Jurich
gives notice in October of 2011. He says even if the Big 12 chooses West Virginia, Louisville will leave in 2014.
Marinatto and Genshaft try to change his mind and cannot. So they ask him NOT to file a written notice as it would be discoverable under FOIA. They worried what the disclosure would do to the Big East's stability.
Jurich agrees, but verbally tells other current Big East ADs
Two months later, like 5 bumps on a log, Houston, UCF, SMU, Boise and SDSU accept an invitation to join the Big East.
IF WE DID NOT KNOW THAT:
1. Louisville was leaving, and
2. All the other Big East schools KNEW that Louisville was leaving
I'm not sure we would have signed an agreement
that looked like this:
1. Entry fee of $2.5M
2. $5M exit fee if we did not join the Big East by July 2013
3. $10M exit fee once we joined the league officially
Hell, the Big East needed us to survive at that point. Plus, we were obviously under a false impression of the TV value of the league. And a false impression of the stability of the league.
We could have negotiated a sweetheart deal had we known all the facts, including:
1. A much smaller entry fee, and
2. A lion's share of the Big East exit fees from schools like WVa, Pitt, Syracuse and Louisville.