COMMENTARY If Tom Jurich were a basketball player, he'd certainly be a point guard. No community leader in the city of Louisville (or the state of Kentucky for that matter) has been more in control the last five years than U of L's Vice President of Athletics.

Regardless of what you think of the University of Louisville hearing a formal proposal from the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center on a new basketball arena, you have to agree to this- Jurich and the University have skillfully put themselves back into the middle of the new arena debate.

Dateline, Louisville - U of L Student Activities Center Offices - Monday morning.

It's Monday in what should be Tom Jurich's favorite week of the year. Friday night Jurich and the entire U of L community will be on hand to watch the first pitch be thrown out in the brand-new Jim Patterson Baseball Stadium.

Jurich, whose son just graduated and is playing professional baseball, will no doubt be smiling like a proud father as he watches the lights come on in Louisville's newest athletic crown jewel facility. After a decade of work and countless phone calls and promises, Coach Lelo Prado and company finally have a home.

The invitations have been sent, the workers are building, smoothing and paving in earnest and Jurich should be kicked back with a smile on his face in an easy chair somewhere.

Who could blame him.

Under his leadership, an amazing team of athletic program strategists and an even more collection of coaches are putting the finishing touches on the most successful season in school history. Football finished ranked No. 6 in the country as Conference USA and Liberty Bowl Champions and U of L basketball saw the women make the NCAAs for the first time in years and the men take their run all the way to the Final Four. Louisville volleyball, softball, tennis, baseball, swimming, golf, soccer, track and field hockey have never been better- racking up countless school records and nearly a half dozen NCAA appearances.

He's not. He's on the phones working some new angle.

Dateline, Louisville- Papa John's Cardinal Stadium's Press Suite- Monday 3:30 p.m.

Several sports reporters (including yours truly) stroll into the Press Suite at the football stadium for what we expect to be a quick press event highlighting some of the facility and program-related improvements the University of Louisville will need to make to transition nicely into the Cards' newest conference home, the Big East Conference.

But what is with the projector and the laptop-driven video presentation? And what is that huge arial view map of the Fairgrounds and the Central Avenue sports corridor? And wait a minute, what is that round dome where Cardinal Stadium should be on the map?

This isn't a yawn and take notes type of meeting- this is visionary leadership, Jurich-style.

Louisville's mayor and city council members are rolling into a new downtown sports arena campaign while making the apparently all-too-occasional phone call to the University. The University, who is the only logical primary tennant of any such arena, seems to be an after thought in the planning stages. Not anymore.

Harold Workman and the KFEC board with the help of engineering and architecture gurus Luckett & Farley are presenting a revised proposal to the Big East Athletics Transition Committee on a 120-200 million dollar blockbuster arena project. Stop the presses and break out the cell phones.

Within minutes the television news trucks are on their way. Point guard Jurich, Board of Trustees Chairman Junior Bridgeman and company just took the ball back into their own court (forgive the pun).

Today's proposal is one part vision for the future of the self-described "Louisville Sports Corridor" and ten parts the gauntlet any future project announcements by the city or anyone else will have to pass through. By hearing proposals on a Monday and possibly getting approval by a Friday, the time table for a new arena just kicked into warp speed.

Downtown or at the Fairgrounds- no decision has officially been made, but yesterday's meeting was about much more than location. Essentially, with a bold move Monday, Jurich and the University told civic leaders that a plan for a new arena must first involve and revolve around U of L. The ground rules are set and the debate has been framed.

Mayor Jerry Abramson and the Metro Council need to counter. They'll have to now that U of L has taken the first bold step. And if they can come back with a proposal that works, a proposal that is U of L-centered and fan friendly, Jurich and President James Ramsey will listen and work due dilligence to make sure it is right for everyone involved.

If not? The table has already been set by a workable proposal that is evidently gaining favor among some Kentucky legislators. Either way, Jurich, the University and Cardinal fans win.