Louisville Magazine

MAR 2013

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

Issue link: https://loumag.epubxp.com/i/111400

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 69 of 136

��We couldn��t lose. We had to get this,�� says Jurich. wasting away. Already, fve member schools were leaving. U of L needed its own exit plan. ���Start calling all the presidents you know in the ACC,��� Jurich told his boss. Te problem was, Ramsey didn���t know many. While he had a direct connection to the ACC through his time as vice chancellor of fnance and administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that was almost 15 years ago. ���Tere have been two or three presidents at some schools since I was in the ACC,��� he says, ���and the two presidents I knew well (at Syracuse and Pittsburgh, Big East members who don���t ofcially join the ACC until this fall) don���t have a vote yet.��� But the UNC ties held up. Holden Torpe was a chemistry professor when Ramsey was vice chancellor; now Torpe is UNC���s chancellor. ���When I talked to Jim, the league was deliberating about the next thing to do ��� whether to add a team, add two teams, stand pat,��� Torpe says. ���But at this point, given this whole process of realignment, we thought the best way to stay together was to make sure the programs on television were as exciting as possible. I thought Louisville had the best package, and I feel even better about it since they���ve gone on to win the Sugar Bowl in football and were ranked No. 1 in basketball.��� Was U of L a favorite from the start? ���It evolved,��� Torpe says. ���I felt best about Louisville, but it took awhile to get everybody enthusiastic.��� Te worries: academics, football tradition and the number of metro Louisville eyes glued to that great god, television. Te attractions: basketball tradition, foot- ball on the rise, some $250 million in new facilities since Jurich���s arrival 15 years ago and competitive sports teams across the board. Also, Torpe says, the ACC presidents and athletic directors liked U of L���s proximity. For example, it���s a 1��-hour plane ride from Chapel Hill to Louisville ��� a trek Torpe and his athletic director, Bubba Cunningham, made Sept. 15 for a football game against the Cardinals. ���It certainly worked to their advantage that the athletic director and I had been in the stadium a couple of months prior to the vote, and we were very impressed with it,��� Torpe says. Of note: Te Cards originally were scheduled to play Georgia on that date, but the Bulldogs pulled out. UNC was a lastminute replacement. 3.13 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 6 3

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Louisville Magazine - MAR 2013