Jurich: We will continue to build

Louisville Vice President for Athletics Tom Jurich got a call this morning from the Big 12 about West Virginia receiving a bid to the Big 12. Jurich spoke with CardinalSports.com about his reaction to the news, and what this means for Louisville's future.

On West Virginia, Jurich stated plainly: "They got invited. I'm not sure how everything went down, but they fought a good battle and won."

Louisville and West Virginia had been the top two candidates for the Big 12 for the past two weeks. Both programs believed at certain times a bid to the league was eminent, but West Virginia is the first to get the actual bid, as confirmed by the Big East Friday morning.

Jurich was asked what this means for Louisville moving forward.

"We will continue to build on," Jurich said. "We have a lot of goals we have to accomplish and we will move forward."

"We are going to keep building the program. We are going to keep getting stronger and stronger and there are going to be lots of options in our future. The world has changed as we know it many times in the last couple of years and it will continue to change moving forward."

Jurich said Louisville and the Big 12 had extensive conversations dating back months.

"We had a lot of interaction," Jurich said of the Big 12.

The talk in the 24 hours prior to West Virginia's bid being announced was all about the Big 12 possibly adding both West Virginia and Louisville. Jurich said he believes the Big 12 when they say they are comfortable at 10 right now.

"I don't know what their thought process is, I know right now they are comfortable at 10," Jurich said. "I don't know where their future will hold, whether they want to go to 11, 12, 14... I don't know, but right now, I am confident they are going to stay at 10."

Jurich said Louisville will help the Big East however possible moving forward.

"I think the Big East will move rapidly," Jurich said. "I think the Big East has been waiting for things to settle so they can move ahead with their plan. I think they have a plan in place, and is a plan we expect to be a part of. The Big East has been a great partner for us, and I want to make sure we reiterate that. It's been great for our program the last six years. We want to do what we can to help it grow as it has helped us grow beginning six years ago."