Louisville to Honor Former AD Tom Jurich

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Nearly a decade after his departure from the University of Louisville, Tom Jurich is finally getting some recognition for his accomplishments.

Louisville mayor Craig Greenberg announced Tuesday morning that UofL and the city would "honor Tom Jurich for his contributions to our city" on June 28th. The former UofL athletic director will have a section of Floyd Steet that runs through UofL's campus renamed after him, according to WDRB's Eric Crawford.

Formerly the athletic director at Colorado State, Jurich took over as the AD at Louisville in October of 1997 following the retirement of Bill Olsen. Over the next two decades, Jurich helped to completely transform the Cardinals, overseeing the building and renovations of a multitude of facilities, while simultaneously uplifting several programs with his coaching hires and overall investments.

Jurich's biggest accomplishment came in 2014, when Louisville was picked to replace Maryland in the Athletic Coast Conference. UConn was viewed as the overwhelming favorite to join the league, but the Cardinals landed the spot because of Jurich.

“I think the fact that he has stayed and built something very special has to give him a great deal of satisfaction. Tom won’t make it about him, and good ADs don’t, but you can’t help but understand that much of what has happened at the University of Louisville is due to his vision and his leadership and his energy," then-ACC commissioner John Swofford said.

In October of 2017, Jurich was fired after the men's basketball program was implicated in the Adidas/college basketball corruption scandal. He later sued UofL, with the two sides settling in 2018 for $4.5 million, and framing his ouster as a "retirement." Additionally, Jurich and then-men's basketball head coach Rick Pitino were exonerated by the NCAA's IARP.

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