ACC invitations could come next week
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 15, 2003

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — Now that the ACC’s nine presidents have given the league approval to expand, the formal process of making nominations, approving applicants and extending official invitations could happen as early as next week.
That’s because the Big East Conference, the home of the four schools the ACC is courting for three spots, will hold its annual meetings Saturday through Tuesday at Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

The schools under consideration for ACC membership are Boston College, Miami, Syr acuse and Virginia Tech.

“Now, we will just hold our breath and see what happens next week,’’ said Georgia Tech athletic director Dave Braine, one of the few school administrators who spoke about the process Wednesday.

“I think something has to be done in the next week, since the Big East will be holding its meetings. You know they are going to do something. We can’t just wait.”

ACC commissioner John Swofford says there is no official timetable for his league’s next step, which begins with a formal nomination of a candidate by three current members of the ACC.

It is still, to use Swofford’s oft-repeated phrase, “an ongoing process.’’

“We are not at the end of it yet,’’ Swofford said following the conclusion of the ACC spring meetings Wednesday morning at the Ritz-Carlton Resort.

“I would emphasize also that this is a two-way street, on our end and with the schools who could be potential additions to our conference.”

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese stepped up the rhetoric Wednesday.

“I am anxious to meet with our conference members in Florida and am prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve the 24-year history of the Big East Conference,” he said in a statement.

“This is a conference that is worth preserving, and we should all look forward to the challenge.’’

The ACC hoped to keep the expansion process quiet. But when John Thrasher, chairman of Florida State’s board of trustees, leaked word of the vote Tuesday, expansion became a very public and awkward situation.

Essentially, the ACC is trying to raid the Big East’s top teams. It would create a shakeup not seen in college sports since the Southwest Conference disbanded in 1995 and its top teams merged with the Big Eight. “We’re trying to do what’s best for our conference in the future,” Swofford said.

The ACC’s next move is to invite three teams into the league. Each expansion candidate must get votes from seven of the nine league presidents to be invited. Then the league will follow up with a site visit to each of the schools nominated. Once the site visit is completed, a formal invitation will be issued.

Miami and Syracuse appear to be easy choices, but the third team is trickier. Miami would like to bring Boston College in along with Syracuse. Virginia, at the urging of Gov. Mark R. Warner, wants Virginia Tech.

Since there are already two schools against expansion, Virginia could be the third if it doesn’t get Tech, and could conceivably block any invitation from being made.

Swofford, however, knows there have to be three new teams to make this work. Under NCAA rules, conferences aren’t allowed to hold a lucrative football title game — worth $12 million to the Southeastern Conference — unless they have a dozen teams.

Swofford said he hopes the 12-team conference would begin play by 2005, although it could come sooner; the thought of three teams playing as lame ducks in the Big East for two seasons is awkward.

Either way, terms of TV contracts and the Bowl Championship Series — the main cash sources for the programs — will be revamped after the 2005-06 school year.

Miami athletic director Paul Dee maintains his school has not yet been contacted, and moving is no sure thing. But Dee acknowledged the Hurricanes have done feasibility studies that show transferring to the ACC would be financially beneficial.

And, on the surface, being in the same conference with in-state rival Florida State looks like a great bet for the ’Canes.

One possible measure that could keep the Hurricanes — and therefore the other two schools — from moving and save the Big East is to break off into a football-only conference that would include Miami, Boston College, Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, as well as possibly Rutgers and Connecticut.

Big East administrators begin gathering today in Ponte Vedra Beach for informal discussions before their formal meetings begin Saturday.

By this time next week it should be clearer whether the Big East will continue to count Miami, Boston College, Syracuse and Virginia Tech among its members.

ACC has awkward look after growth spurt
The Virginian-Pilot
© May 14, 2003
Some of us who opposed this week’s expansion of the ACC experienced a similar reaction when Florida State joined the league in the early ’90s.
The Seminoles brought with them a football and academic culture more in tune with the Southeastern Conference. And what could Florida State do to beef up ACC basketball?

Not a thing.

Dissenters were told to get over it.

The same advice applies to Tuesday’s development, only with the addition of three teams, the adjustment problems are trebled. In the ACC, football calls the tune.

Expansion is the future. Live with it.

But like it? Not just yet.

The proposed addition of Miami and Syracuse, and either Boston College or Virginia Tech, changes the character of the league for good. And, my instincts tell me, for the worse.

Picture this: The new ACC would stretch from the southern tip of Florida’s mainland to within a two-hour drive of Canada.

A cozy conference it no longer is.

Who’s kidding whom? Expansion has been a done deal for a couple months now. While debate sprang from media speculation, the ACC presidents, in concert with Miami’s administration, were already certain, one suspects, about what had to happen.

Then it was a simple matter of getting everyone with the program, even basketball coaches not naturally inclined to embrace the football-driven proposal.

“Things have been more and more leaning toward major conferences,” Virginia basketball coach Pete Gillen said from the ACC’s spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla.

“If we don’t do it, then in five years, someone comes in and snatches up Florida State. We know that could be really bad.” By this week, everybody was reading from the same script.

As the meetings got under way, Florida State athletic director Dave Hart released figures that show the ACC with the lowest TV ratings of any football league with ESPN and ESPN2 contracts.

The timing of his announcement was not an accident. It was served up as further evidence that expansion was needed for survival. With Miami in the fold, the ACC could negotiate a bigger contract with ABC and ESPN.

But those of us who think of the ACC as a basketball conference first and foremost are not bowled over by the addition of Hurricanes, never mind the other schools.

Instead, thoughts turn to how a 12-team league with two divisions will sabotage the traditional rhythms and rivalries of a grand old conference.

It can’t be the same. Or as good. If reports of a 7-2 vote are correct, Duke and North Carolina held to the old order, while U.Va.’s “yes” was accompanied by a request that Virginia Tech be included over Boston College. U.Va. supportive of Tech football? What’s next? Al Groh making the Cavaliers playbook available on hokiesports.com? As for Miami, why would the school’s administration be so eager to throw in with the ACC?

For the money, sure. But at the risk of damaging the football program.

Miami’s entire identity is wrapped up in competing for the national football title.

The Big East has given the Hurricanes relatively routine access to BCS bowls and the national championship game. Why would Miami give that up to join a 12-school conference that includes arch-rival Florida State?

Hurricanes coach Larry Coker, when asked about expansion the other day, said, “In football, I don’t know how much the ACC helps us.”

Many of us share the same serious doubts about how this helps ACC basketball. Change is in the air. Like a low-tide breeze.

 

UVa's Holland says Tech won't be part of ACC expansion
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

After attending ACC meetings for 25 years as a coach and administrator, Terry Holland has developed a sense for his colleagues’ feelings about Virginia Tech.
“I don’t think there’s any chance that Virginia Tech would be included in expansion,” Holland said Wednesday morning in WINA radio in Charlottesville.

On Tuesday, the ACC had voted 7-2 to expand from nine to 12 teams, with Virginia qualifying its support with a request that Tech be among the teams invited to join.

Holland, now an assistant to UVa president John Casteen, has not been in attendance at the ACC meetings this week in Amelia Island, Fla., and said he merely was offering his opinion.

“Although [the Hokies] have sort of been in the picture the whole time, they’ve never really been in the picture,” Holland said. “A lot of that is based on the conversations from three or four years ago and things might have changed , but it would have to be a drastic change.”

Holland, the Virginia athletic director from 1995-2001, said the only pro-Tech sentiment he had heard in recent years was from Wake Forest.

Gov. Mark Warner and other Virginia politicians have lobbied UVa in Tech’s behalf, but Holland is aware that a segment of the Cavaliers’ following would be opposed to promoting a rival.

“My initial reaction was the same as most coaches and/or fans here,” Holland said. “That is, we wouldn’t want Tech in the league. That would be helping them when we don’t need to help them.

“As competitors, anything that hurts them, helps us.”

In the short-term, Holland said, that might be the case. In the long run, he isn’t sure.

“In the short term, we could hurt them and they’d have to scramble like hell,” Holland said, “but, in five years, they’d be back anyway. Who knows in what conference or how, but they ain’t just going to go away.

“That’s what competition does for you. It doesn’t enable you to look down the road. Having them in the league would make us both better and generate a heckuva lot of interest. It would definitely help Wake and Duke.”

Holland was referring to the Tech fans that would help fill the Wake and Duke football stadiums.

It has been reported that Virginia would prefer Tech to Boston College, seen as a likely partner with Miami and Syracuse.

“As much as I respect what B.C. has done, they don’t make a ripple in that Boston television market or the press unless they’re playing the No. 1 team in the country,” Holland said. “Playing them is not going to make us a factor in Boston.”

Holland doesn’t think expansion is for certain, especially if the Big East meetings take place as scheduled this weekend in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

“If Miami is at the meeting and I’m the Big East,” Holland said, “I’m making them an offer they can’t refuse.”

 

Beamer: Keep Big East intact
Frank Beamer cites the recent successes of Big East teams at the championship level and speaks of the league's potential.
By RANDY KING
THE ROANOKE TIMES

It's fourth down and Virginia Tech needs a block in the worst kind of way. Unfortunately for Hokies football coach Frank Beamer, this is one game-turning play he can't simply draw up on his Blacksburg blackboard.
Tuesday's news that the ACC has voted to expand to 12 schools, a development that could leave Tech's proud football program without a major conference in which to perform, certainly has the anxiety meter pegged in the land of BeamerBall.

"When everything is set and you know where you're going, you go full speed ahead," Beamer said Wednesday. "And when there are question marks and you're not sure which direction you're going to be going, you certainly are at least nervous about things."

The Tech constituency had plenty of reason to be squirming as reports Wednesday continued to say that Tech's odds of being included in the new ACC mix are somewhere between slim and none. Miami, Syracuse and Boston College are expected to be issued ACC invitations.

Tech's best hope is that Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese can save the Big East at the league meetings, which run Saturday through Wednesday in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

"I think our No.1 priority is for the Big East to stay intact," Beamer said. "And I think there's some good reasons why that should take place.

"It's kind of hard to believe after the Big East comes off playing for the national championship in football, winning both the men's and women's basketball titles, winning the NIT against another Big East team, we've had our greatest success and now we're ... " Beamer said, his voice trailing off.

"I think it says something about the potential of the Big East what has happened and what could happen, too. Again, our first priority is to save the league."

Tranghese and the athletic directors of the league's 14 schools will gather at the Big East meetings. The schools' football and men's basketball coaches also will be on hand.

"I am anxious to meet with our conference members in Florida and am prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve the 24-year history of the Big East Conference," Tranghese said in a statement Wednesday. "This is a conference that is worth preserving and we should all look forward to the challenge."

In his statement, Tranghese said he will take Miami athletic director Paul Dee at his word that Miami will take its time in reviewing its options.

If Miami, Syracuse and BC bolt the Big East for the ACC, the Tech football program could be permanently scarred. A league with West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Connecticut, which replaces Temple in 2005, and three other pickup schools is not exactly the neighborhood where Tech cares to reside.

Beamer said his program has way too much going for it to wind up in a second-rate league.

"Most publications are saying we're one of 10 teams that have a chance to win a national championship this year," Beamer said. "How many schools out there can say that? I just think we're too good a program for us not to land on our feet and be OK. We'll see."

Gov. Mark Warner will continue to lobby on Tech's behalf.

"Any expansion of the ACC will only benefit the Commonwealth if it also includes Virginia Tech," Warner said in a statement Wednesday. "I will continue to work with the college presidents and my counterparts in other states to try to ensure that Virginia Tech is not left out of a major athletic conference."

 

Tranghese left to save Big East

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   A tornado could have touched down in Blacksburg - didn't that almost happen? - and it wouldn't have rocked Virginia Tech's world the way threatened ACC expansion has.

    Think back to early April, when the Hokies had just named a new men's basketball coach and had little more to debate than the merits of quarterbacks Bryan Randall and Marcus Vick.

    That was before April16, when Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese erupted in an interview with the New York Daily News, ripping the ACC for its subversive manner in which it had courted Big East football power Miami.

    Tranghese has been strangely silent since his broadside and, as the conference meetings approach this weekend in Ponte Vedra, Fla., would-be Big East saviors can only hope he's used his quiet time to devise a master plan.

    His career is on the line. The man behind the formation of Big East football doesn't want to be remembered for its dissolution.

    "If Miami is at the meeting and I'm the Big East, I'm making them an offer they can't refuse," said Terry Holland, a longtime colleague of Tranghese on basketball committees.

    Holland, a former Virginia basketball coach and athletic director, has been going to ACC meetings for more than 25 years. He wasn't at the ACC meetings this week in Amelia Island, Fla., but he knows a little bit about the ACC's composition.

    "I don't think there's any chance that Virginia Tech would be included in expansion," Holland said Wednesday morning on WINA radio in Charlottesville.

    On Tuesday, the ACC had voted 7-2 to expand from nine to 12 teams, with Virginia qualifying its support with a request that an invitation be extended to the Hokies. Most speculation has centered on Syracuse and Boston College as Miami's partners.

    "Although [the Hokies] have sort of been in the picture the whole time, they've never really been in the picture," Holland said in a phone interview later Wednesday. "A lot of that is based on conversations from three or four years ago and things might have changed, but it would have to be a drastic change."

    Gov. Mark Warner and other Virginia politicians have lobbied UVa on Tech's behalf and clearly the Cavaliers are on record as having taken up the Hokies' cause, although it's unclear how assertive they've been behind closed doors.

    Let's hope, if Virginia did promote Tech, it was done for the right reasons and not to appease some self-serving politician. Here's a state that doesn't give a penny to college athletics and the legislature is trying to tell schools how to run their athletic departments?

    Holland thinks there is a case for UVa helping Tech.

    "In the short term, we could hurt them and they'd have to scramble like hell," said Holland, an assistant to UVa president John Casteen, "but, in five years, they'd be back anyway. Who knows in what conference or how, but they just ain't going to go away.

    "Having them in the league would make us better and generate a heck of a lot of interest. It would definitely help Wake and Duke."

    To critics who traditionally ask what Tech brings to the table, that's one thing - increased football gate receipts at Duke and Wake. For another, there would be reduced travel costs, certainly in comparison to trips to Syracuse and Boston College.

    I don't think I'm the only person who's skeptical about the financial windfall that would result from the added New York and Boston television markets, but it sounds like the decision is close to done. The ACC wouldn't have gone this far if it didn't have its teams and the necessary votes.

    Before the tornado season ends, Tech can only hope Tranghese stirs up another one this weekend.

What's next for Va. Tech?
Future of Hokies athletics now in hands of others
BY MIKE HARRIS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 15, 2003

Speculation continued to swirl yesterday about how exactly the Atlantic Coast Conference will proceed with its expansion plans. Facts were hard to come by, beyond the league's presidents' 7-2 vote Monday to approve the addition of three teams to the nine-member ACC.

Who will join Miami in the new-look ACC, if it indeed happens? When will it happen? Will the ACC issue invitations this week?

Answers to all that and more will come soon. What's known today is that there is plenty of worry in the athletic halls of Virginia Tech.

Though the ACC hasn't formally closed the doors on Tech, sources reiterated yesterday what they told The Times-Dispatch last week: The Hokies do not have the necessary support among league members and will not be among those invited to join.

No one at Tech, one well-placed source in the athletic department said, is expecting an ACC invite, and concern about the school's athletic future is "very high."

The ACC, sources said, wants to take three schools from the Big East: football giant Miami, Boston College and either Syracuse or Virginia Tech.

The University of Virginia, which voted for expansion, is said to be pushing for the Hokies' inclusion. But numerous sources said Virginia Tech would not "under any circumstances" gather the seven votes it would need when the ACC got down to voting on specific schools.

Some officials at Syracuse, including men's basketball coach Jim Boeheim, have reservations about abandoning the Big East, but sources said the school is likely to join the ACC if, as expected, it receives an invitation.

Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver didn't return phone calls seeking comment the past two days. But Weaver has said in recent days that the Hokies' priorities are keeping the Big East football schools together and, barring that, joining the exodus to the ACC.

In short, the Hokies want to keep the ship together or at least make sure they're on the right lifeboat.

Since the ACC doesn't appear to be an option for the Hokies, they must hope things work out in their league's favor at this weekend's Big East meetings in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Miami hasn't said whether it will accept an invitation to join the ACC, though many consider that a foregone conclusion.

The league, it appears, will get at least one more chance to persuade the Hurricanes to stay.

One possible solution would be for the eight Big East football schools to break away and form their own alliance. They could then add four schools, break into two divisions and conduct their own championship football game. That possibility and greater financial rewards from the ACC are said to be the driving force behind Miami's wanderlust.

Less appealing is the prospect of finding schools to fill out the league if Miami, BC and Syracuse do leave. Sources said Tech and others already have begun considering possible replacements. They include Penn State, Marshall, Louisville, East Carolina and Cincinnati.

Penn State, a member of the Big Ten, is seen as unlikely. Marshall of the Mid-American Conference and the others from Conference USA are seen as more likely.

Another possibility is that a league such as the Southeastern Conference will decide to expand so it can grab a school such as Tech, Pittsburgh and/or West Virginia. But that's not considered likely. The SEC already has 12 teams and a football championship game.

Not everyone at the schools the ACC is courting is happy about the possible switch.

Miami football coach Larry Coker said last week that he didn't see the benefits of the move. Boeheim, whose team is the reigning national champion, yesterday told The Associated Press that the ACC's drive to expand is "about money, power and football in any order. It's football. It's always football. Football drives everything.

"I don't see Miami and Syracuse benefiting that much by going. But if Miami goes and we don't, that's a major problem. Miami is the No.1 football program in the country. Miami is in the driver's seat and always has been. We're making another decision based on football."

Boeheim told the AP he was concerned that Syracuse would be assigned to a division with such teams as Clemson, Georgia Tech and Florida State.

"We'd be playing at Florida State on a Monday, back to Syracuse for Thursday, back to Georgia Tech for Saturday," Boeheim said. "You can't win with that kind of travel schedule.

"If we're in a basketball conference playing teams in the deep South, I don't see how that is an advantage to us in the short term or the long term."

Sources said yesterday that no decision has been made about how the ACC would divide 12 teams. One proposal that's been floated and intrigues ACC basketball coaches would be to split the conference into two six divisions for football and three four-team divisions for basketball. That might allow the ACC to keep home-and-home series among its traditional rivals in hoops.

Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese issued a statement yesterday that concluded by saying, "This is a conference that is worth preserving and we should all look forward to the challenge."

Tranghese said he is "prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve the 24-year history of the Big East Conference."

U.Va. has been pushing for Tech's inclusion, and the state's politicians have gotten involved, though there appears to be little they can do other than make their preferences known. Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner has no clout over the schools in North Carolina, who apparently are the most vocal among those opposing Tech's candidacy.

"In my view, any expansion of the ACC will only benefit the Commonwealth if it is also includes Virginia Tech. I will continue to work with the college presidents and my counterparts in other states to try to ensure that Virginia Tech is not left out of a major athletic conference," Warner said in a statement.

U.Va. President John Casteen and Athletic Director Craig Littlepage declined, through a spokesman, to offer any comment.

Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer has said many times that the Big East deserves much credit for the Hokies' rise as a football power. Tech has been to a bowl game 10 consecutive seasons and played for the national championship after the 1999 season.

Tech has made a considerable investment in its football program. Beamer's financial package is about $1.2 million a year, and his assistants collectively earn more than $1 million. The school recently completed a $37 million expansion to its football stadium.

Beamer was not available for comment yesterday, but he addressed the issue on his personal Web site.

"Our first priority," the Web site said, "is to keep the Big East intact . . . However, if keeping the Big East intact is not a reality, we've been doing all we can to make sure relevant parties understand how attractive we are as an institution and as an athletic entity. If Miami leaves the Big East for the ACC, then certainly we'd like to be in that mix. All of us here, from top to bottom, are doing all we can to get our message to the appropriate people.

"In my opinion, I would think we have to be viewed as a very attractive program. We've worked very long and hard to make Virginia Tech what it is. That's why, down deep in my heart, I have to hope that things will work out for the Hokies."
 

Love of money at root of expansion
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST May 15, 2003
Contact Bob Lipper at (804) 649-6555 or e-mail blipper@timesdispatch.com

This just in: Seeking extra clout in the Forensics Championship Series, the Ivy League has voted to increase its ranks by adding Oxford, Cambridge, McGill and the Sorbonne to its eight-member base.

"This means horrendous travel demands on our student-athletes, but it will allow us to split into two divisions and sell our championship match to MSNBC," said Dartmouth's director of discourse, I.M. Egghead. "In this business, you snooze, you lose."

John Swofford probably slept like a corporate raider Tuesday night. The votes were in, the pump primed, the bean counters busy calculating spreadsheet projections. Gordon Gekko lives. He's just working the sidelines now instead of Wall Street.

ACC expansion is all about testosterone and dollar signs. At nine members and holding, the ACC was only the most profitable campusball league on the planet and a unique product to boot. At a bloated and extended 12 and strutting, it'll be able to flex its biceps and maybe lay claim to more loot. Whoo-hoo. So long, Myrtle Beach, hello, Muscle Beach. It isn't your father's ACC anymore.

The growth-hormone spin doctors prescribed this mega-conference elixir as essential to the league's football future. Oh, really? You mean to tell me any bowl or playoff apparatus would exclude the Pac-10 because it's not the Pac-12? Or freeze out a Big East that included Miami and Virginia Tech? Or bump an ACC that boasted Florida State and a couple of warm bodies to be named later?

No, what this boils down to is action based on false assumptions - although, perversely, I have to give Swofford credit for somehow selling little Wake Forest on the warped notion of selling its soul and selling out its football program, which might as well make a down payment on a burial vault for all the light it'll see in an enlarged ACC.

And for what? The supposed greater good? How much greater can you get than $9.7 million? That's the amount the ACC distributed to each of its members last year - more per school than any conference this side of OPEC.

See, this isn't the inspired tale of some mom-and-pop operation that morphs into RoboSports. This is SunTrust gobbles Crestar. This is Mr. Big swallows the buffet and gets bigger - and damn the travel strain when Clemson's tennis squad treks to, say, Syracuse.

The same goes for anyone who gets in the way. Remember, the ACC isn't picking up strays or waifs here. For starters, its naked power grab will have the effect of gutting the Big East and forcing the unlucky castoffs to seek low-rent shelter from the storm. And likely bumping them from the TV and big-bowl revenue streams.

Tell me that's bidness in the 21st century, I'll tell you these are alleged to be institutions of higher learning, not cutthroat traders in commerce. Fuzzy, idealistic thinking? Gee, I thought that's what ivory towers were for.

Closer to home, Virginia Tech looms as an obvious victim of the ACC's zero-sum push. The Hokies are a major player in football, but their stature is at risk barring an unlikely bid from the ACC or a bolt-of-lightning counter-attack from Big East don Mike Tranghese. As it stands, Virginia is pushing Tech for ACC inclusion - but that's partly so U.Va.'s honchos can later claim there's no blood on their hands.

The big picture suggests a scrub-down is in order. For instance, U.Va. President John Casteen's vote in favor of expansion could have the effect of sending West Virginia up the Monongahela without a paddle. That would inflict more pain than that goofy pep band ever did.

 

A Final Hurdle to ACC Expansion
U-Va. Said to Prefer Including Virginia Tech, May Hold Up Deal Otherwise
By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 15, 2003; Page D01

With Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner trying to exert political pressure -- inside and across state lines -- the University of Virginia's insistence on including Virginia Tech in the Atlantic Coast Conference's expansion plans appears to be the only thing standing in the way of the league growing to 12 teams, according to knowledgeable sources.

"The key to all this is Virginia," said one source who favors expansion. "It's that simple. The key is Virginia and whether or not, politically, they can vote for Syracuse and Boston College instead of Virginia Tech. If they can't figure it out, it's a dead deal."

Warner is hoping to inject some regional loyalty into what is essentially a business deal. The ACC believes expansion will improve its ability to land lucrative football television contracts. Miami -- the Big East school key to any ACC expansion plans -- must decide if it is better off joining the ACC or sticking with the football schools of the Big East, in one form or another.

"It is not a done deal from a Miami standpoint," a knowledgeable source said. "They want to see what kind of financial deal is presented to them at the Big East [meetings] this weekend, and then they're going to see what's in the best interests of Miami."

If Miami jumps to the ACC, the two Big East schools that follow would share in that windfall, while the rest would be on the outside looking in.

Warner has been in contact with Virginia President John Casteen and Virginia Tech President Charles Steger. Warner also has called Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and North Carolina Gov. Michael Easley, urging those officials to exert their influence on their state universities.

ACC university presidents on Tuesday voted to expand to 12 teams, but they did not agree on any final proposal because of disagreement over which teams to invite, according to a source familiar with the situation. Miami is the key to any expansion plan, and Syracuse also likely will receive an invitation. Boston College has the inside track on the third spot, another source said, but Virginia is said to prefer Virginia Tech.

ACC Commissioner John Swofford confirmed Tuesday's vote was by a 7-2 margin, the minimum necessary to carry any proposal. Duke and North Carolina dissented, sources said, and unless those schools change their vote, Virginia might be able to maneuver Virginia Tech into the mix.

"What I've expressed to our neighboring governors [is] I hope that should there be an expansion of the ACC, Virginia Tech brings a lot to the table in terms of the regional nature of the conference," Warner said yesterday.

"What's in the best interests of the commonwealth is that we have both of our major Virginia schools in a major athletic conference. . . . Based on yesterday's press reports, [University of Virginia officials] were understanding and supportive of Virginia Tech being included."

The problem, according to one source, is Miami's insistence Syracuse and Boston College accompany it in any expansion.

Miami President Donna Shalala is "firm on it needing to be Boston College and Syracuse," the source said.

The ACC president could vote at any time on invitations. The expansion is expected to occur before the 2005-06 season.

As the ACC yesterday concluded its annual spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla., Swofford set about trying to get the votes necessary to make the expansion happen. In addition to finalizing the teams to be added, significant details such as how to make the teams into divisions and where to hold a football championship game -- likely Jacksonville, Fla., Orlando, Tampa or Charlotte -- remain undecided.

One thing that seems certain is that expansion would put the ACC in a strong negotiating position when its football television contracts -- believed to be worth $20 million annually -- expire after the 2005 season and after new Bowl Championship Series football contracts are negotiated after the 2005-06 season. Miami Athletic Director Paul Dee has told reporters a feasibility study shows it would be more profitable for the school to compete in the ACC.

The ACC also believes it would be in a more marketable position to attract sponsors and potential recruits if it stretches all along the eastern seaboard.

"When you think of the Pac-10, that's the whole West Coast, and when you think of the Big Ten, that's the middle of the country," Maryland basketball coach Gary Williams said. "This will open us up and give it a more [national profile]. It's just a change. It's not anything wrong."

There appears to be some pressure for the ACC to act quickly, so the Big East cannot use its annual spring meetings, which will begin Saturday in Ponte Vedra, Fla., to make a counteroffer to Miami.

"Now we'll hold our breath until we see what happens in the next week," Georgia Tech Athletic Director Dave Braine told reporters, "because I think something has to be done in the next week."

Said Southeastern Conference Commissioner Mike Slive: "To some degree, what is happening is the ACC is emulating the SEC model. It's been very successful for us in many ways. We've been able to develop a very, very successful championship game that has become part of our fabric. We've been able to maintain and create rivalries. I can understand why they would be looking at our model and trying to emulate it."

Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese yesterday reiterated he plans to try to keep the conference intact. Top officials at many of the Big East schools left out of the ACC expansion plans spent yesterday on the phone trying to figure out what to do next. The key to any Big East counteroffer almost certainly would be to keep Miami in the fold.

"I . . . am prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve the 24-year history of the Big East Conference," Tranghese said. "This is a conference that is worth preserving, and we should all look forward to the challenge."

Still, a source said it would be very difficult to maintain the conference in its current status, which includes 14 teams in basketball, though "that doesn't mean Miami has to go to the ACC."

Georgetown Athletic Director Joe Lang declined to comment yesterday and said through a spokesman, "We're a conference of 14 teams. Unless something happens to change that, it's all conjecture."

Still, it seems likely Georgetown officials are reviewing their options and sifting through any contingency plans.

"You sit and wait," another source said. "You're looking at your options, but you're not making any moves yet. No one knows how it's going to play out" for the Big East members.

If the ACC lures away three teams, the Big East will split into two leagues -- one with schools that field Division I-A football teams and one with schools that do not have I-A football.

Georgetown, St. John's, Providence, Seton Hall and Villanova likely will search for schools to fill out their league -- either along geographical lines or religious affiliation. West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Connecticut and either Boston College or Virginia Tech would be left to find football partners.

 

Top Big East Official Vows to Fight A.C.C.

By DAMON HACK

MELIA ISLAND, Fla., May 14 - On a day when officials from the Atlantic Coast Conference left here with an agreement to expand to 12 members from 9, the Big East Conference commissioner, Mike Tranghese, questioned the tactics of the A.C.C. commissioner, John Swofford, and vowed to hold his conference together despite attempts to alter it.

In a telephone interview today, Tranghese spelled out his frustrations with Swofford, whose conference has been courting the Big East football powerhouse Miami and, most likely, would attract two other Big East members from among Boston College, Syracuse and Virginia Tech.

"I feel if you go after somebody, you have to pick up the phone and call the conference,'' said Tranghese, who said that he and Swofford had been friends for years. "Our schools have that right. John and I have talked about it, and we have a strong difference of opinion on the matter."

The dispute has left the two conferences in a tug of war over Miami, which holds so much sway that it could change the power structure of college athletics by switching conferences.

But Tranghese said today that preserving the Big East was his primary goal, a job that will begin in earnest on Friday when Big East officials, including Miami's athletic director, Paul Dee, arrive in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., for the start of the Big East meetings.

"They have taken action," Tranghese said of the A.C.C. "We will have an opportunity to spend time with Miami at our meeting to talk about a variety of issues, and we're going to do the best we can and try to preserve what has been a 13-year relationship with Miami and the 24-year history of this conference. We are anxious to sit down and explore these options."

There has been speculation that Tranghese might try to appease Miami by redefining the 15-member Big East, which has five members that do not play Division I-A football - St. John's, Seton Hall, Georgetown, Providence and Villanova. But Tranghese said that no such plans were under way and that the conference stood proudly on its own merit.

"There is nothing that we're talking about tearing the league apart," Tranghese said. "We're talking about keeping the league together and we're talking to Miami about the advantages of staying here, the things that have helped our conference historically. We have been a great partner for them, as they have been for us.

"We have schools that have won national championships in men's and women's basketball. Miami was one play away from winning the national championship this year. It's ironic that in the greatest year we have ever had, we're faced with all of this talk."

It is more than talk. Behind the closed doors of the A.C.C.'s final meeting today, applause could be heard as officials adjourned. The only items left behind were water glasses and a drawing board, complete with an array of colored-ink pens. Clearly, a strategy had been plotted - a strategy to act quickly.

"Something has to be done in the next week," Dave Braine, the Georgia Tech director of athletics, said of the A.C.C.'s next move. "The Big East is holding their meetings and you know they are going to do something. We can't just wait. No doubt they are going to move forward."

The A.C.C., which approved expansion by a 7-to-2 vote on Tuesday, has a number of steps it must take before expanding.

The new universities must be proposed by at least three A.C.C. members' presidents. The prospective universities, which must be visited by a site committee, must also apply for admission. And, as with the vote on expansion itself, seven of nine votes would be needed to approve the universities' entrance into the A.C.C.

A.C.C. officials would also have to decide how to split the conference into two divisions and plan for the conference's next television contract for football, which expires after the 2005 season.

"We have to begin that renegotiation from a football perspective within the next 12 to 16 months, so that's a factor," Dave Hart, the Florida State athletic director, said.

Swofford countered attempts to paint A.C.C. expansion as a move that would change the landscape of college athletics. Other universities and conferences would be forced to remain viable in the eyes of the Bowl Championship Series, which could have a football playoff starting in the 2006 season. The B.C.S. currently consists of four games.

The A.C.C., with the addition of Miami, would position itself for multiple berths in B.C.S. games, something it has never done but other conferences have. An extra team in the B.C.S. series could be worth more than $10 million a year to the A.C.C.

"I think we are looking at our own conference," Swofford said. "You keep an eye on the landscape, but that isn't something that drives us particularly. What drives us is our own league and the aspects of our league that we can control."

Luring Miami is the most important remaining step. As of today, the A.C.C. had not officially invited Miami to join the conference, and Dee has said he will listen to Tranghese's proposals to keep Miami in the Big East during its meetings.

"I think Paul will continue to talk to the A.C.C. and continue to talk to us," Tranghese said. "Paul has been on record as saying that, after meeting with us, he will bring the reports back to Donna Shalala and at some point, a decision will be made." Shalala is Miami's president.

Tranghese will have to do more than persuade Miami to stay, one Big East conference official said. Tranghese will need to present a vision for the future, "something long term, or is this just going to happen again?" an official from one of the Big East's members said.

If Miami leaves, several Big East schools are ready to follow. Tranghese may have only days to lay out his offensive.

"I have to do everything that I can to protect our turf," he said.

Virginia Tech, Big East plotting strategy
Conference plans opposition to ACC's expansion
By Norm Wood
Daily Press
Published May 15, 2003

In Blacksburg, Richmond and Rhode Island on Wednesday, politicians and athletic officials proved Virginia Tech and the Big East aren't giving in to the Atlantic Coast Conference's proposed expansion without a fight.

Miami appears bound to leave the Big East for the ACC, whose presidents voted 7-2 on Tuesday to expand the conference to 12 members. But questions remain regarding which two out of the Big East trio of Boston College, Syracuse and Virginia Tech will be invited to join. While ACC officials decide which schools they will invite, officials at Tech and the Big East are working on several plans to try to ensure their future.

Jim Weaver, Virginia Tech's athletic director, and Frank Beamer, the Hokies' football coach, spent part of Wednesday making phone calls to ACC athletic directors in an effort to sway opinions. Weaver also met with Charles Steger, Virginia Tech's president, to plot the university's strategy. Phone calls to Weaver, Beamer and Steger were not returned.

"Our first priority is to keep the Big East intact," Beamer stated on a Web site. "The league just enjoyed its greatest year. ...However, if keeping the Big East intact is not a reality, we've been doing all we can to make sure relevant parties understand how attractive we are as an institution and as an athletic entity. If Miami leaves the Big East for the ACC, then certainly we'd like to be in that mix. ...It's hard for me to imagine that others wouldn't consider us an asset."

Mike Tranghese, commissioner of the Big East, is preparing proposals to give to his coaches and ADs at the conference's annual spring meetings this weekend in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

"We have been monitoring the news surrounding the ACC and expansion," Tranghese said. "I will take (ACC commissioner) John Swofford at his word that the ACC presidents have not formally voted. I will also take Paul Dee at his word that Miami intends to take its time in reviewing its options."

Tranghese will probably propose keeping all of the eight football-playing universities - including Connecticut, which will take Temple's place in the conference in 2005 - together and adding another university to form a new conference for football and basketball, according to a source.

Another plan has the Big East expanding to 12 schools for football and dropping the five schools that don't play basketball.

Tranghese also reportedly intends to meet with Jim Calhoun, Connecticut's men's basketball coach, and Jim Boeheim, Syracuse's men's basketball coach, this weekend to discuss plans for the basketball-playing schools in the conference. Boeheim, whose Orangemen won the 2003 national championship, has been critical of Syracuse's joining the ACC, saying it will destroy rivalries and add travel.

Miami is considered to be the cardholder in determining which two universities will be invited to the new ACC. Because of the large number of Miami students from the Northeast, it is expected that Miami president Donna Shalala will want Boston College and Syracuse over Virginia Tech.

While the chances of Virginia Tech joining the ACC are slim, a groundswell of support for the Hokies has complicated matters. University of Virginia president John Casteen voted in favor of expansion Tuesday, but only if Virginia Tech was among the three schools invited to the ACC. Gov. Mark Warner issued a statement supporting Virginia Tech's admission to the ACC.

"In my view, any expansion of the ACC will only benefit the Commonwealth if it also includes Virginia Tech," Warner said. "I will continue to work with the college presidents and my counterparts in other states to try to ensure that Virginia Tech is not left out of a major athletic conference."

Tranghese hopes to preserve the Big East and is close friends with Syracuse AD Jake Crouthamel.

Syracuse's athletic department made a little more than $100,000 during 2001-02 school year, so the Orangemen aren't likely to turn down an invitation to join the ACC, with its wealthy TV contract and the possibility of reaping more income from a conference championship game in football.

BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo has a football background, and his school lost more $800,000 during the 2001-02 school year.

"I am anxious to meet with our conference members in Florida and am prepared to do whatever it takes to preserve the 24-year history of the Big East Conference," Tranghese said. "This is a conference that is worth preserving, and we should all look forward to the challenge."
 

ACC hungry to move up on football food chain
Laura Vecsey
Originally published May 15, 2003
Laura Vecsey

THE REINS ON big-time college athletics, if there are any, won't be yanked anytime soon. That's clear now that we've got confirmation of the worst-kept secret in college sports - other than the head coach's penchant for strip clubs, booze and multimillion-dollar contracts: The Atlantic Coast Conference will most likely expand from nine to 12 schools, most likely before the University of Miami decides instead to join the NFL.

Imagine that. A reliable little jewel of an athletic conference with 50 years of pretty rich history is prepared to mutate into something off the fast-food/high-profit super-size menu. It's all in the name of self-preservation, in the name of progress, in the name of more big games - for football.

"The good thing about it is that they see strength and safety in numbers," former ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan said yesterday from his home in Charlottesville, Va.

"It's not for immediate financial gain because there isn't one. That's down the road. But the ACC must feel it and the Big East must feel threatened, too, because of the size of the Big 12, the Southeastern Conference and the Big Ten, which is really the Big 11," Corrigan said.

"The not-so-good side is that when you go to 12, you're no longer a conference. You're an association. You lose the home-and-home series, which is really the essence of what a conference is, and the schools in the East that worked hard to get where they are, the Big East is decimated. But bigger is better. At least that's been the trend."

Yesterday, ACC officials attempted to downplay the eventuality of this juicy expansion. They say they did not vote on Tuesday to expand, but rather voted (7-2, with North Carolina and Duke in the minority) to continue discussions and fact-finding regarding this scenario.

That's because the politics of these negotiations and invitations are literal. The governor of Virginia, Mark Warner, has all but warned the ACC that to get the University of Virginia (whose budget comes from the capital) to sign off on any new conference members, Virginia Tech must be one of the three. The stakes are high, the room for gamesmanship plentiful.

But let's be real. This is the ACC. Of course, Miami and Syracuse/Boston College/ Virginia Tech want in. The Little Sisters of the Poor would want in, too.

When it does happen, the change will be dramatic, the ripple effects felt all the way down to the Atlantic 10, Conference USA and beyond. It's not good enough anymore for the ACC to bring the world Duke vs. Maryland twice a year from crazy Cameron and corporate-slick Comcast. It's not good enough for Maryland's fast-rising football program to earn its bowling-for-dollars stripes the hard way. This expansion is good, we are told, since it will push the ACC into the driver's seat with the other behemoths of collegiate athletics.

With Miami up for grabs to the highest bidder, the ACC's TV contract up for negotiation in two years and the Bowl Championship Series set to reconsider its postseason format, the ACC's expansion will help re-order college athletics.

Want to know why St. John's coach Mike Jarvis would love to jump to the Washington Wizards, now that the Big East looks like it's going to be shuffled? It's because Jarvis, like many other coaches and athletic directors not associated with the ACC, Big 12 or SEC, knows it will get harder for small schools to compete, let alone win national titles, now that the trend is all about monster conferences generating monster dollars.

Actually, there are nicer ways to say these things. Maryland is no doubt in favor of expansion for several reasons, like a bigger voice when confronting the NCAA; for moving the traditional power base of the ACC out of North Carolina; for expanding the scope of media coverage an ACC member gets.

Of course, there are also important issues like better "branding" opportunities, not to mention more "inventory" (i.e. games) from which buyers - especially TV/cable operators in need of programming - can shell out more bucks to broadcast.

If this doesn't sound like huge financial opportunities down the line for the ACC, well, of course the athletic directors have to sell this expansion for its other more immediate "merits." These are testy times. Note how ACC commissioner John Swofford has placed a muzzle on all ACC officials, forbidding any talk because of tricky negotiations still ahead.

But make no mistake about it. This move toward an expanded ACC is big. Bigger than Maryland coach Gary Williams' concern about how many times he can play the Carolina teams each season. Bigger than Mike Krzyzewski's objection to subjugating his perennial contending Dookie hoopsters to the financials needs of the Hurricanes' NFL factory.

Now Williams and Krzyzewski are reported to be on board, like good soldiers. Who knows? Maybe the Terps will wear Army fatigues to a Final Four one day, the way Jimmy Johnson's Miami bad boys once did before the Fiesta Bowl. They're all going to be one big family - with the bottom line as the common bond.

It's for the common good of the conference that the formerly signature sport of the ACC (hoops) will make room for football, the sport that has the greatest upside for increased revenues.

Swofford and others can say payday is not certain, and certainly down the road, but the football equation is likely quite lucrative. The SEC now licks its chops over the $12 million its conference championship game generates. That's not chump change when you've got 85 football scholarships to pay for, not to mention that women's crew team.

Any talk about expansion resulting in better geographic alignment is, however, an insult. The ACC has meaningful geographic relationships in its current configuration. By accepting Miami and Syracuse, the ACC spreads the board up the entire Eastern seaboard, with a left turn toward Canada. (Didn't Jim Boeheim return from New Orleans to the aftereffects of a blizzard? In April?) If anything, the present ACC members who aren't Duke, Carolina, Wake Forest or N.C. State are probably eager to push the geographic boundaries, since the Carolina cabal has enforced a certain cultural identity on the ACC that's too narrow. But Miami is 500 miles from Florida State.

The next few days and weeks should be very interesting as the dominoes start to fall - or fall apart. If the ACC pulls off the expansion it so desires, it's a clear sign that college athletics can't find a way to stop this eat-or-be-eaten disease from spreading. The ACC had a choice: Stand still and risk further erosion in the face of bigger, more powerful conferences, or jump. And jump it has.