Hokies left out of expansion plan
ACC vote bypasses Va. Tech

League presidents voted to enter formal talks with Miami, Syracuse and Boston College, leaving the Hokies to ponder their athletic future.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   The University of Virginia's motion to invite Virginia Tech to join the Atlantic Coast Conference "fell short of the necessary votes," the ACC revealed in a news release late Friday afternoon.

    In a conference call earlier in the day, league presidents had voted to enter formal discussions with Big East Conference members Miami, Syracuse and Boston College.

    "Formal action on the admission of new members is pending, based on conference by-law requirements, which include visits to the three campuses and discussions with each school's presidents," the ACC's news release said.

    The announcement came on the eve of Big East meetings beginning today in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

    "This comes as no surprise," said Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, informed of the ACC's move Friday afternoon. "We are looking forward to productive meetings this weekend. I am anxious to get started."

    Virginia's support of Virginia Tech had been seen as a possible stumbling block earlier this week when ACC presidents voted 7-2 in favor of expanding the league from nine to 12 teams.

    UVa qualified its vote in favor of expansion with the request that Virginia Tech be among the three invitees. Virginia's opposition at that stage might have killed the measure, which required at least seven votes to pass.

    Duke and North Carolina were the only schools to vote against expansion originally. On Friday, they voted in favor of Miami, Syracuse and Boston College.

    "We were not in favor of expansion," Duke president Nannerl Keohane said. "But since the decision to expand has now been made, we decided that we wish to be part of framing the outcome."

    Virginia was the only known dissenter.

    "I voted against moving to discussion with a list of universities that did not include Virginia Tech," Virginia president John Casteen said. "My position is not opposition to any other prospective member. Rather, my position is simply that I believe Virginia Tech belongs in the mix."

    The Greensboro News & Record reported that Virginia Tech received five of the necessary seven votes after Casteen proposed the Hokies for membership.

    "It is well known that I believe Virginia Tech belongs in the ACC," Casteen said. "Virginia Tech fits well with the unique alliance of academically distinguished, research-intensive universities that comprise the ACC.

    "Virginia Tech is situated in the ACC's heartland and is the only major regional university of its kind thought to be interested in discussions. Virginia, itself, stands to benefit by the collaborations and the competition that Virginia Tech's membership would contribute to the state's culture."

    Observers of the process characterized UVa as a strong advocate for the Hokies' interest.

    "My votes in no sense reflect disenchantment with the ACC or its processes," Casteen said. "Rather, they reflect the reality that sometimes one's reasoning prevails and sometimes it does not.

    "This is a good process even on days when my motions fail. I plan to keep advocating for Virginia Tech at each opportunity because I believe what I have said about its fit within the ACC. And, I expect to last long enough to make the case."

ACC says no to Tech

BY MIKE HARRIS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 17, 2003

Yesterday's news that the Atlantic Coast Conference was not going to extend an invitation to Virginia Tech did not shock Hokies Athletic Director Jim Weaver.

It did disappoint him.

The ACC voted to extend invitations to Big East members Miami, Boston College and Syracuse.

"If you're trying to enhance your football league, I can understand that Miami would be the linchpin," Weaver said. "You'd think they'd want to take the next best one for the past 10 years, a team that is second only to Michigan in time among the national rankings for the past 10 years.

"None of the three can say they've been to a bowl every year the past 10 years. That speaks to the continuity of our program, the success, the depth of our program. If football enhancement was the total issue, I think they missed the boat in not taking Virginia Tech as one of the three."

The ACC voted 7-2 Tuesday to expand, with Duke and North Carolina voting against. Both schools voted yesterday to add BC, Miami and Syracuse.

An ACC release issued last night said the University of Virginia submitted a proposal to include Virginia Tech in the expansion to 12 schools. That proposal did not receive the necessary votes, the ACC said.

ACC sources said the snub of Tech was more a knock on the school's location than on the school itself.

The league wants to extend its reach for exposure and recruiting, and it already has a strong presence in this region.

Also, some schools do not think Tech's athletic program beyond football matches that of most ACC schools.

Weaver is in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., where the Big East meetings will be conducted today through Wednesday. It figures to be a very interesting few days.

Football coaches and athletic directors are scheduled to meet today. The nonfootball members of the league are scheduled to arrive Monday. Weaver said he won't waste time speaking up in today's initial session.

"We have work to do this weekend," he said. "Obviously, it is not going to take as long to find out. I can tell you, I don't want to sit around and waste a lot of time in meetings if their minds are made up. I don't want to sit here and mess around for five days and then the sixth day they say they're going to do this.

"If they are, we need to go about our business. If they tell me no, they haven't made their minds up, I will take them at their word. They are honorable people."

In a prepared statement, Miami Athletic Director Paul Dee said, "It is our intention to give the Big East Conference a full and fair hearing regarding our continued membership."

Weaver is taking an optimistic view for now.

"In my heart of hearts, I don't believe that Syracuse wants to do this," Weaver said, "even though Syracuse is one of the three that is going to be extended an invitation. "I'm going to tell you, both Syracuse and BC are going to be having a heck of a lot of travel for [non-revenue sports]. If they accept this invitation, they're going to be in for a rude awakening as far as I'm concerned.

"I still think we have a chance to save the league. We could save the league if Syracuse and Boston College say they are not going. The ACC doesn't want to go to 10. I know that for a fact. I hope we would give it our very best shot to save it. Just because invitations have been extended doesn't mean they'll be accepted.

"Am I looking to be optimistic? I guess I am. This has been an awfully good football league since its inception. It is worth saving."

Should the three bolt to the ACC, the five remaining football members could look to raid other leagues or end up scattering to wherever they could find homes.

"When we find out it can't be done, then we'll shift into another mode," Weaver said. "I'm not going to be reactionary at this point in time in terms of what the future holds."

 

ACC makes up invitation list
Virginia Tech is not included
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 17, 2003

The lobbying efforts of Gov. Mark R. Warner and University of Virginia President John T. Casteen III weren't enough to get Virginia Tech an invitation to the Atlantic Coast Conference.

During a conference call yesterday, the presidents of the conference's nine schools voted to begin formal discussions with Miami, Syracuse and Boston College - three of Tech's rivals in the Big East - about joining the ACC.

Formal invitations to those three schools will be issued after ACC officials, as required by conference bylaws, conduct site inspections at each university.

The ACC's presidents considered Tech as well. But a resolution Casteen submitted to include Tech in the expansion to 12 schools didn't receive "the necessary seven affirmative votes," he said in a statement.

Such an outcome was expected. Numerous sources had indicated that the Hokies, for various reasons, had little support around the ACC and stood no chance of getting an invitation. Miami, which the ACC covets most, draws many of its students from the Northeast and made clear to ACC officials that it wanted BC and Syracuse invited, too.

Warner, through a spokeswoman, declined to immediately comment on yesterday's development. Casteen addressed the subject at length in his statement.

"It is well know that I believe that Virginia Tech belongs in the ACC," Casteen said.

"I have advocated this affiliation, and I still advocate it, for these reasons: Virginia Tech fits well with the unique alliance of academically distinguished, research-intensive universities that comprise the ACC; Virginia Tech is situated in the ACC's heartland, and is the only major regional university of its kind thought to be interested in discussions with the ACC; Virginia itself stands to benefit by the collaborations and the competition that Virginia Tech's membership in the ACC would contribute to the state's culture."

Casteen said he not only nominated Tech but voted against beginning discussions with "a list of universities that did not include Virginia Tech."

Warner, in addition to calling the governors of North Carolina and Maryland to lobby for Virginia Tech, had told U.Va. officials he wanted them to block ACC expansion that didn't include Tech. That became impossible after the University of North Carolina and Duke changed their positions.

At least seven of the ACC's nine presidents must approve a candidate for admission. Vote counts were not announced last night, but UNC released a statement indicating it had voted to add Miami, Syracuse and BC. So did Duke. Both schools voted Tuesday against expanding the league to 12 teams, but the proposal had passed 7-2.

"We were not in favor of expansion," Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane said. "But since the decision to expand has now been made, we decided that we wish to be part of framing the outcome and to join with our partners in the conference in making this step as positive as possible for everyone involved."

UNC President James Moeser said, "I have expressed concerns about expanding the ACC all along, and, in fact, I voted against it. But, after the conference voted to expand, it was important to participate fully in the decisions that will shape the ACC as we move forward."

The announcement came on the eve of the Big East spring meetings, which start today in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Big East officials and the other five schools will try to persuade them to stay, but Miami, BC and Syracuse are expected to accept the ACC's invitations.

"It's like a marriage proposal: You don't ask unless you know the answer," Miami Athletic Director Paul Dee said earlier this week.

Miami's athletic department lost $1.5 million in 2001-02. The ACC last year distributed $9.7 million to each of its members, the most of any conference. That makes the ACC especially attractive to Miami.

Nonetheless, it's still possible that the three Big East schools will decline their invitations. Syracuse, in particular, has expressed reservations about moving to the ACC.

Big East Commissioner Michael Tranghese said he learned of the invitations in a phone call yesterday afternoon from his ACC counterpart, John Swofford.

"This comes as no surprise," Tranghese said in a statement. "We are looking forward to productive meetings this weekend. I am anxious to get started."

If Syracuse, Miami and BC accept their invitations, they would probably begin play in the ACC in 2005-06. The ACC plans to split 12 schools into two divisions and stage a lucrative championship game in football.

 

U.Va. turning to state talent in lacrosse
Homegrown players on rise
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER May 17, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The University of Virginia has built one of the nation's premier men's lacrosse programs by relying almost exclusively on out-of-state talent. Of the players who rank in the top 10 in career scoring at U.Va., only Virginia Beach's Drew McKnight (1997 to 2000) grew up inside the state lines.

"There's always been a sense that Virginia has not recruited enough in its base," said Doug Tarring, longtime coach at St. Anne's-Belfield in Charlottesville.

That hasn't been by design, Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia said, but out of necessity. He's expected to annually field a team that can contend for the NCAA title, and to do so requires elite players.

"My job is to make the University of Virginia team as good as it can possibly be," Starsia said, "and we're going to look for the very best players."

That ongoing search often takes Starsia to the lacrosse hotbeds of Baltimore, Long Island and upstate New York. But another option is starting to emerge for the Cavaliers: homegrown talent.

Starsia's 2002 team, which advanced to the NCAA semifinals, included only one state resident who came to U.Va. on a scholarship: senior Eric Leibowitz from Annandale High.

Starsia's latest squad, which plays Georgetown in the NCAA quarterfinals tomorrow afternoon, includes Oakton's Matt Ward, an attackman who attended Landon School in Bethesda, Md., and Burke's Patrick Buchanan, a defenseman who played at Lake Braddock High.

The Cavaliers' incoming recruits include three players from state high schools: midfielder Adam Fassnacht from Robinson, defenseman James King from St. Anne's-Belfield and goalie Bud Petit from Collegiate in Richmond. Moreover, U.Va. has commitments from Ryan Kelly, a junior at Cape Henry Collegiate in Virginia Beach, and Kevin Coale, a junior at Episcopal High in Alexandria.

"I've noticed we've got more Virginia kids on our roster, and we've got more coming, and I'm pleased with that," Starsia said. "I think I'm a good recruiter, and if you're an athletic kid and you're competitive and you're good enough to play at this level and you happen to be from the state of Virginia, then bully for all of us."

John Burke, in his 15th year as coach at St. Christopher's, said the quality of high school lacrosse in Virginia "has definitely improved. I think what you're finding now is more good players."

Tarring, who grew up in Baltimore and played at U.Va., agreed. He said he gauges the caliber of prep lacrosse in Virginia by "how many [college] coaches are now calling to ask me when our state playoffs are." He gets more of those calls every year.

"The one thing I keep hearing is, 'We don't necessarily have to go to the same three regions any more,'" said Tarring, who has sent numerous players to Division I schools. "There are players everywhere."

Starsia, a New York native, came to U.Va. from Brown after the 1992 season.

"When I first got here, the high school lacrosse at the highest level was played at the private schools," Starsia said. "The public schools always had good athletes, but I think they play a much more sophisticated version of the game than they did when I first got here, especially in Northern Virginia. Pat Buchanan's sense of the game actually caught me by surprise."

The sport has long been popular at private schools in the state, but until the 1990s few public schools offered varsity lacrosse, and most of those were in Charlottesville. In the past decade, however, lacrosse has been added at high schools in Northern Virginia, Lexington and Roanoke and the counties of Prince William, Loudoun, Fauquier and Stafford. Participation in youth leagues around the state has grown, too.

"I think there are going to be more and more Virginians on our roster," Starsia said.

 

Virginia Tech not invited to ACC's party
Conference votes to offer invitations to Miami, Syracuse, Boston College; Formal discussions to begin; Va. governor's attempt to include Hokies fails
By Don Markus
Sun Staff
Originally published May 17, 2003

Politics might be playing a pivotal role in the ongoing expansion dance between the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East, but politicians apparently are not.

Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's attempt to build an alliance between his state's two largest schools appears to have failed yesterday when the ACC announced it would offer invitations to Miami, Syracuse and Boston College.

It had been widely reported that Warner wanted the University of Virginia to support the candidacy of Virginia Tech, even if it took Virginia threatening an expansion-busting third dissenting vote to do it.

Earlier this week, presidents and chancellors at the nine ACC schools voted 7-2 to support expansion. North Carolina and Duke reportedly voted against expansion, and one more "no" vote would have killed the plan to add three Big East schools.

That vote was made official yesterday with the announcement the ACC will begin "formal discussions" with Miami, Syracuse and Boston College. According to a statement released by the ACC, Clemson president James F. Barker said the decision to expand was the culmination of 18 months of planning the ACC's future.

"The priorities of this evaluation have been academic compatibility, commitment to student-athlete welfare, long-term financial stability and national athletic excellence," said Barker, chairman of the league's council of presidents. "These three institutions represent and share the values for which the ACC has long been known."

Said Maryland athletic director Debbie Yow: "I am very pleased. This is a concept that we as ADs have been discussing for six years."

A proposal by Virginia to include Virginia Tech did not receive the votes needed to bring further discussion or any formal offer from the league.

"It is well known that I believe that Virginia Tech belongs in the ACC," Virginia president John T. Casteen said in a statement. "I have advocated this affiliation, and I still advocate it. ...

"My position is not opposition to any other prospective member. Rather, my position is simply that I believe that Virginia Tech belongs in the mix."

Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver said he is more resolute than ever in trying to keep the Big East together. But Weaver wants to get an answer as quickly as possible from beleaguered Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, who will begin conducting the league's spring meeting today in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

"My resolve is to work as hard as we can to keep the Big East Conference intact, and obviously we don't want to spend four or five days doing that and then have people say, 'They're gone,' " Weaver said last night. "I'd rather if they've made up their minds, tell us up front, so we can get on with life."

Weaver doesn't believe an invitation necessarily means an acceptance, at least in one case.

"I personally believe in my heart of hearts that Syracuse, in particular, does not want this to happen, does not want to go," Weaver said. "We'll have to try to find that out early."

In a statement released last night by the Big East, Tranghese said he was made aware of the invitation to the three schools during a telephone call yesterday from ACC commissioner John Swofford.

"This comes as no surprise," Tranghese said. "We are looking forward to productive meetings this weekend."

These meetings likely will determine the Big East's future - specifically, if the 24-year-old league can survive losing Miami, a perennial national championship contender in football; reigning national basketball champion Syracuse, and Boston College, which occupies a key television market.

If Tranghese can lure Miami back into the fold, possibly by sweetening the Hurricanes' share of the league's television package, the other two schools likely will return as well. But considering that Miami's athletic department lost a reported $1.5 million last year, it seems doubtful the Big East has enough to offer.

While acknowledging the ACC's invitation, Miami athletic director Paul Dee said, "It is our intention to give the Big East Conference a full and fair hearing regarding our continued membership."

There has been much discussion, in public and behind closed doors, about breaking the Big East into two separate leagues - one for football and the other for basketball. That might be the only way the league can keep Miami.

"That's been a subject that's been talked about in the past, and I think ultimately that will happen," Weaver told The Roanoke (Va.) Times on Thursday. "I don't think it necessarily has anything to do with a way of keeping Miami. It has everything to do with having like institutions with like objectives.

"We have a perception of being a hybrid conference. ... I happen to believe our current conference alignment is being run and managed very well ... but perception in this world is reality. We're thought of as half of a basketball conference and half of a football conference, and maybe there's not like institutions with like objectives."

Another direction the Big East might go would be to try to figure out a way for Notre Dame to join the league for football. It is the only team in the league currently to play everything but football.

The Fighting Irish have their own television package but might be interested amid reports that they will have a tougher time getting a spot in the Bowl Championship Series when the BCS reconfigures its criteria in a couple of years.
 

A do-or-die weekend for the Big East
The Herald-Sun
May 17, 2003 : 1:03 am ET

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- Barring a radical proposal from the Big East today, the University of Miami’s days in the conference appear numbered.

ACC presidents voted on Friday to formally invite Miami, Syracuse and Boston College to join the 50-year-old league.

The vote took place as Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese and the conference’s athletics directors, including Miami’s Paul Dee, convened here for meetings this weekend that are seen as a last-ditch effort to keep the Hurricanes from jumping to the ACC.

Tranghese said he was informed of the invitations during a telephone call from John Swofford, the ACC’s commissioner.

"This comes as no surprise," Tranghese said. "We are looking forward to productive meetings this weekend. I am anxious to get started."

Miami released a statement acknowledging the ACC’s invitation, but added, "It is our intention to give the Big East Conference a full and fair hearing regarding our continued membership."

Dee, who was said to be meeting informally with Tranghese on Friday, could not be reached for comment.

One highly-placed Miami source said the Big East is unlikely to present Dee with any proposals today that haven’t already been discussed.

"Unless [Dee] hears something dramatic, something unexpected, I don’t see that the course of this situation changes," the source said, indicating a resolution could come by Monday.

The invitation may signal just how certain the ACC is that Miami will accept.

Earlier this week, Dee likened an invitation to a marriage proposal, saying that, "You don’t ask unless you know the answer."

Economics are driving Miami’s flirtation with the Big East. Last season, the ACC paid out $9.7 million to each of its nine schools. In its best years, Miami earns $9 million from the Big East and that’s contingent on a BCS appearance.

Miami’s athletics department lost $1.5 million in 2001-02, a season in which the Hurricanes’ football team won the national championship while the basketball team finished with its best record ever and played in the NCAA Tournament.

The ACC reportedly believes it can double the value of its television contract with a 12-team super conference. With an annual football championship game, new corporate sponsorships and additional berths in the BCS and NCAA Tournament, the ACC expects to earn up to $40 million a year more than it does now.

The Big East will counter the ACC’s proposal in a number of ways. First it will claim that the additional money the ACC thinks it can earn with expansion won’t be there given the realities of the marketplace.

The Big East also will consider separating its eight football-playing members from the five that do not. There is even talk that the Big East will make an 11th-hour appeal to Notre Dame, which plays basketball in the league but is a football independent, to join the conference in all sports.

At the very least, Tranghese will ask Miami to stay through the 2005 season, when the television contracts expire. The Big East will then try to make enough financial concessions to keep Miami happy. Tranghese has no choice if his league is going to survive.

"Don’t count out Mike Tranghese," one athletics director said. "He is one of the best poker players in the business."

Friday’s vote was 8-1 in favor of inviting the three teams, with Virginia voting no. On Tuesday, the presidents voted 7-2 (with Duke and North Carolina voting no) to expand to 12 teams.

At that time all parties agreed that Miami should be invited but could not agree on the other two. Syracuse, Boston College and Virginia Tech were discussed. Virginia got significant political pressure from Gov. Mark R. Warner to support Virginia Tech.

On Friday, Duke and North Carolina changed their votes to yes, allowing Virginia to vote no and satisfy its governor.

N.C. State athletics director Lee Fowler said the ACC’s show of unity in the process was impressive.

"I don’t think it’s over by any means, but I’m glad we’ve come to this decision before the [Big East] started formal discussions," Fowler said.

"A lot of people have accused us of being after money only. But we’re just looking to maintain our position financially," he said. "Some people thought staying where we were has been good, but it’s healthy we’re moving ahead as a cohesive group."

Now, one of the big losers in the ACC’s expansion plans may be Virginia Tech.

The Hokies, a national championship contender the past few seasons, was not included among the invitees despite the support of Virginia and backing from state government officials.

The ACC announced that Virginia Tech fell short of the seven votes necessary.

Virginia Tech is left with an uncertain future if Miami bolts the Big East. The Hokies would be left with few options, the most attractive possibly being joining Conference USA, which does not have an automatic BCS berth.

Virginia Tech athletics director Jim Weaver wasn’t giving up hope on Friday of convincing Miami into staying in the Big East.

"Obviously, we’ve come here to keep the Big East together," Weaver said. "Invitations don’t mean acceptances.

"We might have had money to help Miami stay, but I don’t think we have extra money to make Syracuse and BC stay," Weaver said of any possible incentives the Big East could offer schools. "And to be honest with you, if Syracuse and BC don’t want this to happen, they can say no because I know the ACC doesn’t want to go to 10.

"Those people are going to have travel budgets like they’ve never encountered before for their Olympic sports," Weaver added. "They’ll understand what we have been doing at Virginia Tech because we’ve got to get on airplanes for everybody."

Virginia president John T. Casteen III, who took part in the ACC conference call, declined to comment when reached at his home Friday night, but later released a statement in which he said he still believes that Virginia Tech belongs in the ACC and would continue to advocate for the Hokies’ inclusion in the expansion plan "at each opportunity."

The ACC has expanded just twice in 50 years. Georgia Tech came into the league in 1978 and football power Florida State was added in 1991.


 

New schools could help hoops as well

By WENDY PARKER
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer