Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering if Syracuse, BC and
Miami accept invitations to join the league will we some day see the ACC
basketball tournament played in Madison Square Garden? ...
For years, the ACC has eaten the dust of the SEC when it came to football. But
if ACC expansion comes off as expected, will that remain the case?
Consider that Florida State or Miami has played in the last five national
championship contests. Also consider that the SEC has failed to send a team to
the BCS championship game since 1998 when Tennessee finished on top.
Miami has won five national football titles in 20 years. FSU has won a couple.
As far as FSU athletic director Dave Hart sees it, the ACC will have a TV
presence and advertising presence in Miami, Atlanta, Charlotte (the Carolina
schools), Washington, New York and Boston.
And don’t forget that UVa, Maryland and N.C. State absolutely overwhelmed West
Virginia, Notre Dame and Tennessee in bowl games last season.
Maybe the SEC is ahead but the ACC won’t be far behind.
Future foe
Virginia is negotiating a home-and-home football series with the University of
Wyoming for the future, which will likely be played even if ACC expansion
comes about.
The Cowboys of the Mountain West Conference (same as BYU and Colorado State),
will play in Charlottesville in 2006 if the contract is signed and the Wahoos
would make a return trip to Wyoming in 2007. Now, that’s a road trip.
Lost in the shuffle
With all the buzz about expansion coming out of the ACC spring meetings, a
couple of things went by unnoticed.
One of those was to end the arrangement between the ACC and SEC to share
basketball officials, a good idea in this columnist’s opinion. The ACC will
once again become responsible for assigning officials, something that had been
handed over to SEC personnel.
The league also voted to sponsor legislation that will end the 8/5 rule for
men’s basketball. That rule limits teams to five new scholarships a year or a
total of eight new ones over a two-year span.
Conference officials will also sponsor NCAA legislation that would allow
incoming freshmen football players to be on scholarship for summer school
prior to beginning practice.
FYI
Things you probably didn’t know about potential expansion: Syracuse doesn’t
have a baseball program. While Miami will bring one of the smallest athletic
departments in the South to the ACC, Boston College features one of the
largest. ACC baseball teams had already planned on becoming a “scheduling
partner” with Miami’s baseball
program even before the expansion issue came up. Although Miami is a member of
the Big East, the Hurricanes’ baseball program remained an independent and was
ready to play ACC teams in the future regardless of expansion.
The Hurricanes swept a three-game set from the Cavaliers in Charlottesville in
mid-April.
Free throws ... Virginia basketball coach Pete Gillen spent the past couple
of days in Atlanta, speaking to Wahoo alumni and helping to raise money for
the new basketball arena. ...We will feature a close-up look at UVa athletic
director Craig Littlepage in Sunday’s edition.
...Total attendance at last week’s ACC baseball tournament in Salem was
16,517, slightly lower than the nearly 21,000 that turned out in St.
Petersburg, Fla., last year. Rain surely affected those numbers...Former
coach turned broadcaster Fran Fraschilla, asked about whether Miami U.’s
basketball program would fare better against Big East opponents or ACC foes,
said: “Would you rather have a root canal or rabies shots?”
...Of Rivals.com’s top 100 high school football prospects last year, 98 of
them signed with the six conferences that have automatic BCS bids or with
Notre Dame. ...Miami’s football program drew a school-record average of 70,000
fans per home game last season.
...UVa football fans are expected to break the school record for season ticket
purchases, standing at slightly more than 33,000, which easily surpassed last
year’s numbers. The record of 34,378 was set in 2001.
...Eddie Royal, a big-time wide receiver prospect from Chantilly, will attend
UVa’s football camp this summer (the speedburner’s top five are currently UVa,
Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Syracuse and Marshall). Royal reportedly already
has an offer from Marshall...Virginia is currently in the driver’s seat for
the services of Norwich, Conn., quarterback/athlete J.J. Justice, considered
one of the top prospects on the East Coast. Justice’s father said that UVa is
the leader over Syracuse, Boston College, Maryland, Purdue, South Carolina and
several others.
Odom: ACC loses intimacy by enlarging
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES
Although he is preparing for his third year in the Southeastern Conference, South Carolina men's basketball coach Dave Odom still qualifies as an "ACC guy" after spending 20 years as a head coach or assistant in the league.
Now that he's been exposed to one of the so-called superconferences, Odom thinks his old ACC colleagues are in for a rude awakening if they are successful in expanding from nine to 12 teams.
"When I was at Wake Forest, if [Maryland coach] Gary Williams was playing golf, I knew about it," Odom said. "If Bobby Cremins [at Georgia Tech] was doing the ACC conference call from his hot tub, I knew about it.
"The thing that made the ACC unique was the intimacy. Here it is, May 15, and I couldn't tell you who OIe Miss has signed for the coming year. LSU? I don't even know. They don't know anything about us, either. You lose the intimacy there.
"It's going to be different. You can count on that."
FASHION PLATE: News releases out of Virginia Tech in April did not reveal some important information about new coach Seth Greenberg, rated No.9 among men's head basketball coaches in the Fashion Power Index on CollegeInsider.com.
"Always looks polished and well-pressed," was the scouting report on Greenberg, one of four Big East coaches in the top 10, along with No.2 Mike Jarvis of St. John's, No.5 Jay Wright of Villanova and No.6 Gary Waters of Rutgers.
"No way some of these guys would be ahead of me if I had any hair," said Greenberg, who ranked ahead of Arizona's Lute Olson on a list headed by North Carolina's Roy Williams. "Think I can get a clothing contract out of this?"
Congress cries foul over possible ACC move
By LOLITA C. BALDOR : Associated Press Writer
May 28, 2003 : 6:56 pm ET
WASHINGTON -- Nine U.S. Sen.s from the home states of the other Big East schools
wrote to the leaders of Miami, Boston College and Syracuse on Wednesday in an
effort to stop them from bolting to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The senators from West Virginia, Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey and
Pennsylvania said the defection would devastate the Big East, erode the progress
its schools have made in women's sports and "send a troubling message to
student-athletes across America."
"The Big East has instilled core values of integrity, responsibility, loyalty
and leadership in each and every student-athlete," the lawmakers said in the
letter sent to University of Miami President Donna Shalala, Boston College
President Rev. William P. Leahy and Syracuse University Chancellor Kenneth A.
Shaw.
"The result -- Big East students continue to excel," they wrote.
The letter noted the conference's success in producing Rhodes Scholars and in
NCAA competition -- especially in women's sports, including Connecticut's
women's basketball title, Notre Dame's women's soccer title and Villanova's
women's cross country championship.
"It is not an exaggeration to suggest that this progress would be seriously
jeopardized should you decide to leave the Big East," the letter said. "Instead
of working toward the goal of greater equity between men's and women's
athletics, the departure of your institutions will have the effect of stifling
years of progress."
The letter was signed by Sens. Joe Lieberman and Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn.;
Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Jon Corzine, D-N.J.; Sens. Robert C. Byrd and John D.
Rockefeller IV, D-W. Va.; Sens. George Allen and John Warner, R-Va.; and Sen.
Arlen Specter, R-Pa.
The ACC wants to become to a 12-team league that would expand its market and
reap more lucrative television contracts. League officials are expected to visit
Miami, Boston College and Syracuse in the next week as part of the process of
inviting them to join.
Should they accept, it could mean the end of the Big East -- at least as a
football conference. The Big East was formed in 1979 and added football in 1991.
"What message do we send to student-athletes when decades of history can be
destroyed as a sole result of economic considerations?" the senators asked in
their letter. "The wrong one."
Boston College spokesman Jack Dunn denied the decision is based solely on money.
"Our decision to consider the ACC invitation is based exclusively on what is in
the best interest of Boston College, athletically, academically and
financially," he said. "We welcome the senators' feedback, and we hope that they
can understand our position."
Syracuse spokesman Kevin Morrow said the school is concerned about its athletic
future if Miami, the conference's top football power, should leave.
"The landscape is changing and major intercollegiate athletics is clearly
heading in the direction of the superconference," he said. "It's clear that if
we're not going to be part of the movement, we're going to be left behind."
Miami officials have been meeting to discuss the move to the ACC and a vote is
expected "sooner rather than later," according to Hurricanes football coach
Larry Coker.
Regardless of their decision, the three schools would play in the Big East until
2005. That also would be the first year Connecticut's football program, which
only recently upgraded to Division I, would begin league play.
Officials from UConn and other Big East teams not being lured away said they
will do what they can to persuade the three to stay.
Senators oppose ACC plan
Bipartisan group makes appeal to candidates
By David Teel
Daily Press
Published May 29, 2003
Virginia senators George Allen and John Warner joined seven colleagues Wednesday
to condemn the proposed move of three Big East schools to the ACC.
In a letter to the leaders of Boston College, Syracuse and Miami, the bipartisan
group representing five states said ACC expansion would have a "devastating
impact" on the Big East and "undermine the integrity of intercollegiate
athletics," harm women's athletics and "send a troubling message to
student-athletes across America."
In an effort to upgrade the conference's football and establish Northeast
recruiting and marketing ties, ACC presidents voted earlier this month to begin
membership talks with Miami, Boston College and Syracuse of the Big East. School
officials within both conferences consider the deal all but done, regardless of
the senators' plea to Miami president Donna Shalala, Boston College president
William Leahy and Syracuse chancellor Kenneth Shaw.
Absent those schools, especially five-time national football champion Miami,
remaining Big East football programs such as Virginia Tech, West Virginia,
Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Connecticut (scheduled to begin Big East competition in
2005) could lose much of the television and postseason revenue that funds many
of their sports teams. Not coincidentally, the senators who signed the letter
hail from those states.
Joining Warner and Allen: West Virginia's Robert Byrd and John Rockefeller;
Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter; New Jersey's Jon Corzine and Frank Lautenberg;
Connecticut's Joseph Lieberman and Christopher Dodd.
Referring to the Big East's 24 years, the senators wrote: "What message do we
send to student-athletes when decades of history can be destroyed as a sole
result of economic considerations? The wrong one.
"It was not too long ago that colleges and universities espoused loyalty,
leadership and sportsmanship as the qualities that made intercollegiate
athletics great. Now those very virtues find themselves under assault, not by
the corrosive effects of scandal at the student-athlete level, but rather by the
decisions of individuals in leadership positions. To us, that is the greatest
shame of this entire affair."
Allen spokesman Mike Waldron said the senator, who played football at ACC member
Virginia in the early 1970s, "supported ACC membership for Virginia Tech, and
this is something he wants to remain active in."
ACC presidents considered Virginia Tech, but the Hokies did not receive the
seven votes required by conference bylaws.
The ACC's interest in the University of Miami isn't a six-month thing or an 18-month thing or even a four-year thing. It dates all the way to the days of the league's ultimately successful wooing of Florida State.
Gene Corrigan, the conference's commissioner from 1987-97, said Wednesday that he sought to add Miami when the ACC welcomed FSU in 1990, but there was no real chance that he or anybody else could muster the political capital to bring both schools into what was then an eight-school league.
"When we took in Florida State, I really wanted to take in Miami at the same time, but there just wasn't any enthusiasm for that," Corrigan said from his home in Keswick, Va. "It was hard enough for me to get our people to think about Florida State."
Now it's not so difficult for the ACC's nine institutions to think about adding three schools -- Miami, Boston College and Syracuse of the Big East -- to go to 12 and become eligible to hold a potentially lucrative football championship game. Sources close to the process said Wednesday that ACC committees will visit Miami today and Friday; BC on Sunday and Monday; and Syracuse on Tuesday and June 4. Per ACC by-laws, the committees will issue formal reports thereafter, and formal invitations could follow shortly.
Commissioner John Swofford and Associate Commissioner Fred Barakat will take part in all the visits. Six to eight other people -- chiefly CEOs, athletics directors and faculty athletics representatives of the existing ACC members -- will round out each visitation committee. Among those scheduled to go somewhere are faculty member Donn Ward and AD Lee Fowler of N.C. State and AD Ron Wellman of Wake Forest.
It was a little more difficult to add schools during Corrigan's days as commissioner. Initial opposition to FSU was considerable because the league had stood at eight members for more than a decade, and eight was the perfect number of participants for tournament play in various sports.
With the help of Bob Goin, then the Seminoles' AD, Corrigan made personal pleas to the membership, saying the future of ACC football depended on the addition of Florida State. After a protracted process, FSU was accepted by the unanimous vote Corrigan had sought.
"Bringing in Florida State was an extremely complicated decision," says Wake Forest President Thomas K. Hearn. "People - including myself - went into that process saying, 'No way,' believing it would be a mistake. But in the end, Wake Forest and I voted to accept them. It was the persevering power of Gene Corrigan."
Miami, like FSU, was a football independent at that time. When the FSU expansion issue exhausted everybody, Corrigan said Miami became moot. The Coral Gables, Fla., school accepted the Big East's invitation the following year.
"We thought if we brought in (FSU and Miami), our power would be firmly established in football," Corrigan said. "It was already established in basketball."
Still, the ACC got a spot in the lucrative Bowl Championship Series because of the Seminoles, whose presence among the nation's top five teams has been nearly automatic for 15 years.
Atlantic Coast Conference representatives will arrive at the University of Miami today for a site inspection, but the Big East has not given up its fight to keep the Hurricanes.
Rutgers spokesman John Wooding confirmed Wednesday the Big East offered UM at least $9 million annually if it commits to staying for at least five years. That would nearly match the amount distributed last year to each of the ACC's nine teams. But it might not be enough.
The New York Times reported today that UM president Donna Shalala 'received authorization Wednesday morning from the executive committee of the university's board of trustees to negotiate the Hurricanes' membership in the ACC.''
However, a source with knowledge of the discussions said Wednesday night the executive committee did not vote Wednesday, nor did it give Shalala the green light to finalize a deal with the ACC. The source said Shalala and UM athletic director Paul Dee briefed the executive committee on the status of the ACC issue, got feedback and were told to continue their fact-finding.
A Big East source said Wednesday a letter dated May 27 and signed by league commissioner Mike Tranghese was sent to Dee, confirming the $9 million offer, originally proposed to Dee last week at the Big East meetings. The source also said the letter was agreed to by all the league athletic directors -- including Boston College and Syracuse, the other schools that have been invited by the ACC to explore joining the conference.
''I haven't seen the letter yet,'' Dee said Wednesday night. ``We've been dealing with all the information that we've received from the Big East and others, and that's all a part of all the information that's before the university right now. So any information we get like that will be fully considered.
``We're moving ahead.''
Rutgers president Richard McCormick was paraphrased Wednesday by the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick, N.J., ``that based on conversations with Miami President Donna Shalala on Thursday and Friday, McMormick said, he believes she has not yet made up her mind and that there is still time to prevent the Big East from disintegrating.''
The Home News Tribune went on to say McCormick said Shalala ''indicated'' she will meet with her peers from other Big East schools before making a decision.
''It was clear that it was under serious consideration and it would be evaluated genuinely once the ACC numbers were on the table,'' McCormick told the paper, adding that the $9 million would come on top of receipts for ticket sales and concessions.
The Big East's annual payout to UM has been about $9 million in its best years, although its latest payout might exceed $10 million. However, this offer would guarantee that Miami would make at least that much money even in years it doesn't make a Bowl Championship Series game -- worth $13 million to the conference and $4 million to Miami.
Last year, the ACC paid about $9.7 million to each of its nine teams. A UM source said last week that if the Hurricanes do not go to a BCS game, they are expected to earn about $7.3 million from the Big East. The source said an ACC league title game, however, would give the Hurricanes about an $11 million payout -- whether or not UM plays in a BCS bowl.
Several people included in the decision-making expect UM to join the ACC if the terms are right. Shalala has never openly stated her opinion.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that nine U.S. senators from the home states of other Big East schools wrote to the leaders of Miami, Boston College and Syracuse in an effort to stop them from defecting to the ACC. The senators from West Virginia, Virginia, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania said a move would devastate the Big East and erode the progress its schools have made in women's sports and ``send a troubling message to student-athletes across America.''
Among those who signed the letter were Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa.
''We each firmly believe that the departure of Miami, Syracuse and Boston College from the Big East Conference would not only have a devastating impact on the conference and its remaining members, but would also undermine the integrity of intercollegiate athletics . . . ,'' the letter said.
Today's site visit will involve about five ACC representatives, Dee said. Boston College and Syracuse will be visited early next week.
Stoops says UM should join ACC
By Brian Schmitz | Sentinel Staff Writer
Posted May 29, 2003
If a marriage proposal between the University of Miami and the Atlantic Coast
Conference needed any support, Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops -- not surprisingly --
gave it his blessing on Wednesday.
The sooner the ACC and the Hurricanes tie the knot, the better . . . for his
football Sooners.
"The Big 12 and the SEC have been dealing with a big conference of 12 teams and
[conference] championship games while others in the ACC and Big East haven't
been," said Stoops, who was in Orlando to speak at a Tangerine Bowl/Florida
Citrus Sports luncheon. "You play your toughest game in a championship game at
the end of season while teams in those leagues are sitting home and eating
Thanksgiving turkey and watching us.
"In the BCS structure, it evens things up for some of those teams that are
fighting for a spot in a national-championship game. I like it in that those
teams will now be in the same situation that we are."
The ACC has its expansion eyes on Miami, Boston College and Syracuse of the Big
East. If, as expected, the Hurricanes join the ACC, they face the likelihood of
playing rival Florida State twice each year -- once during the season and once
in a conference title game.
Stoops likes to see a level BCS playing field now that he has restored the
Sooners to perennial contenders. He delivered an unbeaten national title team to
Norman in 2000, the storied program's first championship since 1985.
Stoops figures to have the Sooners in contention for some time. Or until an
attractive NFL job opens. He's 42, and pro football intrigues him, just as it
intrigued Steve Spurrier, Stoops' former boss at Florida.
"It does -- at some point," Stoops said. "Hopefully, we can continue to win at a
level [at Oklahoma] that the interest will be there somewhere down the line when
I want to do it."
Stoops said he talks often to Spurrier, who struggled to a 7-9 record in his
first NFL season with the Washington Redskins last year.
"Steve wanted the challenge of it all and I don't believe any of it has
surprised him," Stoops said.
There's still a lot of Gator in Stoops, who served as Spurrier's defensive
coordinator from 1996-98. He also talks with embattled Ron Zook, who replaced
Spurrier as head coach last season and went 8-5. "He'll do a good job there. And
hopefully, he'll continue to win and be in a situation to win championships,"
Stoops said.
The heat Zook took didn't shock Stoops.
"It's not only Ron Zook. That's everywhere," he said. "As coaches, we know that.
They'll do it to me next year if we don't win at a certain level. We all deal
with it."
The Gators tried luring Stoops before hiring Zook, but Stoops stayed on the
Plains. Stoops said the decision was tough, then added, "I don't want to get too
much into that. It's not fair for either party. Just say I have a great respect
for the people at Florida. It always has been, and still is, a very attractive
place."