Nine months in the American Athletic Conference could be a little awkward for the University of Louisville. An entire academic year in transition, facing an array of  opponents with  varied conference histories.

Eight out of 10 schools in the AAC are probably around indefinitely, whether all of them want to be there or not, compelled to making the new alliance work, including Cincinnati, UConn and South Florida from the former Big East who were passed over during the conference realignment shakeup.American-Athletic-Conference-Logo

Two new conference partners in Central Florida and Southern Methodist. A couple of teams, Memphis and Houston, familiar faces from previous conferences.  Two members, Louisville and Rutgers, headed for the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big Ten, respectively. Then there’s Temple, which rejoined the Big East after getting ejected only to find itself in another one two years later.

An unlikely alliance, schools thrown together through a variety of circumstances, some hoping the shakeup continues, others yearning for stability, and two knowing they have arrived, counting the days but wanting to be successful in their current conference home.

With UofL coming off of a successful year in all sports, a major challenge for each of the coaches may be maintaining high levels of intensity. Staying “humble and hungry,” as Tom Jurich puts it, is easy to say, harder to do over prolonged periods of time.

Signs of hubris or arrogance are usually first detected in the fan base, often manifested by lack of regard for schedules in which a team is considered a clear favorite in most, if not every game. Grumbling about the lack of big names on football and basketball schedules, for example.

Those attitudes are often conveyed to members of the affected teams. The players keeping hearing it from fans, seeing it on TV or reading about on the Internet. After a while, some start wondering, thinking maybe all the experts and fans are right.  Some embrace it, thinking they don’t have to work so hard, put in so much effort if it’s going to be so easy.

That’s what keeps coaches Charlie Strong, Rick Pitino, Dan McDonnell and the other coaches awake at night, knowing that Louisville will be circled on every opponent’s schedule, inside and outside of the conference. The time-worn axiom of “past performance is not an indicator of future success” is especially true in athletics.

The American Athletic Conference, like the Big East always was, will be looking to command respect in its first year. Lots of humble and hungry teams. Always going to be surprises. Louisville will continue to be successful, possibly competing national honors in several sports, only by according that respect.

Awkward or not.

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By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

2 thoughts on “Awkward year for Louisville in American Athletic Conference”
  1. And even more awkward perhaps because a few of our teams aren’t competing in the American due to there not being enough schools competing in those sports. Field Hockey, Lacrosse, and perhaps Tennis will all still be competing in The Big East.

    Definitely an awkward year…we’ll make the best of it, but looking forward to next year when everything will be nice and settled and all of our sports can be back competing in a single conference.

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