Fans filled the KFC Yum! Center to say one final goodbye to Coach Denny Crum Monday night.More than 8,500 tickets were claimed online to attend the celebration of life. The list of speakers included several of Crum’s former star players like Junior Bridgeman, Darrell Griffith, and Billy Thompson. “What he did was more important than basketball, more important than winning games. He changed the city of Louisville. He changed the fans of the University of Louisville and he made Louisville a national power,” Bridgeman said. “Coach gave us the opportunity to be free, to be our own players, to have imagination,” Griffith said.Even Coach Crum’s toughest opponents joined in on celebrating what he brought to the game and how he changed it. “He introduced a style of play both on offense and on defense that was different. His switch to man-to-man was very difficult to score against. I know because we had a hard time scoring against it in the national championship game,” said former Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski via video message. Current UofL Men’s Basketball Head Coach Kenny Payne thanked Coach Crum for creating the playbook for building a great program and promised to take the Cards back to Final Four and beyond.”Thank you for giving me the standard of truly what Louisville basketball should be and will be again. We know what it looks like because of you, Coach,” Payne said.
Fans filled the KFC Yum! Center to say one final goodbye to Coach Denny Crum Monday night.
More than 8,500 tickets were claimed online to attend the celebration of life.
The list of speakers included several of Crum’s former star players like Junior Bridgeman, Darrell Griffith, and Billy Thompson.
“What he did was more important than basketball, more important than winning games. He changed the city of Louisville. He changed the fans of the University of Louisville and he made Louisville a national power,” Bridgeman said.
“Coach gave us the opportunity to be free, to be our own players, to have imagination,” Griffith said.
Even Coach Crum’s toughest opponents joined in on celebrating what he brought to the game and how he changed it.
“He introduced a style of play both on offense and on defense that was different. His switch to man-to-man was very difficult to score against. I know because we had a hard time scoring against it in the national championship game,” said former Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski via video message.
Current UofL Men’s Basketball Head Coach Kenny Payne thanked Coach Crum for creating the playbook for building a great program and promised to take the Cards back to Final Four and beyond.
“Thank you for giving me the standard of truly what Louisville basketball should be and will be again. We know what it looks like because of you, Coach,” Payne said.