Louisville Coaches Telling Recruits They're Headed For The Big 12?

With Louisville's regular season completed, the coaches have hit the recruiting trail in earnest. One of the first stops the coaches made was with Louisville Central High School running back Ace Wales. Wales is one of Kentucky's best high school players and is being recruited heavily by both Kentucky and Louisville. One of Wales' concerns in choosing a college is the level of competition he will face. In an interview with Steve Jones from the Kentucky Rivals.com site Cats Illustrated (the article is premium content but the quote is provided below with permission), Wales said his main question for the Louisville coaches concerned which conference the Cardinals would call home.

"My main question for them was, what conference are they going to be in?" he said. "And also if (Charlie) Strong and them would take a (job with a) bigger team in the next four years, whether I will be able to count on them to be there the next four years. I felt they have always kept it real with me and looked me in my eyes and told me the truth.

What was Carter's response for which league he thought the Cardinals would land in? "He said they would be in the Big 12, no doubt," Wales said.

There have already been reports that Temple coaches were telling recruits that the Owls were headed to the Big East, so any reports of what coaches are telling recruits should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, there's no reason to doubt Wales is telling the truth about what was told to him by Carter. If that's the case, it provides a little insight into the mindset of the Louisville athletic department about its future in the Big East if its coaches feel confident enough to tell recruits it is heading to the Big East. Then again, it also wouldn't be the first time a coach has told a recruit what he thinks he wants to hear, either.

With the Big East still looking to nail down commitments from an additional seven schools to get to the desired 12 members to host a title game, it's hard to imagine many schools will want to make that leap with the prospect of even more members looking to leave for greener pastures.