Neeli Bendapudi leaving Louisville for Penn State

The two people tabbed to clean up the University of Louisville’s many scandals have had enough. News broke this morning that Dr. Neeli Bendapudi is leaving Louisville to take the same job at Penn State. Meanwhile, athletics director Vince Tyra was expected to take the open AD job at Florida State, although that is now in question in the wake of the Bendapudi news. The UofL Board of Trustees met yesterday afternoon and voted to allow Tyra out of his contract, clearing the path for his exit.

Tyra and Bendapudi came on board following an especially tumultuous period for the university. Tyra was named interim AD in October 2017 when Tom Jurich was fired following the men’s basketball program’s involvement in the college hoops bribery scandal. Bendapudi was hired in 2018 to replace James Ramsey, who was forced out in 2016.

During his time at Louisville, Tyra has made two big coaching hires, bringing in Scott Satterfield to replace Bobby Petrino (2.0) and Chris Mack to replace David Padgett, who was serving as interim head coach following the firing of Rick Pitino. Both hires have underwhelmed, with the fanbase growing increasingly frustrated with Satterfield in the wake of a 6-6 season that ended with Kentucky’s 52-21 rout at Cardinal Stadium.

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What does Vince Tyra do now?

Hilariously, rumors spread late last week that Tyra wanted to fire Satterfield and hire Jeff Brohm but Bendapudi said no, which frustrated Tyra so much he started looking for opportunities elsewhere. Now, Bendapudi’s gone, leaving Floyd Street spinning.

Will Bendapudi’s exit make Tyra reconsider leaving Louisville? A source tells Mark Ennis that Tyra has turned down Florida State’s offer, but it’s not clear whether that means he’s staying or just getting out of the industry altogether. If Tyra says, does that mean Satterfield is out? Either way, the meltdown sure is fun to watch from afar.

According to a source, Vince Tyra has turned down the offer to become Florida State’s athletic director. It is unclear if he intends to remain the athletic director at Louisville or return to a private sector role.
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) December 9, 2021

If Vince stays now? Great, let’s go. I’d love to see a UofL legacy help us build our program back into a national contender in football and hoops to match our other sports.

And if he still chooses to leave? BYE.

We’ve fought through worse. None of this is going to keep us down
— Howie Lindsey (@howielindsey) December 9, 2021

I, again, request that we return to precedented times.
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) December 9, 2021

Four weeks ago: a university president, athletics director and Heisman winner. pic.twitter.com/wKODcOJj3C
— Paul Miles (@PaulMiles840) December 9, 2021

Louisville situation… pic.twitter.com/LJ5ICiYy6W
— Matt Stone (@mattstonephotog) December 9, 2021

Neeli Bendapetrino
— Mark Blankenbaker (@UofLSheriff50) December 9, 2021

Neeli right now pic.twitter.com/n3GMSjSZIH
— Chris Hatfield (@ChrisDHatfield) December 9, 2021

You know how I always say, "Oh, we've seen crazy stuff before." We're going to see some crazy stuff today, and we haven't seen it before. This one will rank up there somewhere. So there's that.
— Eric Crawford (@ericcrawford) December 9, 2021