[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 22]
[Senate]
[Pages 29926-29927]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    TRIBUTE TO UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE ATHLETIC DIRECTOR TOM JURICH

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, November 5, 2003, brought many reasons 
for celebration in Kentucky. First, my friend, Ernie Fletcher was 
celebrating his victory in the gubernatorial election, making him the 
first Republican to hold that office in 32 years. The same day, the 
University of Louisville, my alma mater, was celebrating its acceptance 
into the Big East Conference. On that day, my local paper, The Courier-
Journal, highlighted both of these achievements on the front page--a 
great day to be a Republican and a Cardinal.
  The man who orchestrated U of L's rise to the Big East is my friend, 
Tom Jurich, the university's athletic director. Since his arrival in 
1997, Tom has worked diligently to improve Louisville's athletic 
department. In recent years, he has hired two outstanding coaches, 
football coach Bobby Petrino and basketball coach Rick Pitino. He also 
has secured U of L's place as one of the top athletic programs in the 
country. Tom's hard work and dedication should be commended.
  I close by quoting Tom from the November 5, 2003 edition of The 
Courier-Journal. He said:

       It's a wonderful day to be a U of L fan. And it's a 
     wonderful day to be a Cardinal student-athlete. But it's a 
     hell of a great day to be the athletic director at the 
     University of Louisville. This has been a six-year work in 
     progress This puts us on a level playing field.

  This U of L alum is one happy fan, and I thank my friend for all he 
has done for the University of Louisville Athletic Department. I ask 
unanimous consent that the following article from The Courier-Journal 
be printed in the Congressional Record to document this historic day: 
``Under Tom Jurich, Louisville's star has risen in the East.''
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                [From the Courier-Journal, Nov. 5, 2003]

       Under Tom Jurich, Louisville's Star Has Risen in the East

                             (By Pat Forde)

       At 10 o'clock yesterday morning, a wrinkled Big East 
     Conference banner was stretched across a table in Kenny 
     Klein's office at the University of Louisville.
       The worst-kept secret in college athletics was literally--
     and finally--on the table. Welcome to a banner day on Planet 
     Red.
       Klein, the associate athletic director for media relations, 
     is in his 21st year at U of L. He has been a loyal soldier 
     through the glory and the gory--from an NCAA championship to 
     NCAA probation, from the Fiesta Bowl to 1-10. He ranks 
     yesterday among his very proudest days on the job.
       ``For the whole, encompassing factor of the athletic 
     department and university, it's as big as anything we've 
     done,'' Klein said. ``We're poised to make an absolute leap, 
     I think.
       ``It's really neat because you work so hard to build 
     something, a total department, and to see it come to fruition 
     is just a great feeling. Until now you've had that little 
     stigma, even though we knew we can compete. The stigma's 
     gone.''
       After six years of unwavering effort by athletic director 
     Tom Jurich, the stigma is gone. After some of the most 
     skillful, steely and inspired personnel moves in recent 
     college sports history reinvigorated football and men's 
     basketball, the stigma is gone. After a committed campaign to 
     improve U of L's shady NCAA-compliance image, low-budget 
     facilities and neglected non-revenue sports, the stigma is 
     gone.
       The news that U of L will leave Conference USA in 2005 (at 
     the latest) for the Big East did not pack the focused 
     emotional wallop of beating UCLA in Indianapolis in 1980, 
     Kentucky in Knoxville in '83, Duke in Dallas in '86 or 
     Alabama in Tempe in '91. But those were ephemeral moments, 
     followed (eventually) by hard times. This victory could have 
     a permanent effect on exposure, recruiting, finances and 
     winning--if the Bowl Championship Series situation works 
     itself out.
       That's a significant ``if,'' but Jurich expressed 
     confidence that the new Big East won't lose its place at the 
     big table. And if there is one thing Cards fans have learned 
     to do, it's to trust Jurich's vision.
       ``He really had to change the culture for six years to make 
     this happen,'' said senior associate athletic director Julie 
     Hermann. ``This is a benchmark, a defining moment.''
       The defining moments keep piling up for Jurich. The man who 
     hired John L. Smith, Rick Pitino and Bobby Petrino now has 
     brought the entire athletic department up to a level it has 
     strived to reach forever.
       Jurich took over on Oct. 21, 1997. Yesterday he jokingly 
     said his first call to Big East headquarters came the 
     following day. In reality he took a few months getting a grip 
     on

[[Page 29927]]

     the U of L program, then put in a call to see where the 
     Cardinals stood.
       ``It fell on deaf ears,'' he said.
       There is a cure for deafness: persistence, a plan and the 
     power of Pitino.
       ``We just kept at it and kept at it,'' Jurich said. ``And 
     when we got Rick, I think the possibilities became a lot 
     clearer.''
       The possibilities could become crystal-clear probabilities 
     by 2005. Pitino is pointing for a Final Four-level season in 
     2004-05 and could move the Cards immediately to the top of a 
     16-team Big East megaheap. Football coach Bobby Petrino will 
     be in his third year, with a number of today's young talents 
     in starring roles. If the non-revenue sports step up--most 
     notably women's basketball--U of L could enter the Big East 
     on a serious roll.
       The trajectory of Louisville's climb grew steeper in recent 
     years, but the gradual ascent began decades before. This is a 
     school that once was a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, 
     just another regional athletic program in a state owned by 
     Big Blue. This is a school that once gave away football 
     tickets with a tank of gas at convenience stores, a school 
     that once had non-revenue facilities that would embarrass 
     some high schools.
       ``It's been a slow progression, but this is a great day for 
     the athletic department,'' U of L trustee and 1970s 
     basketball hero Junior Bridgeman said. ``It's not a 
     culmination, just the next step. But it's a great time, and 
     everyone should share in the joy.''
       Said Charlie Tyra, a basketball star from the 1950s: ``This 
     is another step in the direction they want to get. Hopefully, 
     this is the big step.''
       It's big enough to say that Louisville is now officially 
     Big. Big enough for the Big East. Big enough for the big boys 
     of college athletics. Big enough to have something Big 
     Brother in Lexington lacks: membership in what will be the 
     best basketball conference going.
       This is a league big enough to find on every map. Trips to 
     Hattiesburg, Birmingham and Greenville are out. Philadelphia, 
     Washington and the Big Apple are in.
       It's big enough to find every March. As recently as 1994, 
     Louisville was playing in the Metro Conference Tournament in 
     the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi. Now it has signed 
     on to play its league tourney on the most famous hardwood in 
     the world at Madison Square Garden.
       It's big enough to keep a football coach happy. U of L lost 
     the two best it ever had--Howard Schnellenberger and John L. 
     Smith--because of conference affiliation. Today Petrino, a 
     star-in-the-making, believes he has everything he needs to 
     chase what had been unattainable: a national championship.
       Schnellenberger, Denny Crum and Bill Olsen vaulted 
     Louisville athletics forward dramatically in the 1980s and 
     early '90s. That shouldn't be forgotten today when measuring 
     how far the Cards have come. But by the time Jurich arrived, 
     the school's isolationist athletic stance had outlived its 
     usefulness.
       As the conference landscape had begun to change, U of L 
     hadn't changed with it. Hogging TV and postseason revenue and 
     pipe-dreaming of football independent status wasn't helping 
     make the Cards an attractive modern program. In fact, it 
     nearly cost them membership in C-USA at a time when, as 
     Jurich pointed out, ``Louisville needed Conference USA much 
     more than Conference USA needed Louisville.''
       Today Louisville is easily the most vibrant, viable and 
     attractive school in the league. And in 2005 it will commence 
     aiming even higher.
       You want billboard material? You've got it. Louisville 
     might not be the Best College Sports Town in America, but 
     it's a better one today than it ever has been.
       Before the official announcement yesterday, Klein stood at 
     a podium in the U of L football complex, preparing to make 
     introductions. Someone flipped a switch, and behind him a 
     projection screen rolled up.
       Behind the screen was the Big East banner that had been 
     sitting on the table in his office earlier in the day. The 
     symbolic wrinkles had been ironed out. And as the screen 
     rolled up, Klein couldn't help but smile.

     

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