The ACC confirmed Wednesday morning that its Council of Presidents voted unanimously to add Louisville to the league as a replacement for Big Ten-bound Maryland.
Louisville will become the seventh school to leave the Big East for the ACC (a list that includes Boston College). Syracuse and Pittsburgh are set to transition to the ACC next year.
UConn and Cincinnati reportedly were candidates as well.
The addition of Louisville will restore the ACC to 14 teams and give the league a school that has very strong basketball and football programs. The basketball team, coached by Rick Pitino, is 5-1 and ranked fifth in the AP Top 25. The football team is 9-2 and 23rd in the coaches' poll.
“When it became apparent to us that we needed to make a move, the ACC is the perfect fit for us and we are so elated to be joining this prestigious conference,” Louisville vice president and director of athletics Tom Jurich said in a statement. “Under John Swofford’s leadership, the ACC continues to prosper. We sincerely appreciate this opportunity. This will open so many more doors for us both athletically for all of our sports programs, and academically for our university. What I really like about this move is it’s terrific for our fans, with the proximity of the institutions and we never have to leave the Eastern time zone. This is a credit to everyone at the University of Louisville and our community, as we have all pulled together to position ourselves for this opportunity. It’s amazing what has happened here over the last 15 years. We appreciate so much what the Big East Conference has meant to us.”
To read more, click here [1].
Links:
[1] http://weei.stats.com/cbk/story.asp?i=20121128084336344870608
[2] http://www.weei.com/category/boston/boston-college