By Aaron Williams–

Following speculation Wednesday, Oct. 26 on whether it would be the Cardinals of the University of Louisville or the Mountaineers of the University of West Virginia that would fill hole left in the Big 12 by the University of Missouri Tigers, it appears as of Friday morning that Louisville will remain in the Big East and West Virginia will join the Big 12.

Originally West Virginia’s place in the Big 12 seemed to be a lock, but following an Associated Press report on Wednesday from an anonymous source close to the Big 12 talks, it was revealed that Louisville was still in the discussion to receive the invitation as well.

Louisville Athletic Director and Vice President Tom Jurich had this to say in remarks he made to the media on Friday morning at the KFC Yum! Center,

“The Big East Conference has been and remains a very good home for us.  We look forward to working with the league to attract quality institutions and build for the future.  It was an honor to be considered for membership by the Big 12 Conference and we wish that league and West Virginia the very best as they move forward.  We had many great discussions with the Big 12 leadership and they were an impressive class group,” said Jurich.

West Virginia’s departure from the league makes them the third school to leave the Big East this fall. The University of Syracuse and the University of Pittsburgh withdrew from the Big East in September to accept invitations to join the Atlantic Coast Conference, increasing the size of the ACC to 14.

Attracting schools to rebuild the Big East will now become the priority for the conference that hopes to expand its football teams to twelve. The Big East will need to secure seven schools to make this aspiration a reality. Invitations to universities could be sent out reportedly as early as Tuesday. Conference USA schools such as the University of Houston, University of East Carolina, University of Central Florida and the University of Memphis have been identified as potential Big East targets. In particular, the addition of the University of Memphis to the conference would be of interest to Louisville as it would provide an opportunity to rekindle an old C-USA rivalry.

Boise State is also another target of Big East expansion, and their talented football program would be key to ensuring the Big East keeps its automatic BCS bid.

Louisville men’s head basketball coach Rick Pitino has been vocal in his support of Boise State joining the conference.

“I’m going to repeat what Tom Jurich said to me the other day. I said, ‘are we really going to get Boise State into this league?’ And he said if we do get Boise State, John Marinatto should be the commissioner of the century. So, we want them,” said Pitino following the season’s first red-white exhibition game.

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Illustration by Baylee Pulliam/The Louisville Cardinal