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[QUOTE="Scooch, post: 864181, member: 628"]
Fascinating article, thanks for posting it!

As hard as Jurich worked, and he clearly is an incredibly talented AD, I think UL had the inside track because of the way the landscape looked at the time.  Let's not forget the FSU/Clemson to Big 12 rumors swirling about, along with the UNC/UVA to Big Ten stuff.  Both may have been a good deal of hogwash, but they contributed to a climate of instability.  The football-centric schools of the ACC had leverage, as did the traditional southern geographic base.  I think those folks all had enough of adding basketball-centric, northern schools and wanted one of their own.  UL was fortunate that they're football program was on a significant upswing.

I mean these conference folks are not the visionaries some make them out to be, it's largely about the here and now.  Had UConn been coming off a couple of Cincy football-like 10-2, top 10 seasons and UL was mired in a stretch of 4 and 5 win seasons, the roles could easily have been reversed.

In a strange way, losing Maryland may have been a good thing for the ACC.  It allowed them to add another school more acceptable to the football-centric schools, and greased the skids for the GOR that stabilized the league.
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