The lengths some universities will go not to be left out of the changing college athletics landscape.
The latest round of shifting saw Maryland and Rutgers leave the ACC and Big East, respectively, for the Big Ten, with Big East member Louisville subsequently replacing the Terps as the ACC’s 14th team. But as ESPN.com reported late last month during the game of conference musical chairs, Cincinnati was also doing its darndest to break free from the Big East, which had already gone into acquisition “beast mode” -- if you want to call it that -- by completing its transformation into Conference USA.
Thanks to a little digging with some help from the Freedom of Information Act, the Cincinnati Enquirer was able to uncover UC’s campaign for ACC membership. That included reaching out to a notable alum and Ohio State coach, Urban Meyer, for assistance in making the pitch:The email and other documents, obtained by The Enquirer through an Ohio Public Records Act request, also show that UC tried to enlist Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer, whose sister works at UC. Urban used to coach at Notre Dame, which has joined the ACC for sports other than football.
But Meyer eventually backed away from that request.
“While he is comfortable telling folks he cares deeply for UC and that he knows we are a great school, with great people and great leadership, he thinks his calls would feel contrived and that they would not have an impact,” wrote Gigi Escoe, a vice provost at UC and Meyer’s sister, to Babcock Nov. 27.The connection is certainly there. In addition to being an alum, Meyer was also a former assistant at Notre Dame, now a full member of the ACC for all sports except football and hockey. But UC’s aggressive push, which included phone calls and brochures to every ACC member from UC president Santa Ono, fell short. The Cardinals moved to the ACC on Nov. 28.