petrino Sr. realized he didn’t have any more lessons to impart.

‘I was so impressed with all the football he knew,’ Petrino Sr. said. ‘He’s learned more than I’ve ever known. We still talk a lot, but it’s basically me asking questions.’

Published on September 10, 2003 at 12:00 pm