Louisville Cardinals Football

The Louisville Cardinals football team represents the University of Louisville in the sport of American football. The Cardinals compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Big East Conference.

Howard Schnellenberger started the program's rise to relevancy after winning the Miami Hurricanes' first national championship. After winning only eight games in his first three years at Louisville, Schnellenberger won 32 over his last five, including a 10–1–1 season in 1990. Under the guidance of coaches John L. Smith and Bobby Petrino, the Cards made nine straight bowl game appearances from 1998 to 2006 and earned national rankings as high as sixth in 2004 and 2006. Louisville won 41 games in Petrino's four years as head coach (2003–2006), going 13–3 in Conference USA, 11–3 in the Big East, and 2–2 in bowl games.

Louisville went 12–1 in 2006, winning the Big East championship and the Orange Bowl, the school's first appearance in a Bowl Championship Series bowl game. The Cardinals had hopes of playing in the BCS National Championship Game before losing at Rutgers in November. After winning the Orange Bowl, Petrino left for the NFL's Atlanta Falcons. Less than 48 hours after Petrino's resignation, Steve Kragthorpe was hired from the University of Tulsa, where he had gone 29–22 in four years as a head coach. Kragthorpe had unforeseen problems at Louisville however and the Cardinals' fortunes went steadily downhill. After finishing the 2009 season 4–8, another coaching change was made.

On December 9, 2009, Charlie Strong was hired as Louisville's 21st head coach. Strong had been a defensive coordinator for 11 years at South Carolina and the Florida Gators, studying under the likes of Lou Holtz and Urban Meyer. Although finally just obtaining his first head coaching position at the age of 50, Strong's energy immediately rejuvenated the Louisville fan base.