Louisville: How they did it

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/ncaab--louisville-s-move-to-acc-a-sporting-miracle-192050157.html

Story of AD Jurich taking a program in shambles in the late 1990s, then leading it to eventual place in ACC.

You'll read similarities to us - bad football stadium, reputation as commuter school, etc.

Hard to digest in some ways; but, congrats to them, I guess.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Athletically, Louisville was a tangible upgrade from Maryland. The sticking point was academics, with the school 160th in the most recent U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Ultimately, the ACC dropped academic pretense and made an athletic decision. Louisville was the best choice.

That's hard to believe, given the department Tom Jurich took over 15 years ago. From C-USA outcast to the Big East to the ACC, he dragged a once-troubled program to where it never could have dreamed of being.

[Harry]

Sounds like they parlayed some on the field success into tradition -- that led to positioning themselves into a BCS level conference (The then Big East) which helped aid their future success and support. Let's not kid ourselves, it is NOT about on the field anymore. Heck didn't FIU beat these guys in football last season?? How much do you want to bet that when they turned the corner and the light bulb went off thee weren't others who said it was too late?? Congrats to them ... let's quit feeling sorry for ourselves and learn from their example.

[letsgiveacheer]

I have to say this is a shocker to me. The ACC always had a reputation for academics first but that slippery slope started when some of the newer schools were admitted. I and other old timers will remember the MVC days when Corso's Louisville squads were about the only team North Texas could look to beat on a regular basis...sort of what Western Kentucky was to North Texas in recent years.

[The Fake Lonnie Finch]

Nebraska isn't in the whatever academic thingy that the Big Ten schools are so proud of.

It doesn't matter. Louisville hustled to get what they have gotten.

Frankly, I'm starting to care less and less. Wherever we end up as we drift, I just hope we start winning.

And, that's all I'm going to say about it...for a long time.

[untjim1995]

OK, here's the deal with Louisville. Yes, they may have had a commuter image and never got much interest from any major conferences for a long time, but their basketball brand has always been strong. When you win a couple of national championships in hoops, you get sellouts and make lots of cash. You then do something almost unheard of, which is parlay that success in one sport and throw it toward the sport that can catapult your athletic program. They hired a coach with a national championship ring as the head guy--Howard Schnellenberger. He build them up and they actually become so good that they get a Fiesta Bowl bid and kill Alabama. From that point, Louisville has become a name program in both sports. They beat Florida State in football during Bowden's glory years on national TV. They went and hired a coach for their declining hoops program that had won a national championship, Rick Pitino. Now, Louisville brings in a lot of revenue to their university from athletics. They became a program in all sports that people wanted to play and were comfortable being associated with. The ACC was very smart to make this change--yeah, they lose to DC market, but I will venture to guess that the DC market has a lot of UVa and VaTech fans there to more than make up for that. Plus, it helps solidify their league so that the major southern football powers won't jump ship to the Big XII. Good move and I will root for them. They are kind of like the Boise State of the AQs--just keep winning, make others pay attention to you, become attractive enough for better conferences, and move upward while still winning.

[oldguystudent]

Their baseball stadium was built by a single booster, if I'm not mistaken. It features free admission to all interested, and sells beer in the stands. Yay!

Anyhoo, interesting that we choose to poke fun at the falling academic standards of the big conferences. The Big-10 certainly used to have a reputation for academics, and I believe that Nebraska, at least recently, was OPEN ENROLLMENT! As in open enrollment like any of your favorite DCCCD campuses.

Yet, the argument that has been made at North Texas for years, particularly in the campaign to get votes and funding for Apogee, is that a prominent athletic program raises a university's profile, thus attracting a higher caliber student applicant, leading to higher level faculty, and ultimately, bigger endowments and increased academic prestige.

Do we honestly believe this argument holds any water whatsoever?

I love watching UNT football, but I really, really, really don't care if we ever beat Texas or LSU or Alabama. Those schools are running 9-figure semi-pro operations without a care in the world as to the academic well being of their athletes. If (when) we end up in some netherworld between current FBS and FCS, so be it. We'll be there with integrity, we'll have more kids like Zach Orr roaming the field, and hopefully, we'll be competitive with our peers.

[MeanGreenTexan]

OK, here's the deal with Louisville. Yes, they may have had a commuter image and never got much interest from any major conferences for a long time, but their basketball brand has always been strong. When you win a couple of national championships in hoops, you get sellouts and make lots of cash. You then do something almost unheard of, which is parlay that success in one sport and throw it toward the sport that can catapult your athletic program. They hired a coach with a national championship ring as the head guy--Howard Schnellenberger. He build them up and they actually become so good that they get a Fiesta Bowl bid and kill Alabama. From that point, Louisville has become a name program in both sports. They beat Florida State in football during Bowden's glory years on national TV. They went and hired a coach for their declining hoops program that had won a national championship, Rick Pitino. Now, Louisville brings in a lot of revenue to their university from athletics. They became a program in all sports that people wanted to play and were comfortable being associated with. The ACC was very smart to make this change--yeah, they lose to DC market, but I will venture to guess that the DC market has a lot of UVa and VaTech fans there to more than make up for that. Plus, it helps solidify their league so that the major southern football powers won't jump ship to the Big XII. Good move and I will root for them. They are kind of like the Boise State of the AQs--just keep winning, make others pay attention to you, become attractive enough for better conferences, and move upward while still winning.

Having a Papa John also helps.

[KRAM1]

Having a Papa John also helps.

Yes, yes it does. Santa...please being UNT a Papa John's for Christmas...PLEASE!!!!!

[All About UNT]

Yes, yes it does. Santa...please being UNT a Papa John's for Christmas...PLEASE!!!!!

[shaft]

Super donor is an oversimplification, but that is a sweet picture of Frenchy.

Going back to the old CUSA days, Louisville had the largest budget on any mid-major program for years.

They spent alot of money for a lot of years to get into the Big East.

[GreenEggs&Ham™]

Do you guys remember when North Texas played UL in FB in the mid 90s? The game was at the old stadium in Louisville and it was raining and cold. THe old stadium had a roof over the stands except where the visiting team fans sat. Knowing this, I bought my ticket at the gate to get under the roof. UNT actually scored first and then UL took over. Certainly was not even a winnable game then.

[FirefightnRick]

I hope we beat Texas because I've seen us do it before as a 1-AA program with even less compared to them than we do today, and ULM beat Bama just a few years ago with probably even less.

I learned years ago, as many others here have also, that there's no reason to even field a team if you don't expect to win no matter who you line up against.

Middle beat Georgia Tech this year, ULM beat Arkansas and on and on. Every year it happens. It can happen here too.

Rick