Losing Maryland was not a good thing.
It showed that the ACC wasn't in the same league as the Big 10 and SEC. The ACC has added only 1 large public "state" university since expansion in 2004. That university is Virginia Tech. Miami, BC, and Syracuse are private while Pitt and Louisville are more local/urban than "state" universities. Meanwhile the SEC, Big 10, and Pac 12 have only added large state flagship and/or land-grant universities. Those universities have larger fan bases and more living alumni.
As for Louisville, they are doing well in the sports that matter (football and men's basketball). They are an improvement over Maryland in football and baseball. Maryland has more fans, more alumni, and a much larger TV market and population than Louisville. Plus Maryland was a much better fit academically than Louisville. Maryland was also a charter member of the ACC for 60 years.
The ACC simply freaked out when Maryland surprisingly announced that they were leaving for the Big 10. FSU and Clemson wanted more football. The ACC didn't want to alienate FSU, so they took Louisville despite their lower academic reputation (compared to existing ACC schools).
Life in the ACC moves on without Maryland. Louisville has made their mark in a few sports since joining, but Maryland's departure for the Big 10 was not a good thing or high mark for the ACC.
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In response to this post by BigCrumpy)
Posted: 09/26/2016 at 3:05PM