Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime.

The Docket Passer

Cardinal football, the UofL, and Louisville Law

The Docket Passer, October 19, 2007
Game 7 recap	Game 8 preview
ESPN video:	Coach Steve Kragthorpe: DT Earl Heyman: WR Patrick Carter:

Download the October 19, 2007, edition of The Docket Passer . Or simply mash the "play" button above.

Welcome to the October 19 installment of "The Docket Passer," your online source for observations about Cardinal football, the UofL, and Louisville Law.

I've been away from this feature for about a month, but the Cardinals' stirring victory over Big East rival Cincinnati is as good an occasion as any other for getting back into the swing of things. Even at 4-3, our Cardinals remain in the hunt for the conference title. With every game down the stretch, a winning season and a bowl invitation hang in the balance.

As a fan of the Cardinals, I wish we didn't have three losses. But a little adversity reminds us of a time, not too long ago, when our upstart football program tried to grab the attention of the college football establishment. Football at the UofL still follows the credo that helped restore gridiron glory to the Cardinal Nation. The Cardinals, it was said, would play anyone, anywhere, anytime. That attitude catapulted Louisville to an epic victory on September 26, 2002, over #4 Florida State:


And so it remains today. Our football team fears no foe. It knows no boundaries. It works ceaselessly to improve. So does our Law School.

Like the 2002 Louisville Cardinals, and perhaps even the 2007 version of our football team, the University of Louisville School of Law stands on the verge of signature victories that promise to open the door to even greater future success. In the nine months between my arrival in Louisville and the Law School's impending celebration of homecoming weekend, I have learned that engagement of our graduates and other outside constituents, coupled with their generosity, holds the key to our future. With the support of our friends, we can do anything.

In pursuit of that support, I have adopted my own credo. In alumni relations and university development as in collegiate athletics, I will engage anyone, anywhere, anytime. From the Paroquet Springs Conference Center in Bullitt County to the Oldham County Historical Society and the Red Mile in Lexington, from Rocco's Ristorante in Ceredo, West Virginia, to Starbucks headquarters in Seattle and the food court at Denver International Airport, I will refuse no invitation that might build a bridge, rekindle a connection, or forge a lifelong bond between the University of Louisville School of Law and one of its graduates.

This equation lies at the heart of r/K selection theory. It's also a good thing for a law school dean to know.

Beneath it all, I do have a method in mind. Informed by population ecology, I've come to believe that development and alumni relations, at least at this point in the history of the Law School, must follow a so-called "r strategy" rather than a "K strategy." If you look for me between sessions at the University of Louisville's first annual Conference on Law, Ethics, and the Life Sciences from Friday, October 26, through Saturday, October 27, I'll happily explain. Suffice it to say for the moment that "r strategy" is a fancy phrase for a sentiment that Cardinal athletics has expressed in terms that are as powerful as they are meaningful: Anyone. Anywhere. Anytime.

This weekend, though, I'm planning to lay r and K aside for three or four hours. As in the rest of the Cardinal Nation, the strategy that most interests me is a different letter:

Deeeee-fense