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Warner makes case for ACC-Big East mediation

By MARK BERMAN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Governor Mark Warner and the presidents of five Big East schools called for mediation Tuesday as a way to thwart ACC expansion. Their wishes alone won't get NCAA President Myles Brand involved, though.

    The ACC has been talking with Big East members Miami, Boston College and Syracuse about coming aboard, prompting a lawsuit last week by Virginia Tech and four other Big East schools. Warner suggested a different approach.

    "The dispute over the proposed expansion of the Atlantic Coast Conference and its expected impact on other major athletic conferences has now spilled into the legal arena. That promises to be a prolonged and expensive endeavor for all the institutions," Warner said in a statement. "It is my hope instead that the NCAA or some other intercollegiate organization will consider stepping in to mediate.

    "The Commonwealth of Virginia's interests as a whole will best be ensured with an outcome that keeps both UVa and Virginia Tech in major athletic conferences."

    Brand told The Associated Press on May 23 that the NCAA would not intervene and that he intended to let the schools and conferences make their own decisions about how to align. He reiterated that stance in a statement Tuesday afternoon.

    "The request from Governor Warner is understandable," Brand said. "However, this office has no authority to intervene in the autonomy of institutions to determine their conference alignment, nor is there any historical precedent to do so."

    Brand said he would provide whatever help members of the two conferences request, including third-party mediation, "provided an invitation to do so was forthcoming from all parties."

    The presidents of the five schools suing Miami, BC and the ACC echoed Warner's suggestion in a conference call with the media.

    "There is not now any dispute-resolution mechanism for conferences caught in the same situation we are in," Rutgers President Dick McCormick said. "Now may be the time for the NCAA or some other appropriate body to take the lead and bring together a group of university representatives from around the country to talk about establishing such a dispute-resolution mechanism."

    McCormick was optimistic Brand would play a role.

    "What he said [last month] he wouldn't do was sort of step in and fix it or tell the ACC they couldn't do this," McCormick said. "The proposition here is for him to take the lead in convening representatives from conferences across the country for a conversation about this subject."

    It could be hard to find a solution through mediation, given that the defections are an either-or issue with no middle ground. Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg saw a way, though.

    "One of the outcomes of mediation might be plans by which the two conferences would cooperate, coexist and become stronger together in the years ahead," Nordenberg said. "Those are possibilities that never have been fully discussed."

    Tech President Charles Steger said Warner made a "very constructive" proposal.

    "The damages that we anticipate could happen are very real in nature, and so I hope that the ACC will reconsider their action and possibly sit down with us and try to work this thing out," Steger said.

    ACC commissioner John Swofford singled out Tech in a statement about the lawsuit Sunday night, noting that "one of the plaintiffs initiated a visit to our office last month and expressed a desire to join" the ACC. Steger, athletic director Jim Weaver and executive vice president Minnis Ridenour visited the ACC office in Greensboro, N.C., on May 6, 10 days before the league picked its expansion targets.

    In April and May, Weaver publicly lobbied the ACC to take Tech along with Miami. Weaver said last month he and Steger had not left "any stone unturned" in their efforts to make Tech one of the expansion targets.

    "I spoke with [the] ACC, I spoke with many of the ACC presidents, ... attempting to determine what was really likely to happen," Steger said Tuesday. "We've made no pretense about the fact that we thought we would be a good fit for the ACC."

    If Tech had gotten its wish to be one of the expansion candidates, wouldn't Tech have been part of the same effort to "destroy" the Big East that the suit is accusing?

    "I'm not going to speculate on what didn't happen," Steger said.

    Steger "has been straightforward with his partners in the basketball conference and kept us up to date on his conversations," WVU President David Hardesty said. "The harm is done in the [ACC's] activity, seeking to attract our members."

    Steger and the others spoke to the media less than five hours before the ACC presidents discussed in a conference call whether to invite the three schools to join or table the matter. McCormick said the ACC, Miami and BC would be responsible for a possible "chain reaction" of schools changing leagues.

    "This case could be a turning point for college athletics across the country," McCormick said. "We are hopeful that the presidents of the ACC universities will carefully consider the ramifications ... across the country" before their conference call.

 

 

Presidents meet but don't vote
ACC invitations yet to be extended

UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage is 'hopeful' ACC expansion will go through as proposed.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage said Tuesday night that he was unaware of any major snags that might prevent the ACC from extending invitations to Miami, Syracuse and Boston College.

    "I'm hopeful," Littlepage said. "I would say 'optimistic' is a little too strong a word."

    Littlepage participated in a conference call Tuesday afternoon in which he described ACC athletic directors as united in favor of expansion.

    "There was a lot of conversation about alignments," Littlepage said. "By the end of the conversation, everybody agreed that our priority had to be what was best for the conference long-term and it was agreed that expansion was what was best long-term.

    "That shouldn't be news to anybody."

    Virginia was the only school to vote against entering formal discussions with Miami, Syracuse and Boston College, and Littlepage said he could not say how President John Casteen would vote in the case of a formal invitation.

    At 8:30 p.m., Littlepage said he had not spoken to Casteen, who participated in a conference call between ACC presidents that followed the ADs conference.

    "The ACC Council of Presidents had a constructive call this afternoon," the ACC said in a statement released to the media. "No conclusions were reached, nor were there any intended to be reached. There will be further discussions."

    The Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer reported on its Web site that a conference call between presidents is scheduled for 6 p.m. Littlepage said he could not confirm that.

    UVa spokesman Carol Wood said Casteen would not have any comment on his conference call, which included presidents from Miami, Syracuse and Boston College for part of the proceedings.

    "I have great confidence in John Casteen," said Charles Steger, the president at Virginia Tech, one of the schools that would be affected by the defections of its three Big East colleagues. "He'll think this thing through and do what he believes is right."

    Duke President Nan Keohane and North Carolina President James Moeser each had voiced concerns about expansion in correspondence with fellow executives in the past week.

    Duke and North Carolina voted against expansion originally, when the motion passed 7-2, then they voted yes to negotiating with Miami, Syracuse and Boston College.

    "I voted in favor of entering formal conversations for collegial reasons," Keohane wrote in her e-mail, obtained by The Associated Press.

    "However, I am now concerned that the kinds of substantive discussions we anticipated before a final vote would be taken have not materialized, and show no prospect of doing so."

    Keohane also expressed concerns over a lawsuit filed on behalf of five Big East schools against the ACC, Miami and Boston College.

    "I've only read the newspapers in terms of the allegations," Littlepage said. "Not being a lawyer, it doesn't sound like there's very much there that can assert a strong case.

    "Personally, I'm not bothered by it. I think the ACC will continue to move on in its best interest without regard to the threat of a lawsuit."

    While the presidents devoted time to such issues as travel and missed class time, the athletic directors debated the alignment of two proposed divisions.

    "I'm not sure what's next," Littlepage said. "Everybody is going to have something they want, or something they want to avoid. I don't think anybody is going to walk away from today's conversation or any conversation thinking it's all clear sailing."

 

 

Womack steps down as UVa baseball coach
By Andrew Joyner  / Daily Progress staff writer
June 11, 2003
 

For much of his 23-year stint at the school, UVa baseball coach Dennis Womack sought a new facility for his program.
One finally arrived in 2001 thanks to $5 million in private donations.
Womack, who once claimed the new Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium was like going from the outhouse to the penthouse, coached last season and this season in the facility.
In a slightly ironic twist, those will be the only two seasons Womack will coach there.
Womack, the winningest coach in school history, retired Tuesday after completing his 23rd season at UVa with a career record of 594-605-7. His 594 wins are more than twice that of his predecessor, Jim West, who amassed 281 victories from 1962-80.
Womack, 56, will become an assistant athletics director at UVa with an emphasis on management of athletic facilities, and game and event operations. Womack previously served as assistant athletics director in charge of facilities and event management from 1984-93.
He retired as the third longest tenured coach at the school after women’s basketball coach Debbie Ryan (26 years) and swimming coach Mark Bernardino (25 years).
“This will open a new avenue for me and one that will be fun. … [UVa athletics director] Craig [Littlepage] feels that we need somebody in that area and this is a great opportunity for me to be assistant athletic director,” said Womack, who was named ACC Coach of the Year in 1985. “Craig and I haven’t sat down and discussed every detail of what I’ll be doing, but I’ll just jump in there and do anything they need me to do.”
Littlepage, who was travelling Tuesday, lauded Womack for his past and continued service to the UVa athletic department in a statement released by the school.
“Dennis Womack has served the Department of Athletics not only as head baseball coach, but also in significant administrative roles. As our baseball coach, Dennis has worked diligently to field competitive teams even though our program rarely matched comparable programs in resource support,” Littlepage said. “He leaves the baseball program having recently overseen the development of Davenport Field at the UVa Baseball Stadium, which is regarded as one of the finest collegiate baseball facilities in the nation.”
Littlepage noted that Womack’s experience will be a great asset in his new position, especially considering his familiarity with UVa’s current athletic facilities as well as impending facility projects such as the $129.8 million John Paul Jones Arena.
“Dennis is well-respected within the University community and I’m pleased he has agreed to rejoin our administrative team on a full-time basis. As our department has grown in terms of facilities, we have not grown appropriately to oversee those venues,” Littlepage added. “His experience at the University and in our department will allow us to better manage the use of our facilities.”
The Cavaliers were 29-25 this past season — their first winning record in five years — and were left just outside the NCAA tournament after playing one of the nation’s toughest schedules. A few days after getting over what Womack still labeled “a bitter disappointment” regarding the NCAAs, Womack and Littlepage sat down to discuss the new position.
“As you get into your 50s, you start looking at things and evaluating how long you will do certain things. You look at options that are available,” Womack said. “I’ve started thinking about the past couple of years and about 10 days ago, Coach Littlepage came to me and said, ‘I want to offer you this opportunity.’”
Womack dismissed any notion Tuesday that he was somehow forced to resign or at least persuaded to take this new position.
“I was offered the chance to be assistant athletic director and we really never got past that. Basically, that’s what it was. That was our conversation. It was about opportunities to get back into game management. We really didn’t talk too much about baseball,” Womack said. “I just looked at it as the right time to make a change.”
Whoever replaces Womack will have the bulk of this year’s roster returning, including first team All-ACC selection Joe Koshansky.
“It was the right time to do it. One of the reasons I was comfortable with it is that the program is on a solid foundation. We’ve got things going in the right direction,” said Womack, who jokingly said he’ll miss helping umpires clarify rules. “We haven’t always been on the same playing field as other schools in the ACC but were beginning to close that gap a little bit.”
In his tenure, 47 of Womack’s players have been drafted into Major League Baseball, including pitcher Seth Greisinger, the No. 7 overall pick in the 1996 draft by the Detroit Tigers, and Brian Buchanan, a first-round selection by the New York Yankees in 1994.
Greisinger was instrumental in producing UVa’s finest team in the Womack era as the Cavaliers finished 44-21 and captured Womack’s only ACC championship in 1996. That earned Virginia just its second NCAA tournament selection under Womack and the Cavaliers advanced to within one game of the school’s first ever College World Series berth before losing to Alabama.
Virginia also reached the NCAAs in 1985 and finished with a 38-16 record.
After earning his bachelor’s degree and then master’s degree from Auburn in 1974, Womack, an All-SEC selection while at Auburn, served as an assistant baseball coach and assistant ticket manager at his alma mater. In 1978, his wife, Cathy, was accepted to UVa’s School of Law, prompting the couple to move to Charlottesville.
“We came here in the summer of 1978. I actually did not have a job the first time I came to Charlottesville,” Womack recalled Tuesday. “What I did was walked into [former UVa athletics director] Coach [Gene] Corrigan’s office and said, ‘My wife’s going to be here three years and I’m going to be here and this is what I did at Auburn and if you need anyone, I’m available.’ One thing led to another and next thing I knew I had a job.”
Womack served first as athletics ticket manager while also assisting West. He was named head coach in 1981 but still continued as ticket manager and later was appointed assistant athletics director in charge of facilities and event management.
As Womack notes, it wasn’t until 1994 that Womack’s sole responsibility was coaching baseball.
All the while, Charlottesville became more home than stopover as Cathy Womack established herself in the Charlottesville law firm of Feil, Petit and Williams.
“We took off from there and have been there ever since. You never know where you are going to end up. … We didn’t know where we would go or where we’d end up. Turns out neither of us wanted to leave,” Womack said. “I’ve been here 25 years now and it’s definitely home to me.”
Littlepage and senior associate athletic director Jon Oliver confirmed Tuesday that a search for Womack’s replacement will begin immediately.
“It will begin first thing [this] morning,” Oliver said.

 

 

Talk, no action on ACC expansion
League's presidents don't vote on plan
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jun 11, 2003

As scheduled, the Atlantic Coast Conference's nine presidents discussed expansion during a teleconference yesterday afternoon. But the conference call, which lasted about two hours, ended without a vote on expansion.

That wasn't surprising, ACC Commissioner John Swofford said.

"No conclusions were reached, nor were any intended to be reached," Swofford said in a statement released last night. "There will be further discussions, and as has been the case throughout this process, there is no definitive timetable."

An ACC source last night called the teleconference "very positive" and said the presidents "had a lot to go over. I think they took care of a lot of stuff."

The group reportedly will hold another teleconference at 6 p.m. today, and a vote could well be taken then on whether to add Big East members Miami, Boston College and Syracuse to the ACC.

Swofford declined to comment when asked about that possibility last night. As he left the conference office in Greensboro, N.C., around 7:20 p.m., the commissioner also was asked if a vote would likely be held this week.

"I don't really have an anticipation of when a vote will be," Swofford told reporters. "And I never have, particularly. So that will occur whenever the presidents are to a point where they're comfortable in doing that."

ACC officials had hoped to have the presidents vote yesterday, but the situation changed Friday. That was when five Big East schools - Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Rutgers and Connecticut - filed suit against the ACC, Miami and Boston College in an attempt to stop expansion, which the plaintiffs contend will destroy their conference. That was also when Duke President Nan Keohane wrote to her counterparts around the league.

In a two-page memo, Keohane expressed serious reservations about expansion and said that, until they were addressed, Duke would not support expansion. A day earlier, North Carolina Chancellor John Moeser had voiced similar concerns in a letter to the ACC's other leaders.

To be offered admission, a school must get affirmative votes from at least seven ACC members. Florida State, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, N.C. State and Maryland support expansion. But the other three - Duke, North Carolina and Virginia - might have gone the other way had a vote been held yesterday.

According to the ACC release, the presidents from BC, Miami and Syracuse were on part of the conference call yesterday. Erik Albright, a lawyer with Smith Moore LLP of Greensboro, the ACC's legal counsel, was in the ACC office during the conference call, but it wasn't clear if he participated.

In a statement released yesterday morning, Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner called on the NCAA or another body to mediate the ACC's proposed expansion to avoid a lengthy and costly legal battle.

The state's "interests as a whole will be ensured with an outcome that keeps both U.Va. and Virginia Tech" in major conferences, Warner said.

Later yesterday, however, NCAA President Myles Brand said his organization has no authority to "intervene in the autonomy of institutions to determine their conference alignment, nor is there any historical precedent to do so."

Brand also said, however, that he stood "ready to provide whatever help members of the two conferences would request, including third-party mediation, provided an invitation to do so was forthcoming from all parties."
 

 

 

Just another day on the carousel
Published June 11 2003
David Teel

Presidents talk, but vote not taken

The L.A. public relations firm churns out more e-mail than hotbabes.com. The high-powered Times Square lawyers plot 'round the clock. Senators weigh in one day, governors the next. No word yet on where Condi Rice stands.

Welcome to ACC expansion/Big East demolition, the never-a-dull-moment saga that offers sadness and outrage, amusement and confusion - all in the same day.

This side spins. That side spins. My head spins like that of a Mezcal-infused frat boy.

Still, it strikes me as all background noise. The ACC wants to swipe Miami, Boston College and Syracuse from the Big East, and when invited, the trio will accept, creating a 12-team league that stages a lucrative football championship game.

No, a Tuesday teleconference among the ACC's nine presidents did not produce an invitation. But the conference's expansion advocates remained confident Tuesday evening - angry lawsuit, spirited PR campaign and politicians' protests notwithstanding.

The most recent objections come from Sen. George Allen and Gov. Mark Warner, neither of whom advanced the debate.

Allen, who played ACC football at the University of Virginia, appeared Monday night on ESPN and offered this revelation about ACC expansion: "It's not the students, it's not about the academics, it's not about anything other than 'we want to make more money.' "

Really, Senator? And here I thought expansion was about improving the conference's aerospace research.

Tuesday morning, Warner issued a statement calling for the NCAA or "some other intercollegiate organization" to mediate a dispute that finds Virginia Tech and four other Big East schools suing Miami, Boston College and the ACC. The five plaintiffs immediately endorsed Warner's diplomatic gesture, but doesn't mediation presuppose room for compromise?

The only wiggle room here is whether the plaintiffs, seeking monetary damages and an injunction stopping expansion, baste Miami president Donna Shalala before raking her over the coals.

Pittsburgh chancellor Mark Nordenberg suggested that mediation would allow the Big East and ACC to "co-exist and cooperate," a vague reference to a possible football merger first explored in 1997 by Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese and then-ACC commish Gene Corrigan. But while a 16-team, interconference football alliance carries some appeal, it's a pipe dream given the current food fight.

The fight, by the way, is not for lightweights. The suit filed by Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia and Connecticut may be, as the ACC and several legal analysts claim, baseless, but it was filed by one of the world's most powerful law firms - Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher and Flom - with more than 1,800 lawyers working out of 23 offices in 11 countries. Moreover, the firm retains a public relations arm that inundates media with information and interviews.

But the ACC isn't cowering. After the suit was filed Friday, conference officials, sniffing hypocrisy in the air, gleefully revealed that Virginia Tech president Charles Steger and athletic director Jim Weaver initiated a May 6 visit to ACC offices in Greensboro, N.C., to lobby for the Hokies' inclusion.

Perfect symmetry. Lobby May 6. Sue June 6.

The suit "promises to be a prolonged and expensive endeavor for all the institutions involved," Warner's statement said Tuesday.

Warner and his Connecticut colleague, John Rowland, are opposed to expansion. So are Allen and the eight other senators pressuring the CEOs of Miami, Boston College and Syracuse.

And I'm with 'em, probably the only time I'll ever side with Allen and Arlen Specter. Alas, our opinions don't matter. If the ACC wants Miami, Boston College and Syracuse, and the three schools follow Big East exit policy, what's to stop them?

Not a lawsuit. Not political and public pressure. Not even Condi Rice.

Mezcal, anyone?
 

 

 

Tech: Suit about 'closed doors'
School's stance isn't hypocrisy, AD Weaver says
By Norm Wood
Daily Press
Published June 11, 2003

Jim Weaver bristles at the notion Virginia Tech's actions in the dispute between the Atlantic Coast Conference and the Big East regarding ACC expansion are hypocritical. However, it's an accusation that's not going away.

Five weeks ago, Virginia Tech lobbied to be a part of the ACC's plans. Since May 16, after Virginia Tech was excluded, Weaver and Steger have pledged their allegiance to the Big East. The 180-degree attitude adjustment was abrupt, but Weaver doesn't believe it was hypocritical or that it jeopardizes Virginia Tech's position in a lawsuit filed last week against the ACC, Miami and Boston College.

"I think that's not correct," said Weaver on Tuesday in response to accusations of hypocrisy. "If you read the lawsuit, the primary charges are that this was going on behind closed doors. We did not go to the ACC until three weeks after the expansion issue was first made public.

"When we met with Mr. Swofford, we wanted to primarily express two points. First, the Big East is a viable entity and the ACC is a viable entity and Virginia Tech's first obligation was to keep the current configuration of the Big East intact. Second, we wanted to gauge the expansion process. We have a different dynamic at work in this process than other universities. We live and operate within the geography of the ACC. Two of the ACC's schools are north of us. We had an obligation to know as much as possible. When we met with Mr. Swofford, he indicated that he did not know where the issue of expansion stood at that moment."

Weaver was referring to a meeting he, school president Dr. Charles Steger and executive vice president Minnis Ridenour had with Swofford and ACC officials in Greensboro, N.C., on May 6.

Though Weaver contends the meeting was exploratory, comments he made at a Raleigh-Durham Hokie Club meeting a night earlier make it seem that Tech's desire to join the ACC was stronger than Weaver lets on.

"If you're going to [expand]- and all three people are coming out of the Big East - then Virginia Tech would very definitely like to be one of the three people," said Weaver at the Raleigh-Durham Hokie Club meeting, according to the Raleigh News and Observer.

Steger was also confronted with questions regarding Virginia Tech's devotion to the Big East during a Tuesday teleconference he was a part of with the other four presidents of the plaintiff universities in the lawsuit. While Steger admitted the May 6 meeting was a fact-finding mission, he didn't downplay his university's initial interest in the ACC.

"First of all, this activity of expansion caught many of us by surprise," Steger said. "We made considerable effort to visit with individuals. I spoke with the ACC. I spoke with many of the ACC's presidents, who I've known through the years, attempting to determine what was really likely to happen. Secondly, we've made no pretense about the fact that we thought we'd be a good fit for the ACC. That's all been in the papers for the last month or so."

When asked whether Virginia Tech's attitude would be different had it been chosen by the ACC, Steger got defensive.

"I'm not going to speculate on what didn't happen," Steger said.

Weaver and Steger have made it clear that Tech wants to stick with a conference that presents an opportunity to play in a Bowl Championship Series game and garner large television contracts. Tech's recent actions don't seem to be undermining the Big East's current unity.

"From the time we found out what was going on and were able to ascertain enough information to begin talking constructively among one another, Dr. Steger has been straightforward with his partners in the basketball conference and kept us up to date on his conversations to the league," West Virginia University president David Hardesty said.

 

 

ACC needs to finish what it has started
SCOTT FOWLER
 

The ACC can't run scared now.

Not from a nuisance lawsuit. Not from upset traditionalists. Not from a fear of the future.

The league is past the point of no return on expansion, whether it knows that or not.

The nine ACC chancellors and presidents are supposed to conduct a 4 p.m. conference call today, with the likely purpose being to vote on whether to extend formal invitations to Miami, Boston College and Syracuse.

What the league should do is vote 9-0 in favor of the proposed expansion. Issue the invitations. Accept the three "yes" replies that are sure to come: As when proposing marriage, you don't ask this question unless you know the answer.

In other words, keep the pressure on.

Hammer those on-again, off-again expansion foes North Carolina, Duke, Virginia and N.C. State until they come along for the ride. Like a magnifying glass turned toward the sun, focus more attention on that silly lawsuit filed by five Big East members last week trying to derail expansion. Project unity.

Why is this important?

Because while the ACC is a strong league now, it's not coated with Teflon. It can be dented and dinged -- maybe even today.

ACC commissioner and expansion enthusiast John Swofford is probably savvy enough to not hold a vote at all today if he thinks he doesn't have the seven votes necessary to win. But there's always a possibility of Swofford getting blindsided and losing what amounts to a referendum about the commissioner's power.

It happens all the time to the folks on "Survivor." One secret alliance (possibly led by North Carolina?) and suddenly expansion is dead.

Expansion is not the pot of gold that some think, but it will reserve the ACC a place at the table at every college sporting event that counts.

Traditionalists believe it's a distasteful idea, this rubber-band stretch of the ACC all the way up and down the East Coast. I think of it more as adding people to the family reunion without losing the core of relatives you really want to see.

Even in a 12-team league, the heart of the ACC will remain in North Carolina. Football will be more prominent, but basketball will still be special.

I'm not in total lockstep with Swofford. I wish Virginia Tech had taken the place of either Boston College or Syracuse in this expansion.

But in general, I agree with the ACC theory that it's time to grow before all the college football TV contracts run out and everyone starts trying to cut a bigger slice of pie.

There's no need to delay this vote. Even if Swofford knows the vote will only be 8-1 or 7-2 in favor of expansion and that unanimity can't be achieved, he needs to go ahead and hold it.

Push forward. Get the lawsuit dismissed. Start play in the new ACC in 2004 rather than by the original projection of 2005. Hold the ACC football championship every year in Charlotte.

ACC expansion can work, but it needs another shove in the right direction.

Today, it's time to provide the push.

 

 

Swofford must be patient
By FRANK DASCENZO : The Herald-Sun
fdascenzo@heraldsun.com
Jun 10, 2003 : 11:54 pm ET

If you’re John Swofford today, you now believe in the theory that no news is good news.

Naturally, the ACC commissioner would have preferred something else, like the league voting to expand, add Miami, Boston College and Syracuse, hold a press conference today and get this ordeal over. It’s not going to be that easy.

Reports said on Tuesday that the nine ACC presidents were conducting a conference call that would open the door to expansion. Instead, they delayed it. Trouble in paradise?

Factors surfaced that Swofford couldn’t have liked. First there was Virginia governor Mark R. Warner urging the NCAA — or any other facsimile of a heavyweight — to mediate the ACC’s plans for a 12-team league. Let a little politics into this thing and see what you get? You had to love Warner’s line that the state’s "interests as a whole will be ensured.’’

In the event you missed the clue here, it’s that school way out in Blacksburg, Va., which is said to be close to misery at this stage of the spring. Virginia Tech would crawl into the ACC, if asked. The ACC doesn’t want the Hokies, period.

Thoughtfully, NCAA czar Myles Brand is remaining out of this affair, sending a nice little message that indicated his giant in the sky would get involved if invited by all parties. It’s a nice way of saying you’d be better off fighting this along the Atlantic seaboard.

Put pressure on the Wahoos, right? Then there’s the Duke and North Carolina waverings which may have something to do with how the divisions are aligned. Certainly, Swofford had to think about the divisions, right? Or wrong?

Swofford wants expansion first, realignment of divisions next. He may have to make promises on realignment before all the votes are taken and expansion is a reality.

The realignment has people in near panic. One Boston newspaper reported that "according to most sources, Boston College would be part of a division with Miami, Syracuse, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Clemson. That would leave Duke, North Carolina, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Maryland and Virginia in the other division.’’

Then there’s the theory Miami doesn’t want to be in the same division with FSU.

Delaying the vote doesn’t mean the ACC won’t expand and the Big East will remain intact. The Big East seems doomed to a five-team football conference.

Once the expansion rumor turned to fact, Swofford found critics. Many wondered why he’d disrupt the confines of an ACC which seemingly was comfortably set with perfect rivalries and a payroll to be proud of. But expansion, as Swofford indicated, wasn’t originated by the ACC and it wasn’t unique in attempting to tweak its perfection.

"Conference expansion and institutional realignment is not a new concept and isn’t a creation of the ACC,’’ Swofford said. "The last decade has seen unprecedented movement between leagues with some of the most notable examples being the creation of the Big 12, Conference USA and Mountain West and the expansion of the SEC, in addition to the Big East’s four expansions since 1990. This trend is likely to continue whether or not Miami, Boston College and Syracuse join the Atlantic Coast Conference.’’

Nobody ever said this was going to be easy. There was the lawsuit filed last week by the five Big East football schools — Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and Connecticut — and then there was the report Duke and UNC were going to vote against expansion on Tuesday. Seems like Swofford is more concerned over Duke and UNC’s feelings than the lawsuit.

"We are disappointed with the legal actions taken, particularly when one of the plaintiffs [Virginia Tech athletics director Jim Weaver] initiated a visit to our office last month and expressed a desire to join the ACC," Swofford said.

It could have all been over by now but the lingering and the bickering and the waiting will continue. Sooner, or later, you have a feeling Swofford is going to get the votes he’s after.

He’s just going to have to wait, like the rest of us, a bit longer.

 

 

 

UM's future remains in limbo
ACC presidents to talk expansion again today
BY SUSAN MILLER DEGNAN
sdegnan@herald.com
 

Rumors run rampant, but one thing remains certain: The University of Miami still can call the Big East home -- at least for another day.

After convening by telephone for about two hours late Tuesday afternoon, the Atlantic Coast Conference's nine school presidents will continue their discussions by phone later today.

It is unknown whether the presidents of Duke, Wake Forest, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Maryland and Virginia will cast three separate votes today to invite Big East schools Miami, Boston College and Syracuse into the ACC.

''The ACC Council of Presidents had a constructive call this afternoon that was an integral part of the ongoing process,'' ACC commissioner John Swofford said in a statement. ``On part of the call were the presidents from Boston College, the University of Miami and Syracuse University, as well as the nine ACC presidents. No conclusions were reached, nor were any intended to be reached. There will be further discussions, and as has been the case throughout this process, there is no definitive timetable.''

UM president Donna Shalala declined comment. It has not been revealed whether Shalala, BC president Rev. William Leahy and Syracuse chancellor Kenneth ''Buzz'' Shaw again will be part of today's conference call.

Duke and North Carolina still are expressing strong reservations, sources said. Duke president Nan Keohane said in an e-mail obtained by The Associated Press that the Blue Devils were prepared to vote no unless additional issues about student welfare, travel costs and divisional alignment were addressed by the ACC. One more school's objection would be enough to oppose expansion. Seven of the nine ACC presidents in three separate votes are needed to extend invitations.

One UM source said the lawyers representing UM, BC and the ACC had gotten together Tuesday to strategize and decide what's best for their clients, who were sued last Friday over the expansion issue by Big East plaintiffs Pittsburgh, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, Connecticut and Rutgers.

''They're waiting for legal opinions,'' the source said. ``And nothing will be done until they get them. The lawyers are going to research it, combine their knowledges and give advice. If they advise there won't be any damage done by going ahead now [and accepting an invitation should it come], then they'll probably go ahead. If they advise that there may be a problem, then everybody will hesitate and wait.''

On Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman for attorney Jeffrey Mishkin, who represents the five Big East plaintiffs, said lawyers filed a request with the Superior Court of Hartford (Conn.) that the case be designated as complex litigation, which basically would assign a single judge who would be responsible for managing the case. That, in turn, would speed up the process.

Mishkin also sent a letter to the various lawyers representing defendants UM, BC and the ACC, requesting expedited discovery, which means they want to begin interviewing the college presidents, trustees, consultants and ACC officials as soon as possible -- perhaps in a few weeks instead of months. If the lawyers for the defendants do not consent, the plaintiffs' attorneys would file a request before the court.

Several hours before the ACC conference call, presidents of the five Big East schools met in their own conference call, to which reporters had access. The presidents supported a statement issued earlier Tuesday by Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, who called for ''the NCAA or some other intercollegiate organization [to] consider stepping in to mediate'' the ``dispute over the proposed expansion.

''. . . The Commonwealth of Virginia's interests as a whole will best be ensured with an outcome that keeps both UVA and Virginia Tech in major athletic conferences, with all the attending national prominence and relationships with major universities,'' Warner said in the statement.

NCAA president Myles Brand responded swiftly with his own statement: ``The request from Governor Warner is understandable. However, this office has no authority to intervene in the autonomy of institutions to determine their conference alignment, nor is there any historical precedent to do so. Nonetheless, I stand ready to provide whatever help members of the two conferences would request, including third-party mediation, provided an invitation to do so was forthcoming from all parties.''

Rutgers president Richard McCormick read a statement to open the conference call, on behalf of his fellow plaintiffs. ''If the ACC votes to expand,'' he said, ``its actions will reverberate across the entire university academic and athletic world. If universities are allowed to succeed by having secret meetings, making closed-door deals and breaking promises that others have relied upon, a terrible precedent will have been set. And if one major conference succeeds in poaching three teams from another major conference, powerful reverberations will be felt across the entire country.

``The ACC, along with BC and Miami, will be responsible for the chain reaction that might result -- a chain reaction that could disrupt established athletic conferences from coast to coast.''

Also Tuesday, New York Gov. George Pataki told The Associated Press he is against Syracuse leaving the Big East.

''I'm very concerned about it,'' he said. ``We were all enormously excited and proud when Syracuse won the NCAA basketball championship, and now it seems as though many of the Big East teams, including the New York teams, might be left behind if the ACC is successful.

``Obviously, it's within the legal purview of a private university to choose whatever conference they choose to belong to. But it does, to me, raise real concerns about college athletics.''

 

 

Despite the frets, ACC will expand
Steve Hummer

People, please, expansion is not supposed to be this hard.

For just 3 cents an acre, the United States doubled its size with the Louisiana Purchase. Most consider it a great bargain, even if we did get stuck with Arkansas in the deal.

Over the years Barry Bonds expanded just naturally, so we are told.

The universe is expanding. The economy seems to expand whenever I've backed off playing the market. Even as its football team shrinks, Georgia Tech feels the need to expand its football stadium.

Getting bigger is nothing less than a national imperative -- as anyone who has ever been to a Biloxi casino buffet can attest. It is the concept that has kept alive the notions you can never have too many Waffle Houses or NHL playoff games.

So, what's the holdup with ACC expansion? There's a super conference waiting to be born, and surely no Tobacco Road loyalists or Virginia politicians or Yankee lawyers are big enough to stand in the way of its creation.

Might as well try to get big oil to start thinking solar.

I see the Duke president in another time warning Lewis and Clark to stay home, because there are just too many unknowns on the other side of that big river. Just stay put, it's safer.

In the memo revealed Monday, she fretted over the welfare of the student-athlete. But if you really want to serve the athletes' interests, send them to wherever the competition is the best and the challenge is the greatest. Give them the meatiest games possible and the opportunity to study in between, and it really shouldn't matter to them if they are stepping off a plane or a bus in Chapel Hill or Syracuse.

The college athletic industrial complex has bloated to the point that there can be almost no argument mounted against expansion that doesn't reek of hypocrisy. How can any school claim to be dedicated solely to the well-being of the athlete when the obvious mission of any big program is to maximize profit and prestige?

With expansion, would the ACC command more attention, more money and more prominent athletes? Certainly it would. And everybody who's anybody has to have a conference championship football game. That would seem to resolve all the pertinent issues.

I honestly believed this expansion thing would be all but settled by now, gliding along on the lubricant of obvious self-interest. The no-brainer still should come to pass, so long as all the people with the brains don't get in the way.

Tuesday, the ACC presidents met by teleconference for three hours to hash out the matter. They may need to expand just so they can pay the phone bill.

Sure you could expect some resistance from the Big East. Self-preservation is the strongest of all instincts. It has taken the matter to the courts where it hopes to hold the breakaway teams captive at least until the melting polar ice caps flood Miami's Coral Gables campus.

Then there's the conflict from within. Virginia is feeling political pressure to resist because Virginia Tech would be left high and dry by expansion (imagine, looking out for the best interests of a rival). North Carolina doesn't want to tamper with the traditional makeup of the conference (you get the feeling some Tar Heel people would be happy if the conference actually contracted). And now Duke adds its doubts.

It may seem as if the complications to expansion have grown considerably since the early, heady days when it was but a wonderfully vague concept. That is to be expected with any big reconfiguration.

Worry not. It is the ACC's manifest destiny to break into two six-team divisions. No one in this era wants a regular-sized conference, not when you can supersize it.