It's easy to say that the head coaches are the reasons why a team has a successful recruiting class. Yet any true college football connoisseur knows that the backbone is the assistant coaches who spend countless hours making calls, making in-home visits and wooing his program's top recruits.

There is an elite group of assistant coaches that have separated themselves as the best in the business, and Louisville has at least one of them. Rivals.com recently announced Louisville Defensive Coordinator Mike Cassity has been honored as one of the nation's Top 25 recruiters for 2005.

In his first season at U of L, Cassity transformed U of L's defense from mild to wild. The Cardinals, known more for touchdown passes than middle linebackers in the last 10 years, finished ranked No. 15 in the nation in total defense, allowing just 305 yards per game. Despite facing a trio of high-scoring teams in Miami, Memphis and Boise State (the nation's No. 2 offense), Louisville finished the season ranked No. 24 in Division 1 in scoring defense, at just 19.7 points per game.

Cassity's first season at U of L also included two shutout performances, a 28-0 drubbing of rival Kentucky on opening day and a 34-0 rout of North Carolina, a team who would go on to participate in the Continental Tire Bowl. Led by hard-hitting middle linebacker Robert "The Hammer" McCune, athletic safety Kerry Rhodes and defensive end Marcus Jones, Cassity's defense caused panic in quarterbacks, grabbing 17 interceptions while allowing just 18 touchdowns.

Cassity's favorite stat? The Cards finished the season 11-1, Liberty Bowl and Conference USA Champions and ranked No. 6 in the country in the final polls.

The Cardinals success on the field translated into greater access to the nation's top recruits. Head Coach Bobby Petrino, Cassity, Offensive Coordinator Paul Petrino and the Louisville assistants pulled in 12 recruits ranked three-stars or higher by Rivals.com.

Louisville's final recruiting haul came home to roost on February 2 signing day, and the final tally looked even more impressive on the defensive side of the ball. U of L's defensive end recruits finished 10th in the country, with two four-star recruits, Zach Anderson and Earl Heyman, a three-star prospect, Tallahassee star Jonathon Holston, and power forward-turned-defensive end Michael Adams. The class of defensive ends finished ranked ahead of traditional powers Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, LSU, Miami, Texas and Wisconsin.

While Cassity was named to the Nation's Top 25 list, the Cardinal coaching staff double and triple-teamed in some cases to help land the highest-rated recruiting class in Louisville history.

The staff also picked up future defensive linemen Blake Boyd, who could also play tight end and linebacker, with help from assistant coach Jeff Brohm and L.D. Scott, a bull-rusher from Joe Whitt Jr.'s hometown school in Auburn, Ala.

At linebacker, Cassity and linebackers coaches Reggie Johnson and Tony Levine brought in former Rivals 100 high school star Nate Harris from Dodge City Community College. The 6-foot, 220-pound Harris runs a 4.5 in the 40-yard dash, bench presses 400 pounds and was ranked one of the top 10 junior college recruits in the nation by Rivals.com in 2005.

Coach Petrino said Louisville's goal is to be the fastest team in the new Big East conference, and thanks to strong recruiting efforts from defensive line coach Kevin Wolthausen and cornerbacks coach Joe Whitt Jr., the U of L secondary appears to be stocked for years to come. Wolthausen and the Cards landed their first commitment in the class of 2005 from New Jersey safety Darius Mann. Whitt and Cassity combined efforts on Florida speedsters E.K. Sawyer and Travis Norton, North Carolina's Trenton Guy and Atlanta star Richard Raglin, while in-state recruiting from assistant coach Greg Nord and Mike Summers brought in defensive back Lamar Alston from Paducah, Ky. and Paul Petrino helped the defensive staff with a commitment from Jacksonville track star Craig James.

A native of Fort Campbell, Ky., Cassity is a 1976 graduate of the University of Kentucky where he starred in both football and wrestling. Cassity is married to the former Colleen Hartman. The family has four children: Brooke, Hunter, Skyler and Braden. Cassity, who has 28 years of total coaching experience, came to Louisville after serving the last three seasons with Illinois.

Stay logged on to CardinalSports.com for more with Cassity and the most in-depth coverage of Louisville's 2005 recruiting class.