Second season in the Atlantic Coast Conference coming up.

No concern about whether the University of Louisville football team will be able to compete in a Power 5 conference. Not with Bobby Petrino on the sideline. The novelty has become an everyday reality.

A whole different feel to the beginning of the football season from a few years ago. No doubts about having a quality schedule, no worries about whether the Big XII conference wants to expand, no second thoughts about whether UofL will be in a position to compete for national honors.

Excuse me if every now and then I just want to raise my fist in the air and scream for joy.

Just a few years ago, the odds of UofL collecting an ACC invitation were very remote. The word was the ACC only wanted members located on the coast, that UofL’s academic standing was a deterrent. But the reality of what Louisville was accomplishing in the athletic and academic fields made the school an obvious choice.

Normalcy for UofL finally happened after decades of wishing and hoping, sometimes teetering on the edge of desperation for national acceptance and respect. Needing Maryland to withdraw from the ACC for UofL to finally get the conference invitation last year.

As Gorgui Dieng said his father often told him, “Nothing good comes easily.” All the years of hard work, conference politics, capital investment, and financial support, along with the dynamic efforts of Tom Jurich as athletic director, were absolutely required to make it happen.

For some the temptation may be to be satisfied, to bask in the glory of the new exalted status. That’s not how it works, however. There are more breakthroughs to be achieved. As someone once said, “The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we hit it.”

That obviously has not been the case at UofL. Nor will it ever be under Jim Ramsey and Jurich’s leadership.

Share this

By Charlie Springer

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

3 thoughts on “Even better times ahead for UofL”
  1. Being in the ACC has always been my dream for Louisville. Now winning the ACC mens and women basketball championships, coupled with the football championship will soon be fulfilled dreams as well. And the the Big One, a National Championship in Football is coming!

Comments are closed.