Hilltoppers turn to bowl

— Interim coach Lance Guidry says it best: “There’s a lot of stuff going on at Western Kentucky.”

The Hilltoppers are preparing for their first bowl game since joining the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2009. And then, after accepting a bid to the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, Western Kentucky lost Coach Willie Taggart and made a huge splash by hiring Bobby Petrino to replace him.

Guidry, who was the team’s defensive coordinator, will coach the bowl against Central Michigan. It’s not the first time he’s been asked to guide a team through the postseason on a temporary basis. Guidry was Miami of Ohio’s interim coach for a victory over Middle Tennessee in the 2011 Go-Daddy.com Bowl.

Taggart left to take over the program at South Florida, and Western Kentucky moved quickly to hire Petrino less than a year after he was dismissed at Arkansas after an affair with a former UA volleyball player, whom he later hired as an assistant on the Razorbacks’ staff and gave $20,000 as a gift, was exposed when an Arkansas State Police report showed the woman was aboard the coach’s motorcycle when it crashed in an April accident. His hiring has almost overshadowed the fact that the Hilltoppers still have another game to play.

“At least it’s out of the waynow. The younger guys know who their head coach is going to be next year,” Guidry said Thursday at a media luncheon for his team’s Detroit-based bowl. “They know that they’re mine right now, and they’re good with that.”

For seniors like tight end Jack Doyle, the focus needs to be on the present - not what Petrino might do once he takes over after the bowl.

“I know a lot of the players are excited about at least knowing who their new coach is going to be,” Doyle said. “We’re excited to get this bowl going.”

The Dec. 26 game isn’t just a run-of-the-mill postseason trip for the Hilltoppers. This is only Western Kentucky’s fourth season in the Football Bowl Subdivision.

The team went 0-12 in 2009, but its ascent has beenquick since then. The Hilltoppers were 7-1 in Sun Belt Conference play a season ago, but they didn’t get to play in a bowl despite being eligible. They received a bid this year.

“I think they’ve got a chip on their shoulder. These seniors, they’ve been through so much,” Guidry said. “As freshmen, they went 0-12. Then the next year, I think we had a 26-game losing streak, and they finally broke it. Then the following year, we start off 0-4, then we won seven of our last eight games.”

Western Kentucky is led by junior Antonio Andrews, who has rushed for 1,609 yards and 11 touchdowns this year. He’s also a receiving threat and returns kickoffs and punts. He has 2,977 allpurpose yards on the season, just 273 behind the record set by Barry Sanders.

Sports, Pages 19 on 12/14/2012

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