The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced its presidents and chancellors have unanimously voted to add Louisville as the
replacement for Maryland.
In a statement Wednesday, league Commissioner John Swofford said the addition of Louisville along with Notre Dame, Pittsburgh
and Syracuse in the past 15 months has made the league stronger.
"With its aggressive approach to excellence in every respect, the University of Louisville will enhance our league's culture
and commitment to the cornerstones we were founded on 60 years ago," Swofford said.
Maryland announced last week it would join the Big Ten in 2014.
A person familiar with the situation told
The Associated Press that ACC leaders also considered Connecticut and
Cincinnati
over the past week before the vote to add Louisville during a
conference call Wednesday morning. The person spoke to the AP
on condition of anonymity because the ACC hasn't released details
of the expansion discussions.
Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich said school officials "sincerely appreciate this opportunity" and that the move will
"open so many more doors for us both athletically ... and academically for our university."
"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," Jurich said in a statement.
It's unclear exactly when Louisville will join the ACC. The Cardinals will be the seventh Big East school to leave for the
ACC in the past decade.
Politicians around Kentucky also cheered the move.
Louisville mayor Greg Fischer issued a
statement calling the ACC's decision "a fantastic development for the
university, the
city and the state." U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell
of Kentucky said in a statement the move was a credit to
Jurich's leadership of the athletic department.
The Big East has a 27-month notification period for any member that wants to leave, and a $5 million exit fee. The Big East
has shown a willingness to negotiate, as it did with Pittsburgh and Syracuse, who paid $7.5 million each to get out early.
This latest rapid-fire round of realignment was set off last week by the Big Ten's additions of Maryland and Rutgers, which
will join that conference in 2014.
On Tuesday, the Big East added Tulane for all sports and East Carolina for football only, also beginning in 2014.
Adding Louisville will bring the ACC to an even 14 full members, with Pittsburgh and Syracuse beginning conference play in
2013.
Two months ago, the ACC announced the
addition of Notre Dame for all the conference's sports but football,
with the fiercely
independent Fighting Irish committing to play five ACC football
opponents each season. Most of Notre Dame's non-football sports
have competed in the Big East since 1995.
Louisville's addition will add some extra juice to what's already one of the nation's premier conferences for men's basketball.
Louisville, currently ranked No. 5, brings a
tradition-rich program to the ACC that has won two national
championships and
reached its ninth Final Four last season. In addition, Rick Pitino
will give the league another marquee coaching name alongside
Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, North Carolina's Roy Williams and soon Jim
Boeheim of Syracuse.
The school's football program is a win away from earning a BCS berth. Charlie Strong's Cardinals travel to Rutgers on Thursday
night for a game in which they could clinch the Big East's BCS bid.
The ACC's decision to add Louisville is a
blow for Connecticut, which had been looking for a landing spot since
Pittsburgh
and Syracuse announced their Big East exits. UConn President Susan
Herbst had indicated that an invitation to join that ACC
is something the school would welcome.