Louisville basketball got a taste of what life might be like in the ACC last weekend, losing to Duke 76-71 in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship in the Bahamas. Now the Cardinals can look forward to annual rematches.
The ACC Council of Presidents unanimously voted to accept Louisville Wednesday morning after Maryland announced its intention to leave the ACC for the Big Ten last week. Louisville is currently a member of the Big East.
“Louisville is committed in its approach to doing everything at the highest level,” ACC Commissioner John Swofford said in a teleconference with reporters Wednesday afternoon. “I’d like to commend the ACC Council of Presidents because they’ve done a good job positioning the ACC for the long term future.”
Prior to joining the Big East in 2005, Louisville was a member of Conference USA. Louisville was reportedly close to earning an offer from the Big Ten last year, a spot that was ultimately given to West Virginia. Since then, the Cardinals have not spoken with other conferences about joining, Louisville President James Ramsey said in the teleconference.
“The Atlantic Coast Conference is a great athletic conference. It has a great history and tradition,” Ramsey said.
The Cardinals join a changing conference that added both Syracuse and Pittsburgh from the Big East last year. Most recently, the ACC announced the addition of Notre Dame in September as a partial member.
“I think this was something that had to happen,” Duke vice president and director of athletics Kevin White said. “I think we had to react to the market place thoughtfully.”
Cincinnati and Connecticut were also considered as potential additions, but Louisville was ultimately chosen in what the officials described as a decision that focused primarily on athletics. In previous announcements, such as the one of Notre Dame, academics were also stressed as a driving force.
“What the ACC needed most was the most exciting sports program we could [find],” said Holden Thorp, North Carolina’s chancellor and head of the ACC’s Council of Presidents. “That is the way to ensure that the success of the ACC in sports was successful enough to allow us to keep our group together.”
Ramsey has strong ties to North Carolina, where he was formerly a vice chancellor.
Both Louisville’s strong basketball and football programs were cited as reasons for its addition to the conference. Its football team will compete for the Big East championship Thursday evening against Rutgers, which is also leaving the conference and joining the Big Ten along with Maryland.
With the subtraction of Maryland and the eventual additions of Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Louisville, the ACC will have 14 full members and a 15th in Notre Dame, which is a member in every sport except football and hockey.
“If you look at what the ACC has done over the last 15 months, it has only gotten stronger,” Swofford said.
Swofford also said the ACC is looking into potentially creating a television network with the conference’s current TV partner ESPN.
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