Greedy ACC: Fat Cats And Pigskin
By Sally Jenkins
Friday, June 20, 2003; Page D01

The big guys are doing big deals. Deals bigger than Johnny Swofford's overfed paunch, bigger than his big power hair. Big deals, for big money, in big stadiums, with big signage, so the big guys can expand their big desks in their big offices with their big chairs, in which they sit their big, ever-expanding butts. Biggie big big.

When did college presidents get so desperate to be big shots? In their frantic quest to matter outside of pipe-tamping circles, they've abandoned any pretense of educational mission and revealed themselves to be money-grubbing, two-faced hypocrites who want to play tycoon and grab at the shrimp from the buffet table in the VIP skybox. Thanks to them, college football has become fattened to the point of sickness, and there is no better indication of its corpulence and bloated self-importance than the Atlantic Coast Conference expansion mess.

The ACC's proposed expansion from nine to 12 teams has gotten stuck in a muddy debate and a lawsuit. But the ACC presidents, rather than admit the proposal might be unwieldy, not to mention ethically wrong, have answered with a still more excessive proposal: Why not get even bigger, and go to 13 teams? Invite Virginia Tech, screw a lot of other competitor schools in the process, and act like a bunch of shady corporate intriguers. That'll solve the problem of education in this country.

The ACC is so determined to get bigger that it seems not to care what the cost to the collegiate landscape. Its ravening expansion plan would mean the virtual destruction of the Big East and trigger similar destruction of other conferences, a domino effect. The bigs would get bigger and all other schools in search of athletic revenue would starve and shrink. But who cares?

Not most ACC members, or the traitorous Big East presidents thinking of joining them, or Virginia Tech, which is apparently for sale. You could probably buy the Blacksburg campus from an Internet e-tailer.

In a two-hour conference call of ACC presidents Wednesday -- can't you just hear their phony-sonorous voices and pipe sucking -- it became apparent that the proposed expansion raid on Big East football schools Miami, Boston College and Syracuse lacked the seven votes necessary to pass. The holdouts were Duke and North Carolina, whose presidents are genuine educators and rightly unconvinced that expansion is either wise or enriching, and Virginia President John Casteen III, who, though he favors expansion, is under political pressure from Gov. Mark Warner to oppose it unless Virginia Tech is invited in, too. The solution was obvious and was promptly proposed by Casteen: Buy Virginia's vote by inviting Tech.

Now, the last anyone looked, Virginia Tech had pledged eternal loyalty to the Big East and joined with four other Big East schools in suing the ACC over the attempted raid. But a condition to further talks is that it drops out of the lawsuit.

Any guesses as to what Virginia Tech will do next? My own guess is that the next words out of President Charles Steger's mouth will be, "So long, suckers."

The ACC's invitation, extended in a secret meeting, has the smack of an orchestrated counterattack and the ring of a bribe. This way, the Big East conference is sunk, the lawsuit is weakened and Casteen no longer has to worry about doing the right thing. He can openly vote his pocketbook instead of his conscience, while pleasing his governor.

Casteen, by the way, is not available to comment. He left for a European trip right after the conference call.

The ACC presidents are indulging power fantasies. The theory they have been sold by ACC Commissioner John Swofford is that a larger conference will result in behemoth revenues, in the form of a lucrative conference championship game and TV rights fees, as well as greater pull and prestige for the conference. But the fact is that you can grow something to death.

As Duke and North Carolina have pointed out, the TV financial projections may be wildly optimistic, given sports ratings lately. And a bigger league means splitting the money more ways. Also, there are additional travel costs of divisional play.

What's more, Duke and Carolina are the only schools who seem to be troubled as to how the financial motive fits with the mission of the university.

Everyone else trots out the convenient and disingenuous reply: College athletics contribute to campus life, and greater football revenue will benefit all other sports.

But there are serious questions about whether this big deal will really be so lucrative, and whether it benefits more than a few. Here is the most troubling thing about the ACC raid: Not a single college president has acknowledged that perhaps it's his or her job to worry about the health of schools other than his or her own. It used to be that educators were in the same business. Now they are competitors. Education itself has become a business, and the ACC is indulging in nothing more than purposeless corporate greed mixed with pretension. Businesses not only seek to better themselves at the expense of others but to eliminate the competition. Once, the purpose of college athletics was to promote healthy competition, not to kill it.

It's more fun for the presidents to pretend to be moguls cornering the silver market than it is for them to be actual educators. They've spent hours on conference calls this week trying to force expansion, when what they ought to be worrying about is tuition cost, minority admissions, and the fact that all higher learning has become remedial.

Instead, the ACC will no doubt continue to pursue expansion, even if it means a nonsensical 13 teams. It's a bad number. In fact, it's a ridiculous one for a league. It's got only one advantage.

It's bigger.

 

Va. Tech Has a Right To Choose
Hokies Could Drop Lawsuit, Opt for ACC
By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 20, 2003; Page D01

Virginia Tech, approached by the Atlantic Coast Conference on Wednesday about possibly joining the league, is expected to indicate to the league, perhaps today, that it is prepared to enter formal discussions if the ACC desires, according to sources with knowledge of Virginia Tech's situation.

As a condition of moving forward in what has become a very public process, Virginia Tech almost certainly would have to remove itself from a lawsuit filed by five Big East schools against the ACC, Miami and Boston College, several sources said.

At that point, the ACC then would hold a vote on whether to explore formal negotiations with Virginia Tech, sources said. That vote likely would come during a weekend conference call of university presidents and would need seven of nine votes to pass.

If the talks are approved, a delegation of ACC officials would travel to the Blacksburg, Va., campus for a site visit, then file a report to university presidents -- just as league officials have done with Syracuse, Boston College and Miami.

After that, ACC university presidents then might hold a final vote on expanding to a 13-team league.

"I think [expansion] will happen," Wake Forest President Thomas Hearn, who remains committed to expansion, said yesterday. "I don't know what the outcome precisely will be, but I think the matter will be settled in an appropriate timeframe."

Virginia Tech President Charles Steger was not available to comment yesterday, but he is believed to have spent much of the day canvassing the school's Board of Visitors about what to do next.

Bill Latham, the vice rector of the Board of Visitors, said he had spoken with Steger but declined to share the nature of their conversation.

"My view is that the alumni of the institution -- and this is general knowledge and has been the same for a lot of years -- our alumni and supporters of the athletic program think we ought to be a part of the ACC," Latham said.

"That was true 10 years ago, 15 years ago and I think it's still true, although we haven't taken a poll."

Steger also met with Virginia Tech Athletic Director Jim Weaver for one hour yesterday morning to discuss a plan.

"If we did receive an offer or invitation, we would evaluate it and go from there," Weaver said.

Virginia Tech seems to have little choice but to engage in discussions with the ACC, sources said. Should Virginia Tech decline the overture, it is believed that University of Virginia President John Casteen -- who on Wednesday proposed reconsidering his instate rival -- could then vote for an expansion even though he has been under significant political pressure to include Virginia Tech in any expansion.

With Casteen on board, the ACC could then hold a vote to expand -- perhaps as soon as this weekend -- and would have the seven votes necessary to extend invitations to potential new members Miami, Boston College and Syracuse.

"Virginia Tech said a week ago that if an invitation was on the table, they would decline," an ACC source said, referring to Steger's comments earlier this month to USA Today. "Let's see if that's true. This is a very high stakes poker game. . . . What we're doing is calling their bluff. They filed suit to stop this. Which do you really want? Do you want to sue us or do you want to be a part of it?"

Given that argument, according to the sources familiar with Virginia Tech's situation, Virginia Tech's best choice is to listen to the ACC. By doing so, Virginia Tech likely will take a public relations hit in the short run, the sources said, but can gain long-term security for its athletic program.

"I would be very surprised and saddened if Virginia Tech seriously considers, let alone accepts, this overture because it has been such a steadfast and vehement ally in this lawsuit," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said yesterday. "It seems to be reversing field 180 degrees."

While Virginia Tech determines its position, it is believed ACC officials and their consultant, Dean Bonham, were working feverishly Wednesday and yesterday to put together projections for a 13-team league.

"We have analyzed a variety of different scenarios," Bonham said, though he declined to discuss any specific work for his client. "I can assure you if a decision is made to look at 13 instead of 12, a thorough, vigorous analysis will occur.

"The analysis is going to be much less economic and much more big picture," Bonham added.

Bonham said he was frustrated by media reports and public comments that the ACC's expansion plans are motivated primarily by money. In order to maintain the status quo -- ACC teams received $9.7 million apiece from the conference office for the 2001-02 school year -- the conference would need to bring in an additional $39 million in annual revenue.

"The reality is that I would not have given the ACC the opinion I gave if economics were the only issue," Bonham said. "The reason to expand, by one or seven teams, is not economics. Economics is only part of the analysis."

Blumenthal, who represents his state's flagship university in the lawsuit, strongly disagreed.

"It's not about survival; it's simply and solely about money," Blumenthal said. "Our case stands as a bulwark between intercollegiate sports as we know it and the professional sports league that the ACC seems intent on creating."

Blumenthal said the case has been assigned to Judge Samuel J. Sferrazza in Rockville, Conn., about 13 miles from the University of Connecticut campus in Storrs.

The ACC is expected to file motions asking that the case be moved to a different site.
 

Hokies face tough decision on ACC
Web posted Thursday, June 19, 2003
By Hank Kurz Jr. | Associated Press
 

RICHMOND, Va. - Virginia Tech's sudden re-entry in the Atlantic Coast Conference expansion picture created quite a stir on campus Thursday, and could put the Hokies in the position of facing a difficult decision.

"It's absolutely a double-edged sword," William C. Latham, a member of the school's Board of Visitors, said of the ACC's reconsideration of the Hokies. "It's too simplistic to call it a can of worms - it's a bucketful of worms."

ACC leaders decided during a conference call on Wednesday to again consider Virginia Tech in an expansion plan that also targets Miami, Syracuse and Boston College of the Big East. ACC presidents had previously rejected Virginia Tech as a target.

Since the ACC decided on May 16 to go after only the other three schools, Virginia Tech joined four other Big East football schools in a lawsuit against the ACC, Miami and Boston College, accusing them of conspiring to destroy the Big East. Before that, school officials had lobbied hard to be included if the ACC decided to expand.

If they got an invitation and decided to jump leagues, the Hokies would be portrayed as traitors who only looked out for themselves. If they chose to keep fighting for the Big East, "We'd have a lot of people very unhappy," Latham said.

Latham said he had a conversation with Virginia Tech president Charles Steger on Thursday, but declined to reveal what Steger told him about the latest developments. He said he assumed Steger spent the better part of the day on the telephone.

A government source told the AP on Wednesday that Steger planned to call board members Thursday to gauge how they felt about the possibilities now before them. Messages left with several other board members Thursday were not returned.

"From a personal perspective, and that's all I'll give you, I think some good things are happening," Latham said, declining to elaborate.

"Ultimately everyone's got to make a lot of choices," he said.

Steger learned of the possibility of being included in the expansion plan in a meeting with Georgia Tech president G. Wayne Clough in Blacksburg, Va., on Wednesday night.

Clough, a former dean of the college of engineering at Virginia Tech, told the AP Wednesday night he didn't meet with Steger in any official ACC capacity.

"It was a friend to a friend and I said any information I got from the meeting I would take back to my colleagues," he said.

The ACC's renewed interest in Virginia Tech, which a college source said was suggested by Virginia president John T. Casteen III during Wednesday's teleconference, is still in the exploratory stages, according to Wake Forest president Thomas Hearn.

"The Virginia Tech proposal was something that was just floated out there yesterday," Hearn said Thursday. "It's hard to tell if this thing has any legs yet."

Hearn said no future teleconferences among the ACC presidents and chancellors have been scheduled, but he expects the group will meet by phone early next week.

"I suspect it would be more of a status report," he said.

Hokies athletic director Jim Weaver was surprised by the developments Wednesday and met with Steger on Thursday morning. Weaver said the Hokies have not received an official invitation to join the ACC, and could only evaluate one if it came.

 

ACC leaders plan to travel while vote remains on hold

6-20-03

By TIM PEELER, Staff Writer
News & Record

RALEIGH -- Think expansion is the only thing on the minds of the ACC's nine chief executive officers? Think again.

Several of them are headed to the beach, and at least two will be out of the country attending conferences during the next week or so. Hey, it is summer vacation time, so if the Council of Presidents' next teleconference -- which has yet to be scheduled -- is called for an unusual day or time, that's probably the reason.

None of that will prevent any of the league's CEOs from participating in teleconferences to discuss the possible addition of Big East Conference schools Boston College, Miami, Syracuse and Virginia Tech, according to their scheduling assistants, though their telephone reception might not always be great. June 30 is thought to be the deadline for a vote, because that is the day Big East schools must give formal notice to leave the league in time for the 2004-05 school year.

And, even though the ACC bylaws don't specifically require them to participate in the actual vote, all will likely be in touch with the league whenever a final decision is reached.

"I am sure they will all be able to find a phone," an ACC official said Thursday.

But it might not be so simple, especially if no one remembers whether, say, Spain, is on Daylight Savings Time.

Spain is where N.C. State Chancellor Marye Anne Fox will be, starting Saturday. That's after she returns to Raleigh for about six hours following a week-long conference in Colorado.

Virginia President John Casteen III left Wednesday night for Europe, where he will travel until July 11, when he leaves for a two-day retreat with the Virginia Board of Visitors, his school's governing body.

Duke President Nan Keohane is on vacation for the next two weeks at an undisclosed location, according to Duke Senior Vice President for Public Affairs John Burness. So is Wake Forest President Thomas Hearn Jr., who will be at the beach next week, then go to Chicago for two days.

Maryland President Dan Mote is expected to be in the country until the end of the month, though his scheduling official declined to say where Mote would be.

Florida State President T.K. Wetherell will continue to travel back and forth from Tallahassee to Jacksonville for daily treatments for prostate cancer, which he will complete Wednesday.

He's then being encouraged by his office staff to take two weeks off to rest.

Va. Tech ponders options

6-20-03

By ROB DANIELS, Staff Writer
News & Record

GREENSBORO -- Virginia Tech, which made an unsolicited visit to ACC headquarters last month but professed no interest in joining the league 12 days ago, is straddling the fence on the topic.

One of five current Big East Conference members suing the ACC, Boston College and Miami over the ACC's plans to expand, the school issued a statement Thursday that stopped well short of saying it would rebuff an invitation to switch athletics affiliations.

On Wednesday night, an ACC official confirmed brief and unofficial talks on the subject between the chief executive officer of an ACC school and Virginia Tech President Charles Steger. Speaking of Tech's candidacy for the ACC, an official in state government in Virginia told The Roanoke Times, "It's back on the table."

On Thursday, school spokesman Larry Hincker had this to say: "Virginia Tech has not been extended an offer, either formally or informally, to join the Atlantic Coast Conference. We do not know if one is forthcoming. We are not in a position to comment on news reports. We have heard of many what-if scenarios, but we cannot comment on rumors, innuendos and intimations. The expansion plans are the work of the ACC and we have to wait and see what the ACC wants to do."

On June 8, two days after Tech, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers and West Virginia filed suit in Hartford, Conn., to preserve the current eight-team Big East football conference, Hincker said, "If we were asked to join today, we wouldn't go."

But on Thursday, William Latham, a member of Virginia Tech's Board of Visitors told The Roanoke Times, "Because that comment was made two weeks ago or whenever doesn't mean that the comment is valid forever."

Latham and two other board members told the newspaper they think the school should listen if the ACC makes a formal overture.

"Let's hear what they have to say," said T. Rodman Layman. "At various times we've yearned to be in the ACC. I don't know that we would think it any better at all than an intact Big East ... but if the Big East is being decimated anyway, then the question is: Where is best?"

Tech, if accepted, would join Miami, BC and Syracuse and would take the ACC's membership to 13 schools -- one more than the minimum for a potentially lucrative conference championship football game. The renewed possibility of Tech's candidacy -- the Blacksburg, Va., school only received five of the necessary nine votes when it was proposed for membership in May -- stems from political issues in Virginia. The governor and attorney general have pressured University of Virginia President John T. Casteen to reject any expansion plan that does not include Virginia Tech. Casteen's negative vote, if combined with presumptive no votes from vocal skeptics Duke and North Carolina, would scuttle a bid to take only BC, Miami and Syracuse.

An ACC that added Virginia Tech and the other three Big East schools probably would leave the Greensboro-based league with less television money per school than the original expansion proposal, but it could still be palatable enough to garner the seven votes necessary for approval. The ACC's financial consultants have almost certainly studied scenarios with 12, 13 and 14 potential members. Such firms generally investigate even the least likely configurations because they are charged with doing so and because they have the time to be thorough.

ACC Commissioner John Swofford has said expansion studies date to November 2001, and N.C. State athletics director Lee Fowler said Wednesday that the ACC's current presidents and chancellors have discussed roughly three dozen potential divisional alignments for an expanded version of the 50-year-old league.

As of Thursday afternoon, the ACC's chief executive officers had not scheduled a teleconference to talk further about expansion. Their most recent chat occurred Wednesday morning.

As for the lawsuit, the ACC technically must respond next week to a plaintiffs' motion for expedited discovery. But an official in the clerk's office in Connecticut Superior Court said Thursday that a judge had not been selected to hear motions in the case and probably wouldn't be chosen today. The superior court judges are expected to attend an all-day conference today.

ACC's change of heart baffles Tech
Hokies ponder how they fit in
By Norm Wood
Daily Press
Published June 20, 2003

No votes were taken and no decisions were made Thursday, but Virginia Tech's administrators are exploring if the Hokies have a future in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

There are questions that need to be answered: Why would the ACC, which had shown no interest in the last month in including Virginia Tech, along with Miami, Boston College and Syracuse in its drive for expansion, suddenly begin wooing the Hokies? Are the ACC's motives pure? Tech athletic director Jim Weaver stayed up late Wednesday looking for answers. He still didn't have any Thursday.

"I am surprised," Weaver said. "First off, why would you go to a 13-team conference?"

Going to 14 teams would allow the ACC to create balanced 7-team divisions, but it would also force them to split revenues by one more school. Weaver said that in discussions he's had adding another school hasn't been mentioned.

"This is just another chapter in the book."

Weaver met with Charles Steger, Virginia Tech's president, and David Chambers, Tech's senior associate athletic director for external affairs, on Thursday to discuss the possibilities that would come with an invitation to join the ACC. Steger also telephoned members of Virginia Tech's board of visitors.

Steger learned of the ACC's change of heart when he was visited Wednesday in Blacksburg by Georgia Tech president Wayne Clough, a former dean in Virginia Tech's school of engineering.

"I was just the lowly messenger," Clough told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "We just wanted to determine their interest and put that information into the mix."

Virginia Tech issued a statement Thursday morning that reflected its confusion. Curiously, the statement said nothing about Tech's commitment to the Big East.

"Virginia Tech has not been extended an offer, either formally or informally, to join the Atlantic Coast Conference," the statement said. "We do not know if one is forthcoming...The expansion plans are the work of the ACC and we have to wait and see what the ACC wants to do."

While Virginia Tech officials are cautious, the ACC went on the defensive amid speculation that it's trying to break a logjam created by the presidents of UNC and Duke, who are against expansion, and Virginia, who is only for expansion if Tech is included. By adding a 13th school, the ACC could be attempting to ensure a "yes" vote from Virginia, or force Duke or North Carolina to agree to the original expansion plan.

An ACC source said Thursday that its intentions aren't dishonest.

"We don't operate like that," the source said.

Virginia Gov. Mark Warner has lobbied publicly and privately for Virginia Tech's inclusion in the ACC. Warner was unavailable for comment Thursday. Weaver said he wasn't consulted by Warner on any efforts to get Virginia Tech into the ACC expansion picture, but added that he supported Warner.

"From a citizen's perspective, it looks like he's trying everything he can to protect state universities," Weaver said. "I don't think he'd be making the effort if the Big East could stay as it was originally and remain viable. I think the Governor would be fine."

Inviting Tech could hurt the lawsuit filed by Big East football leftovers Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, West Virginia and Tech against the ACC, Miami and Boston College.

Peter Goplerud, dean of the Drake University law school, said Steger's recent pledge to remain loyal to the Big East could change the parties in the lawsuit should the ACC and Tech come to an agreement

"They might, all of a sudden, become a defendant," Goplerud said. "There will be all sorts of eating of words and interesting back-pedaling, shall we say. Should the Big East want to continue the litigation, I'm sure this will only serve to pour gasoline on the fire where at least some of the plaintiffs and Virginia Tech would change sides of the table.

"It would probably fit within the same allegations - the breach of fiduciary duty, the breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing. I'm not changing my mind one bit in terms that this lawsuit may serve to slow things down, but is not going to stop the exodus from the Big East and the expansion of the ACC."

Jerry Kilgore, the Commonwealth's attorney general, said at a press conference in Richmond on Thursday that every effort would be made to help Virginia Tech deal with any legal repercussions.

"It just depends on what the board of visitors says, and they would come to our office and work with us," Kilgore said. "The attorney general of the Commonwealth controls the litigation and makes the determination to work with them on future issues just like we have worked with them on issues over the past few weeks. We've been talking with Virginia Tech throughout the entire process."
 

'Brilliant stroke' might clear expansion hurdle
BY AL FEATHERSTON : The Herald-Sun
afeatherston@heraldsun.com; 419-6606
Jun 19, 2003 : 11:57 pm ET

Virginia president John Casteen III flew to Europe on Wednesday night after delivering what one ACC colleague declared was "a brilliant stroke" in an effort to break the deadlock on ACC expansion.

It was Casteen who proposed that the ACC approach Virginia Tech to explore that school's interest in joining the ACC. Sources say that Virginia Tech informed the Big East Conference office Thursday that it would explore any opportunity that the ACC might present.

Asked about the reaction of Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese to the news, Virginia Tech athletics director Jim Weaver told the Richmond Times-Dispatch, "I have too much to do to gauge reaction. It's all professional."

Virginia Tech's action is a sharp turnaround for a school that joined in a lawsuit filed last month in Connecticut that charged the ACC with conspiracy for its efforts to lure Miami, Boston College and Syracuse from the Big East to the ACC.

On June 8, Virginia Tech president Charles Steger told USA Today that "if an offer [to join the ACC] came today, we would not accept it."

Weaver issued a statement late Thursday claiming, "We would evaluate an offer or an invitation, if it would be forthcoming. Beyond that, I wouldn't comment on anything because it is all speculation at this point."

So far, no offer or invitation has come from the ACC. Georgia Tech president Wayne Clough admitted that he met with Steger on Wednesday night for an informal discussion about the possibility of the ACC adding Virginia Tech to its expansion list.

"The Virginia Tech proposal was something that was just floated out there yesterday," Wake Forest president Thomas Hearn told the Associated Press Thursday. "It's hard to tell if this thing has any legs yet."

The ACC has been trying to add Miami, Boston College and Syracuse to its current nine members, but the proponents of expansion have been stalled for more than a week at one vote short of the seven required for approval.

Casteen, who originally supported expansion, has joined long-time expansion opponents North Carolina and Duke to block the move. An ACC source said that Casteen has been "under tremendous pressure from the political sector" to oppose any expansion that would exclude Virginia Tech.

His latest proposal -- to expand to 13 teams by adding Virginia Tech to the mix -- was a no-lose scenario and appeared to guarantee expansion in some form or another:

-- If Virginia Tech does agree to join the ACC, there would be no political pressure on Casteen to oppose expansion and he would provide the pivotal seventh vote.

-- If Virginia Tech rejects the ACC approach, it would undercut the political pressure on the Virginia president to fight for the inclusion of Virginia's sister state university, and Casteen again could vote for expansion.

-- It's also possible that expansion opponents Duke and/or North Carolina -- faced with the certainty of expansion in some form -- might prefer to vote for the original 12-team plan, rather than for the 13-team scheme. In that case, Casteen's vote would be meaningless.

"It was a brilliant move by Casteen," said one ACC colleague, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "It puts Virginia Tech in a pickle. They can say to their Big East partners, `We're going to abandon you' or they can say, `No, we're going to stand on principle and stick with the Big East.'

"Either way, Casteen is free to vote for expansion."

The same source said that the ACC approach to Virginia Tech included two conditions: First, the league demanded an answer in 48 hours, and second, the ACC wanted Virginia Tech to withdraw from the lawsuit against the ACC and prospective members Miami and Boston College.

Virginia attorney general Jerry Kilgore, who last week filed a brief in support of the lawsuit, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that shouldn't be a problem.

"If the press reports are true, it'd be great news," he said. "The goal all along is that at the end of the day Virginia Tech and Virginia have good strong conferences. Certainly I was the one who had to approve the lawsuit that was filed in Connecticut. ? Sometimes when you're involved in litigation you settle before it goes further and this could be a good settlement offer."

However, Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal vowed that the lawsuit would proceed with or without Virginia Tech.

"This overture shows that the ACC will stop at nothing to expand its number and its membership for its own monetary self interest, and is seeking to destroy the Big East," he told the Hartford Courant. "We are absolutely determined to pursue the lawsuit with undiminished vigor and increased determination."

Virginia's Casteen was not around to view the fallout from his proposal. He flew to Great Britain for a long-planned trip to explore international academic initiatives. A spokesman for the president said that Casteen will remain in close contact with ACC officials.

The next step, if Virginia Tech meets the league's conditions, would be for the ACC Council of Presidents to vote to open formal talks with Virginia Tech. A delegation from the ACC would then visit Virginia Tech, and only then would the presidents vote whether or not to issue the Hokies a formal invitation to join the league.

However, the ACC must act quickly -- ACC commissioner John Swofford has confirmed that the ACC must take action on expansion on or before June 30. Big East by-laws require schools leaving before that date to pay a $1 million exit fee and a $2 million fee after that date.


 

Will Plan B work? Stay tuned
By FRANK DASCENZO : The Herald-Sun
fdascenzo@heraldsun.com
Jun 19, 2003 : 5:37 pm ET

I can see John Swofford's eyes right now. They're blinking and blinking and they're seeing -- what was it Sinatra said? "Strangers in the night" -- and they're not exactly friendly either.

Slam dunk this is not. Expansion is a word stuck smack in the middle of the letters ACC. Most of Swofford's colleagues want expansion but some do not, and sometimes to get what you most want you have to reroute your original plans.

All Swofford, the commissioner of the ACC -- or is it about to be ACSC, Atlantic Coast Super Conference -- wanted to do was expand, and the sooner the better. This mess gets worse by the day.

Well now you know how it is in the real world. When Plan A isn't working as smoothly as you figured it would, could and should, you go to -- what is it? -- Plan B. Is there a Plan C? By the way, how many teleconferences is the ACC going to have to endure before this is over?

All along you could sense the animosity. The anger was steaming in the Commonwealth. The Virginia governor, Mark R. Warner, a Democrat, got involved. The president of dear old UVa, knows on his agenda is that idea of a new basketball facility for the Cavaliers that might need state funding. And then there was that surprise visit by the Virginia Tech AD to the offices of the ACC.

Expansion was supposed to include Miami, which would take along Syracuse and Boston College. Nobody in the ACC really wanted the Hokies, until now. Virginia won't admit it, not in public anyhow. Explore the possibility of inviting the Hokies, and Virginia will say "yes," right? Simple as that. We can get this thing done and move on. Plan B isn't Plan A, but it isn't a "no" vote, now is it?

What do the Hokies want to do -- join the ACC or remain loyal to the Big East and its lawsuit?

Open the door to Frank Beamer's football program and my guess is that Hokies everywhere will be happy to crawl in. Swagger in, actually. Never mind that the ACC originally had no plan to invite Virginia Tech. That was before the politics in Virginia -- and Duke and North Carolina's threat to maintain a "no" vote to expansion -- surfaced.

If Swofford and his entourage that went to Miami, Boston College and Syracuse thought this was going to be easy, they thought wrong.

What's interesting in this is that nearly a month ago, Virginia president John T. Casteen III suggested taking rival Virginia Tech into the ACC's expansion plan but conference presidents threw the idea out the window. Swofford's crusade to expand simply didn't include Blacksburg, Va. Now Casteen, off on a trip to Europe, has opened a new course for Virginia Tech.

Somehow I've got this feeling that if Swofford and a new entourage wanted to jet up to Blacksburg to explore the possibilities of the Hokies getting into the ACC, they'd get the red carpet treatment.

Of the five Big East schools left out of the ACC's expansion target -- Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Rutgers and Connecticut -- the Hokies have voiced the most disgust. Is it targeted at the ACC for trying to raid the Big East or for not including the Hokies in their original expansion idea?

Swofford has gone way too far to lose this struggle and it clearly is that. Days are becoming fewer in June, and if the Big East schools jump to the ACC before June 30, their penalty is only a million bucks each. It doubles on July 1.

Swofford needs seven of nine ACC schools to approve his plan. He has six. Why in the world six isn't enough is beyond me. Then again, why in the world must these super conferences have 12 teams -- and not 10 or 11 -- to hold a football championship game is odd, too. Rules are rules, right?

Three hours of conference call were said to have taken place on Wednesday with no decision on expansion. Like most soap operas, you just have to keep watching to find out what happens.


 

ACC welcomed with open ears?
Tech informs Big East it will listen
BY MIKE HARRIS
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jun 20, 2003

Virginia Tech notified the Big East Conference yesterday that it will listen if the Atlantic Coast Conference wants to talk.

But the ultimate decision on whether the Hokies will jump leagues may not come from Tech.

Jim Weaver, Tech's athletic director, said the school would "evaluate an offer or an invitation if it would be forthcoming. Beyond that, I won't comment on anything because it is all speculation at this point."

Speculation among Tech athletic department sources, none of whom wanted to be identified, is that Tech won't have the final say in the matter if an invitation does come. The same political pressure that forced the University of Virginia to stall the ACC's original expansion plans could force the Hokies to accept the ACC's offer.

Gov. Mark R. Warner's office made it clear to the University of Virginia that it didn't want to see Virginia Tech left out of a viable conference if the ACC expanded. The original expansion plan designed to bring Miami, Boston College and Syracuse over from the Big East stalled because Virginia joined North Carolina and Duke in opposition. The ACC needs yes votes from seven of its nine members to expand.

Wednesday, Georgia Tech President G. Wayne Clough paid a visit in Blacksburg to Virginia Tech President Charles Steger. The option of including Tech was brought up in a conference call earlier in the day.

Steger was not available for comment yesterday, other than to release a statement that said that no offer had been made by the ACC.

One could come soon, however.

"Even if we wanted to, which we probably wouldn't, we really couldn't say no," one source said. "The governor only said he wanted us in a viable league. He didn't say it had to be the Big East or the ACC."

Said Weaver about possible political pressure, "That's all speculation. Everybody's trying to come up with different perceptions and twists. We will evaluate any information we get and see what's in the best interests of the university."

An ACC source said that Tech had 48 hours, starting Wednesday night, to let the ACC know how it wanted to proceed. If Tech declines to explore the possibility, the pressure on U.Va. President John Casteen III to vote against expansion is eased.

Casteen on Wednesday was the one who proposed examining Tech. He's in Great Britain on university business and unavailable for comment.

Warner, through a spokesman, declined to comment. Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said the decision would be made by Virginia Tech's Board of Visitors.

"The governor certainly would have some influence," Kilgore said. "As the attorney general, I would have influence over the litigation and the legal issues that would surround any move."

Various reports Wednesday said Steger would meet with the Board of Visitors yesterday. Those were untrue. The Board of Visitors is not allowed to meet by telephone, and certain procedures must be followed to call a meeting outside the regular schedule. The Board is next due to meet in August. Steger did discuss the matter individually with some members of the Board.

John G. Rocovich Jr., rector of the Board of Visitors, said there's no reason thus far to call a special meeting.

"So far there's been absolutely nothing," he said. "There's been no formal offer, no informal offer, no written offer, no oral offer, no innuendo offer, nothing."

Tech's dalliance with the ACC will bring up some legal issues. The school is a plaintiff in a lawsuit filed earlier this month against Miami, Boston College and the ACC. Syracuse was not named as a defendant.

The school has reportedly been told it must drop its name from the lawsuit before the ACC will proceed with membership exploration.

"We will be the office that will continue to confer with Virginia Tech and U.Va. on the ramifications as we move forward," Kilgore said.

The lawsuit was assigned yesterday to judge Samuel J. Sferrazza of the Connecticut Superior Court.

Reaction to Tech's new situation drew some interesting reaction around the Big East. Commissioner Mike Tranghese was not available for comment, and Weaver said he has "too much to do to gauge [Tranghese's] reaction. It's all professional."

A university administrator at Pittsburgh said his school was "nail spitting mad" at the turn of events. West Virginia President David Hardesty, meanwhile, said on a radio program yesterday that Steger has handled everything properly with regard to expansion.

Richard Blumenthal, the attorney general of Connecticut, told the Syracuse Post-Standard that "the overture to Virginia Tech is a sign the ACC is desperate and disunified and will stop at nothing. It has no shame. If anything, it will strengthen the core of our case. It shows the ACC continues to engage in secret backroom discussions. The ACC will stop at nothing to destroy the Big East as a football conference."

While what may happen is unclear, one thing is crystal clear. No one at Tech expected the sudden interest from the ACC. One moment, the Hokies were a plaintiff in a lawsuit and curious about their athletic future. Seemingly the next, they were in the ACC picture.

"Everybody here was stunned by this," a Tech source said.

 

Tech may be facing tough call
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Jun 20, 2003
Contact Bob Lipper at (804) 649-6555 or e-mail blipper@timesdispatch.com

Virginia Tech's Hokies are up against it.

Dirty if they do.

Dirt if they don't.

In a righteous world, Tech would tell the ACC to take its overture straight back to Greensboro. Three or more ACC schools would vote against an expansion scheme constructed on pillaging three card-carrying members of the Big East, both leagues would remain intact for now, nobody would get hurt and everyone could take a step back and a deep breath.

Who knows what happens then. Maybe the ACC and Big East eventually merge into one mega-mega-conference holding company. Maybe they just cross-pollinate. Maybe Miami sashays by its lonesome over to the ACC, and reclusive Notre Dame finally decides it's time to get married and bonds its football program to the Big East. Maybe Louisville signs on. Maybe Penn State remembers it's closer to New York than it is to Woody Hayes and puts aside a couple of decades worth of ill will and joins the Big East, too.

Maybe then you have two 10-team leagues that petition the NCAA for clearance to stage football championship games. Maybe the NCAA approves. Maybe the networks swoon for these two juicy properties. Maybe everyone rakes in much loot and lives happily ever after.

But not bloody likely.

Maybes don't trump corporate acquisitions and real-world appetites in this marketplace. The ACC wants to grow several suit sizes in the worst way - so much that it now appears willing to beckon oft-shunned Virginia Tech in order to extract Virginia's vote from the no column and seal the deal.

Tech, for its part, has wanted in the ACC in the worst way for just about forever. Now - once a ballot away from entering a battered football shelter - the Hokies could be a wink and a nod from joining the club they've always gazed at wistfully from the parking lot.

Too bad they'd be entering in the worst way.

This is a cunning move by the ACC - assuming it's prepared to take yes for an answer and split its bankroll 13 ways (or even 14, who knows?) instead of 12. If Tech gets an invitation and declines, U.Va. presumably would be able to support expansion with a clear conscience. If Tech gets an invitation and accepts, the family grows by quadruplets as opposed to triplets - more mouths to feed, but what the hey.

Either way, the ACC pretty much gets what it wants.

Either way, Big East football is scavenged.

That's the rub. For every Boston College or Tech that'd make out like a bandit, there's a West Virginia or a Pitt that'd wonder why the gravy train left the station without them. That's why the Unwashed Five filed that lawsuit - to pressure the ACC into rethinking its land grab. Guess what? The strategy worked. Now one of the plaintiffs might have its loyalty tested. Guess what? All bets are off.

Look, Tech is a natural for the ACC geographically, academically and every which way you'd care to define. It'd cement the ACC's grip on the nation's 12th-largest state. It'd put fannies into otherwise empty seats at Wake Forest and Duke. It'd be a good neighbor.

What it wouldn't be is squeaky-clean in the process. Ten days before the ACC targeted Miami, BC and Syracuse as its proposed dance partners and in the wake of public lobbying efforts, Tech President Charles Steger and AD Jim Weaver two-stepped to Greensboro to chat up ACC commish John Swofford. My guess is they weren't there to ask about Swofford's golf game or munch some Stamey's barbecue.

Next, two days after joining the lawsuit against the ACC, Steger told reporters Tech would turn down an ACC invitation if it were offered and stand firm with its Big East brothers. Now, the Hokies might be bound for another 180 and an offer they can't refuse.

It's a crummy business.

 

Issue becomes numbers game
'13' could be lucky for Tech, ACC
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jun 20, 2003

Expanding to 10 schools was one option the nine-member Atlantic Coast Conference considered. Expanding to 11 was another.

Neither scenario was enticing, however, because ACC officials want to stage a championship game in football, and for that the league will need at least 12 members. Conference officials ran the numbers, concluded 12 was the ideal size for an expanded ACC and then targeted three Big East schools - Miami, Syracuse and Boston College.

"Nobody looked at 13 schools," an ACC source said yesterday.

That changed Wednesday. In a stunning turn of events, a majority of ACC presidents, at the urging of University of Virginia President John Casteen, agreed to consider expanding the league to 13 by adding Virginia Tech along with Miami, Syracuse and BC.

"It's not as easy, but you could do 13," an ACC official said yesterday.

Maybe so, but not everyone is convinced yet.

"Thirteen is a number that's not very common [in athletic conferences], and I just don't know enough to be able to respond whether I'm comfortable with it or not," said an ACC athletic administrator who asked not to be identified.

During a May 16 conference call, the ACC presidents voted 8-1 to be- gin formal discussions with Miami, Syracuse and Boston College. The presidents considered Virginia Tech as well that day, but only five schools voted in favor of Tech - U.Va., Georgia Tech, Clemson, Wake Forest and Maryland - and that was two fewer than needed.

Duke and North Carolina were among those that voted to start formal talks with Miami, Syracuse and BC, but they later indicated that they opposed expansion and would vote against it. Casteen, in turn, made it clear that he would not support any expansion that didn't include Virginia Tech.

And so the ACC, unable to muster the seven votes needed to issue invitations to Miami, Syracuse and BC, saw its drive for expansion stall. Now, however, a 13-school ACC, however awkward it might seem, is a distinct possibility.

Casteen's support notwithstanding, until Wednesday there was little enthusiasm around the ACC for Virginia Tech's candidacy. Miami, the school the ACC covets most, draws many of its students from the Northeast and informed ACC officials that it wanted the other two invitations to go to BC and Syracuse.

That was fine with most members of the ACC, which wants to move into new TV markets. Moreover, support for Virginia Tech lessened further after it joined four other Big East schools - West Virginia, Rutgers, Pittsburgh and Connecticut - in a lawsuit against the ACC, Miami and BC.

Nonetheless, the ACC official said, the Hokies were more popular around the league than many believed.

"I do know there's a great deal of respect for them, regardless of what's happened," he said. "I think people realize things get out of control."

The ACC paid out $9.7 million to each of its nine members in 2001-02, the most of any conference. To distribute the same in a 12-team league, the ACC would need to generate another $29.1 million in revenue. Some question whether that's feasible, but conference officials believe the money would come from enhanced TV deals for football and basketball.

With 13 members, the challenge of maintaining the status quo becomes even more difficult. The ACC would have to generate nearly $40 million in additional revenue for each school to stay at $9.7 million. Adding perennial power Virginia Tech would make ACC football more attractive to TV networks, but each school could end up taking a pay cut, at least initially.

Would the schools that must vote on ACC expansion be willing to accept that?

"I think it has to be a part of the consideration, absolutely," a source close to U.Va. said. "The premise has always been that expansion should not have a negative impact on the current financial payout from the conference."
 

U.VA. NOTES
Jun 20, 2003

SUPER SPRING: Thanks in large part to stellar showings by its lacrosse teams, the University of Virginia has finished in the top 20 of the Directors' Cup race for the first time in three years.

With 690 points, U.Va. placed 19th in Division I, just behind South Carolina (701), which picked up 73 points in baseball. Virginia earned 100 points from its men's lacrosse team, which won the NCAA title, and 90 from its women's team, which was national runner-up.

U.Va. never has finished worse than 30th in the competition, which is sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics and ranks schools based on their performances in NCAA tournaments.

Virginia was 27th in 2001-02, 30th in 2000-01, 13th in 1999-2000, eighth in'98-99, 13th in'97-98, 22nd in'96-97, 21st in'95-96, 19th (tie) in'94-95 and 19th in'93-94.

Other schools from this state in the top 120: No. 58 William and Mary, No. 88 Old Dominion, No. 103 Richmond, No. 112 Virginia Tech and No. 116 Virginia Commonwealth.

IN THE CLASSROOM: For a record 18th year, U.Va. has been recognized for graduating more than 70 percent of its football players, this time for the class that entered college in 1997-98. In all, 31 schools received honorable mention for doing so from the American Football Coaches Association. Six of those schools graduated at least 90 percent: Boston College, Connecticut, Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.

Duke, which graduated 100 percent of its players who entered in 1997-98, won the AFCA's Academic Achievement Award. This marks the 11th time Duke has captured overall honors. U.Va. did so in 1985 and'86.

HOOPS: Sean Singletary, U.Va.'s first basketball recruit for 2004-05, is in Richmond this week for the NBA Players Association camp, though he's sidelined with a shoulder injury. Other players at VCU include Virginia target Cornelio Guibanda, a 6-9, 205-pound rising senior from King & Low-Heywood Thomas School in Stamford, Conn.

Guibanda, who turns 19 in September, is a native of Mozambique. His coach at KLHT is his legal guardian, Ervin Braun. Braun's son Adam plays basketball at Brown, which met U.Va. in an NIT game at University Hall last season. Ervin Braun attended that game and likes U.Va., as does Guibanda.

"We know the school, and it's a great school," Braun said.

Guibanda "comes from a great family," Braun said, and his father is a judge in Mozambique who "thinks basketball is great, but it's very, very secondary to academics."

Other schools recruiting Guibanda, Braun said, include Boston College, Virginia Tech, Tennessee, Richmond and Villanova.

RAW TALENT: Of U.Va.'s basketball recruits for 2003-04, all but Jason Cain are in summer school there. Cain, a 6-9, 205-pound forward from John Bartram High in Philadelphia, is expected to enroll in Virginia's second summer session.

Jim Phillips, who coaches Singletary at William Penn Charter High, has seen Cain play and called him a "live body."

"He's very athletic," Phillips said. "You throw the ball up around the rim, and he'll go get it. He's good for two or three plays a game that make your jaw drop."

Phillips added, however, that Cain also occasionally disappeared during games and that his lack of bulk might be an issue early in his college career.

HOMEBOYS: During the NBA Finals, U.Va. assistant coach Walt Fuller was the guest of San Antonio Spurs forward Malik Rose at one of the games in New Jersey. Fuller, a Drexel graduate, was an assistant at his alma mate during Rose's freshman and sophomore years at the Philadelphia school. He recruited Rose out of Philly's Overbrook High, which also produced a guy named Wilt Chamberlain.

Rose "was a 6-5 kind of fat kid," Fuller recalled, "but he could really rebound the ball, and he just got better and better."

As a pro, Rose has helped the Spurs win two NBA titles. "Two rings," Fuller said. "That's not bad." - Jeff White

 

COMMENTARY
Ire certain, Tech must seize chance

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Not too many weeks ago, in this space, I recommended that Virginia Tech take the high road on the subject of ACC expansion.

    Tech can't take the high road anymore. Not to get where it wants to go.

    The Hokies can count on one thing if they do take the low road. They won't be the only people going that way.

    As hypocritical as it would be for Tech to pursue ACC membership after saying it would reject an offer, it is equally hypocritical of the ACC to court the Hokies in light of Commissioner John Swofford's response to a Big East Conference lawsuit.

    Swofford did everything but name the Hokies directly when he said, "We are disappointed with the actions taken, particularly when one of the plaintiffs initiated a visit to our office last month and expressed a desire to join the Atlantic Coast Conference."

    On the same day that the ACC put out Swofford's statement, Tech President Charles Steger participated in a teleconference June8 with USA Today reporters in which he denied that Tech was interested in joining the ACC.

    "If an offer came today, we would not accept it," he said.

    If he wanted to be technical, Steger could say he was talking about that day, June8. Nobody would believe him. If Tech were to accept an ACC invitation, Steger would be breaking his word in the most blatant way.

    Yet, the Hokies have no other choice. At no point in the past 50 years would they have turned down an ACC bid. That kind of feeling doesn't change overnight. This is the closest they've come. Why blow it?

    If the Big East cared so much for Tech, why did it take more than eight years from the time the Hokies were admitted as a football member (1991) until they became an all-sports member.

    Tech could have become a silent partner in the lawsuit filed June6 and everybody - in the Big East and ACC - would have understood. In the two days before he was pressed on the matter, Steger had plenty of time to craft a noncommittal position for the media and yet he almost risked everything.

    True, Tech had received no indication at that point that it was a player, but this has been a volatile situation. That's what I meant by taking the high road. Don't alienate the supporters that you have.

    I'm beginning to wonder how smart these school presidents are. About athletics, that is. Reporters are talking about the immense political pressure that Virginia President John Casteen has faced and I'm not sure that's true.

    I've been told that Casteen's recent votes against expansion have been politically motivated, but I've always felt that he had an embrace-Tech philosophy that is not shared by most Virginia fans.

    Casteen is not a sports guy. I can't imagine him watching "SportsCenter." On the other hand, one wonders if college presidents shouldn't be dwelling on quality of education and issues more pertinent to what their real mission is.

    Schools with outstanding academic reputations - Virginia, Duke and North Carolina would qualify - are being hammered by talk-show hosts from border to border. "Greedy" has replaced "classy" as the operative adjective.

    The unkindest cut of all would be if Tech, just one more time, is being strung along. There was some speculation Thursday that Tech was being used as leverage in an effort to get Duke and North Carolina to change their votes to "yes" in favor of 12-team expansion.

    The argument against Tech has always been that the Hokies won't generate enough new revenue to make the ACC want to divide its money another way. How does everybody make more money with 13 teams?

    As many times as the wind has changed already, Tech needs to move while it can and brace for certain criticism.