Howard Schnellenberger led Louisville to the program's first 10-win season in 1990. (US Presswire)

During the various press conferences and teleconferences with the ACC and Louisville on Wednesday, you heard a lot of talk about "the future." Whether it was "stabilizing" for the future, or "growing stronger," the administrators all have their eyes forward in a rapidly changing landscape. But the move from the Big East to the ACC is also a day of celebration for Louisville's past, as it marks another step forward for a football program that has undergone a lot of change in the last 30 years.

Former coach Howard Schnellenberger -- the architect of the modern-day Louisville football program -- believes that the current administration "made a wise decision," and Schnellenberger said he was "delighted" to hear the news that the Cardinals would be joining the ACC.

"It's something consistent with their master plan -- which is to win a national championship," Schnellenberger told CBSSports.com on Wednesday. "We helped inscribe that mantra -- University of Louisville's program with a national championship -- and this gives them a much better chance to make that come true."

When asked if Charlie Strong was the coach who could bring that title to Louisville, Schnellenberger seemed confident Strong was the man for the job. He described Strong as the "the horse that has the saddle now" and said the Cardinals' current coach can carry them to a national championship.

It was Schnellenberger who arrived in 1985 with that same proclamation, as he turned the struggling football program around and started the momentum that could carry the Cardinals to this very day. There are plenty of reasons the folks at Louisville named their football offices the Howard L. Schnellenberger Football Complex, and the former coach is as excited for the current staff as the fans are gracious for his efforts more than two decades ago.

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