GREENSBORO, Ga.
Everywhere you go these days, the one burning question is: “OK, so who’s No.
12?”
Ahh, the elusive 12th team to be added to the ACC. Will it be Notre Dame or
Penn State? An SEC team perhaps, say a Florida, Kentucky, Georgia or South
Carolina? A return to the Big East for Boston College?
Everyone wants to know, but no one has any answers.
Here at the ACC Football Kickoff, a little more than an hour’s drive from the
Georgia Tech campus, there’s been a lot of discussion about No. 12. But it
doesn’t appear that the ACC is any particular hurry to grow again.
“There is continued interest in [adding a 12th member], but hardly anything
has happened,” said ACC commissioner John Swofford. “Do we have to go to 12?
No. This [11-team league] could end up being the end point.”
11 is enough
Swofford pointed out that the Big Ten, which is really 11 teams (I’ve never
understood why they didn’t change the name), has operated successfully without
a 12th member. If the NCAA approves ACC-introduced legislation for a
conference championship football game for leagues with less than 12 teams,
then the need to expand by one more team will have less incentive.
But what if the legislation doesn’t go through? Then, the ACC may be forced to
grow in order to bring in the possible $10 million in revenue a championship
game could generate.
“Our presidents are not going to go to 12 just to go to 12,” Swofford said. “I
think they’ve already made that pretty clear.”
The league could have easily taken Boston College a few weeks ago but came up
one vote short of bringing the Eagles on board due to a block of North
Carolina schools: UNC, Duke and N.C. State. Perhaps the most bizarre statement
coming out of the whole thing came from N.C. State’s president who said she
didn’t want her athletes having to deal with the rigors of making such a long
trip to Boston.
Well, the last time we looked, Boston is closer to Raleigh than Raleigh is to
Miami, the school she supported in expansion.
Going after the Irish
Florida State officials have been very vocal about adding a 12th team ever
since the ACC added Miami and Virginia Tech to the league last month. The
school’s president and athletic director have publicly called for the league
to go after Notre Dame.
Swofford admitted that the ACC talked with the Irish a few months ago (some
say January, some say at the Final Four), but didn’t divulge if there was any
interest from the Golden Domers.
Sources said several weeks ago that Notre Dame made a gesture to become a full
league member in all sports but football, where the Irish would play only a
partial schedule of four games against other ACC teams. But the ACC would not
accept such an arrangement.
In other words, you’re either in or you’re out.
Asked if he was bothered at all by the noise being made in Tallahassee about
pursuing Notre Dame, Swofford said he was not.
“I think anybody would be
interested in Notre Dame,” Swofford said, but added the league has taken no
action since the Tech and Miami announcement.
“In a sense, we’re taking a break,” the commissioner said. “We haven’t had any
meetings. You talk some but nothing specific is going on.”
A lot of people believe that Notre Dame will not abandon its independent
football status unless forced to do so. After all, if the Irish make it to a
BCS game, they’re paid $13 million or so that they don’t have to share with
anyone. NBC pays the Irish something like $7 million and change per year for
the exclusive rights to televise Notre Dame home games.
Unless something happens to change that, the Domers would be crazy to join a
league. However, things could change.
“There may or may not be a change in Notre Dame’s status,” one source said.
“What if the BCS forces Notre Dame’s hand by raising the requirements for
certification?”
The BCS could make it tougher for the Irish to be included in the mix, require
a higher number of wins by Notre Dame in order to qualify for a spot in the
BCS. What if some of the BCS schools that now play against Notre Dame decide
not to schedule the Irish any longer? That’s another way to force them to join
a conference.
Also, what if NBC decides that a home schedule that includes too many teams
like Navy, Air Force and others, just isn’t appealing enough for its audiences
to justify the payout?
There are so many factors in this thing, who knows what might happen.
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said he had been in favor of bringing in
Syracuse and Boston College for the media markets.
“I’d rather have somebody with media power than football power,” Bowden joked
in reference to taking Tech and Miami as opposed to BC and Syracuse.
Saint Bobby said he wished the league would add a 12th team because it would
make scheduling simpler.
So, who does Bowden favor?
“I want Holy Cross,” Bowden said with his Southern cornpone style. “Naah. I
know who I want, but I’m not going to say.”
Swofford said that anything could happen but did leave us with this: “I think
we’re likely to be playing with 11 in ‘04.”
As new UVa baseball coach Brian O’Connor outlines the future of the
program, there are no pauses.
He speaks without hesitation when addressing goals such as ACC championships
and NCAA tournaments. There is little backtracking, sidestepping or even
hedging on his part as he discusses the potential of the UVa baseball program.
It is likely that this vision is what made the 32-year-old former Notre Dame
assistant attractive to UVa officials. Coupled with his resume, it’s probably
what landed him the job of succeeding Dennis Womack, who retired after 23
seasons on June 10.
“Brian O’Connor will bring energy and enthusiasm to our baseball program, and
a great understanding of the landscape in college baseball,” said UVa
athletics director Craig Littlepage at the time of O’Connor’s hire on July 8.
“He will hit the ground running and make an immediate impact in all aspects of
our program. … The experience Coach O’Connor gained in helping build Notre
Dame’s program will be instrumental in developing a plan to move the
University of Virginia’s baseball program forward.”
While his office is still mostly bare with boxes from South Bend arriving in
intervals, O’Connor has certainly hit the ground running as Littlepage
foreshadowed.
Three days after O’Connor was hired, he drove his rental car to Salem to scout
and recruit at the Commonwealth Games. After the afternoon in Salem, O’Connor
trekked back up I-81 toward Charlottesville to entertain a top recruit and his
family for dinner. He then returned to Salem that night and then later that
weekend was bound for Atlanta where a camp was being held for the top
prospects in the Southeast.
Dizzying indeed, but it’s what O’Connor believes is necessary.
“That’s the effort it is going to take. That’s the effort that this coaching
staff is going to make,” O’Connor said.
Recruiting will be a priority for O’Connor and a casual observer of the UVa
program over the last decade or so knows that it should be.
In the past 13 years, Virginia has only four winning seasons overall — none in
the ACC — and just one NCAA tournament appearance (1996). In that time, a
plethora of quality prospects from the state of Virginia has continued their
collegiate careers at schools both outside and inside the Commonwealth but
rarely in Charlottesville.
That is something that O’Connor, who corralled several top recruiting classes
while at Notre Dame, plans to change … immediately.
“Our number one priority will always be the state of Virginia. This is a very
good baseball state. … There are a lot of talented kids here and that will
always be our priority. After that, we’ll need to supplement our roster with
kids from around the country and especially the mid-Atlantic region,” O’Connor
said.
O’Connor’s recruiting strategy? He’s keeping it simple.
“We have an attitude here at Virginia that we are not going to take a backseat
to anyone here at Virginia. There’s a new commitment here. There’s an
opportunity for kids to get a great education here and play in the ACC and win
an ACC championship. They can have it all here,” O’Connor said.
That message should not fall upon deaf ears these days considering the success
of other strong academic baseball schools. Rice and Stanford — two schools
with similar academic reputations to UVa — both met in the finals of the
College World Series with Rice earning the title.
“If you look at college baseball over the last 10 years, there are programs
that are making dents into the national landscape because they offer excellent
academics. You look at Rice, Stanford, Vanderbilt and Notre Dame. There are
reasons for that and it’s because a lot more kids are looking at going to
school instead of the pros and thus an education is important to them,”
O’Connor said.
Paul Mainieri can certainly vouch for O’Connor’s recruiting ability.
Mainieri, the head coach at Notre Dame, saw his team post a 399-160-1 record,
win six Big East titles and advance to six NCAA tournament with O’Connor
working with the pitching staff and serving as recruiting coordinator.
“Brian O’Connor is a winner. It’s that simple. The people in Virginia are
absolutely going to love this guy. He’s been my right arm here for nine years
and I’m having a tough time going on without him,” Mainieri said. “He has so
much responsibility and so much to do with the success of our program. … He’s
made my job at Notre Dame harder because now there is one more great academic
school that will be competing hard for the good kids across the country. We’ll
have to work our tails off here at Notre Dame to keep up with Virginia.”
If recruiting is a priority under O’Connor, it’s superceded by his own new
approach to the day-to-day handling of a college baseball program.
Virginia is coming off a 29-25 season in which it just missed the school’s
first bid to the NCAAs in seven years. The Cavaliers will return the bulk of
their starters from last season, including All-ACC selection Joe Koshansky.
Instilling a new commitment to success for those players has already consumed
much of O’Connor’s first few days as he has tried to connect with as many
current players as possible.
“I’m big into development and I want all our players having dreams of playing
in the major leagues. If they don’t have that, I don’t want them. Again, we
are at one of the best schools in America and in one of the best baseball
conferences in America. There is no reason for us to have to take a backseat
to anyone,” O’Connor said.
Despite renewed financial support for the program and the addition of the
refurbished UVa Baseball Stadium, the baseball program at UVa has recently
taken a backseat to one of the school’s other spring sports.
The UVa men’s lacrosse team has won two national titles in the past four years
and continues to be the biggest and most popular draw among the spring sports
at Virginia.
O’Connor does not flinch on that one, either. He knows there is one surefire
thing that can establish baseball’s own niche at the school.
“There is not substitute for winning. I want to create an excitement and buzz
around here about the baseball program. We have a wonderful facility. We
compete in the ACC conference. The reality is that if you win and put a good
product on the field, people will come out and support it,” O’Connor said. “We
need to create that buzz.”
ACC's tactless tack still irks Tranghese
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Jul 24, 2003
Contact Bob Lipper at (804) 649-6555 or e-mail blipper@timesdispatch.com
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. The steam still billows from Mike Tranghese's ears. He has
a working furnace in there. He also has a right. He's mad as heck, and he's not
going to have Miami and Virginia Tech football anymore a year from now. You lose
the crown jewels from your portfolio, you'd be torked off, too.
Tranghese is the Big East commissioner. He called the ACC "a bunch of
hypocrites" three months ago. He basically called the ACC misguided louts
yesterday. I don't think I have a personal preference in that department. I'd
choose all of the above and let it go at that.
ACC boss John Swofford stepped to the lectern at a posh Georgia resort on
Tuesday and said Tranghese had apologized to him for having gone public on the
impending corporate raid of Big East properties. Tranghese stood before
microphones a post pattern from Exit 16W on the Jersey Turnpike yesterday and
acknowledged a lapse in diplomacy.
He says he'd send the same message again today. He'd just deliver it directly to
Swofford instead of to a newspaper guy.
"I don't retract what I said," Tranghese observed LIPPERevenly. "I have nothing
to apologize for. My conference has nothing to apologize for."
Not so the ACC in his opinion. Minus'Canes and Hokies, the Big East will troll
for additions to beef its numbers up to BCS standards - but only, Tranghese
said, after going through channels and warning the appropriate league
commissioners. He never got a similar heads-up from Swofford. He at least
figures a phone call might've been nice.
"They don't think they did anything wrong," Tranghese said. "I just have a
different view about how they proceeded with this. I'm not naive enough to think
it would've altered anything. There's just a protocol you go through."
The ACC based its expansion initiative on the proposition it needed to muscle up
to remain a political force in the boardroom of College Sports Inc. Somebody
lobbed that absurd notion at Tranghese yesterday. He knocked the sucker out of
the park.
"That's cockamamie nonsense," he said. "Please, I don't need my intelligence
intelligence insulted by that cockamamie nonsense. They've added two terrific
football schools. Shut the rhetoric down and go play."
The ACC played expansion like a bunch of fiddlers wearing catcher's mitts. It
targeted and romanced Miami, Syracuse and Boston College. It wound up with Miami
and Tech and omelet on Swofford's face. Orangemen and Eagles were hung out to
dry. There's still some dampness in the air.
"I don't think there's anger," BC coach Tom O'Brien said. "It's more a jilted
feeling. You go through this whole process. You order your tux, you get ready to
go to the prom - and then they don't pick you up. What are you going to do. Life
goes on."
Tranghese echoed that sentiment on his behalf. He said he was looking forward to
the season and that it'd be nice if the Big East offered another national
champion. He said he still has "great friends" in the ACC. He didn't mention
Swofford by name. Funny about that.
"John and I have to deal with each other," Tranghese said. "That's the cards
that have been dealt. It probably will be awkward for both of us. There's
probably some damage there."
Does he still think his league was blindsided?
"Yes," he replied succinctly.
Somehow, I don't see Christmas cards and candlelight suppers here.
Warner, Kilgore receive
several standing ovations from Tech boosters
Hokies salute
Gov. Warner
Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer presents Gov. Mark Warner with a Tech football jersey.
By MARK BERMAN
THE ROANOKE TIMES
RICHMOND - Hail the conquering heroes.
Gov. Mark Warner and Attorney General Jerry Kilgore each received several standing ovations Wednesday night at a Richmond Hokie Club dinner, as about 1,000 Tech boosters saluted them for their help in getting Tech into the ACC.
"I haven't gotten a response like that since I reopened the DMV offices," Warner said after one of the ovations.
The applause was months in coming.
"The [Tech] president, along with the governor and the attorney general, spent an inordinate amount of time on this subject from mid-April until we went to the [ACC] press conference on the 1st of July," athletic director Jim Weaver said during his speech at the Richmond Marriott.
Tech President Charles Steger and Warner, sitting next to each other, looked at each other and grinned.
Virginia President John Casteen, who wasn't in attendance, got some recognition, too.
"ACC Bound!" said the video screen in the ballroom. "Thank you Governor Warner, Attorney General Kilgore, President Casteen."
Warner saluted Casteen, who made Tech's inclusion a condition for his vote on the expansion candidates.
"This crowd and Hokie fans ... also owe, and I know it's going to be hard to applaud, but also owe President John Casteen," Warner said as the boosters applauded.
"Because they [at UVa] went the extra mile. And they didn't need very much convincing," Warner said with a grin.
Warner talked with Casteen, other ACC presidents, Miami President Donna Shalala and governors of other ACC states as he lobbied on Tech's behalf.
"When we first started this effort, when President Steger and friends from Southwest Virginia kept calling and saying, 'Governor, you've got to get on this, you've got to get on this,' it seemed to me at the time a no-brainer what was in the best interest of Virginia, regardless of what school you went to," Warner said in his speech.
Steger credited Warner for chatting with people who didn't share Casteen's pro-Tech view.
"He talked to a number of people involved in the whole process," Steger said in an interview after the dinner. "I talked to him I don't know how many times a week as we talked about what strategy would be successful in doing this. He was really engaged.
"President Casteen has been working hard on behalf of Virginia Tech with the ACC for a long period of time. Governor Warner helped other people who may not have been as enthusiastic about Casteen's activity as Casteen was, to persuade them it was the right thing to do. There were a lot of people in the state who were not enthusiastic about what President Casteen was doing, and Governor Warner helped with that."
Kilgore was involved in the lawsuit filed by Tech and four other Big East football schools against the ACC, Miami and, at the time, Boston College. Tech has since withdrawn from the lawsuit.
"Since I'm not going to be met with open arms at David Harrison Field at Scott Stadium and the Carl Smith Center anymore, I thought I'd start lobbying for a new suggestion I happened to see on the Virginia Tech football message board: Kilgore Field at Warner Stadium," Kilgore, a graduate of Clinch Valley College (now known as UVa-Wise) and UVa season-ticket holder, said in his speech.
Kilgore spoke of how hard it was for Tech to get into the ACC.
"When the governor started back in April working on this issue, rarely did any of us really think that on June 25th they would announce that Virginia Tech had received an invitation," Kilgore said. "The pressure paid off.
"And even though some folks may not agree, there's going to come a day when Wahoos and Hokies will agree on one thing: We'll all hate North Carolina."
Football coach Frank Beamer thanked Warner for his efforts before escorting him into the ballroom.
"I really appreciate what he's done because it wouldn't have happened - I mean, he certainly helped make it happen," Beamer said in an interview.
Beamer presented Warner with a Tech jersey with Warner's name and No.1 on the back.
"This number reflects how we feel about him," Beamer said.
COLLEGE NOTEBOOK
ACC's chance
to add USC may be lost
If South Carolina represents the "perfect fit" for a prospective 12th ACC member, as some have contended, the ACC may have squandered its best chance at a reconciliation.
The Gamecocks left the ACC in 1971 and did not join the Southeastern Conference until 1992. They were independent for part of that time and also were affiliated with the Metro Conference.
Former Virginia football coach Dick Bestwick, now retired and living in Athens, Ga., was the athletic director at South Carolina when the Gamecocks inquired about rejoining the ACC in the late 1980s.
"They would have gone in a heartbeat," Bestwick wrote in an e-mail. "That was my first effort, but when it fell on deaf ears, the SEC was open and willing, particularly since they lost out in their bid to get Texas and Texas A&M."
Bestwick's recollection was that then-ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan was opposed to South Carolina's return, "but I know the [South Carolina] administration wanted to get back in," he said.
Corrigan didn't exactly refute Bestwick's notion when quoted recently by The State in Columbia, S.C.
"I remember there were a couple of people who said South Carolina wouldn't get in over my dead body," said Corrigan, who, as Virginia athletic director, had hired Bestwick. "I also don't think people were walking around [in 1971] feeling they wanted them to leave, period."
IN THE BEGINNING: Virginia Tech was not invited to join the ACC because it did not support fellow Southern Conference members Maryland and South Carolina after they received bowl bids in 1951, according to longtime Greenville (S.C.) News columnist Dan Foster.
Foster said he got the story from legendary Clemson football coach Frank Howard before Howard's death in the mid-1990s. It seems the Southern Conference had voted before the 1951 season that none of its teams could go to bowls, thinking the NCAA would approve a similar measure.
When the NCAA elected to preserve the bowls, Maryland and Clemson accepted bids in 1951 and were punished by the Southern Conference, which voted that none of its schools could play the Terps or Tigers in 1952. Only through the intervention of the South Carolina legislature was Clemson able to play South Carolina.
Foster said Howard singled out West Virginia and Virginia Tech as two of the teams that had voted to punish the Tigers and said the Mountaineers and Hokies could not count on his support for ACC membership.
When then-North Carolina Chancellor Robert House proposed Tech and WVU for membership, it was Clemson President J.T. Penney, serving as ACC president, who threw out the motion because it was not on the agenda.
FAMILY TIES: Scott Deke, the Pacific Palisades, Calif., quarterback who committed to Virginia last weekend, is the son of 1982 VMI graduate Daryl Deke, who serves as secretary-treasurer of the Keydet Club, and Tonya Giacco Deke, a 1983 Hollins graduate.
Daryl Deke (pronounced Day-key) played golf at VMI and lettered for the 1981 Keydets football team after being persuaded to try out as a senior by his two football-playing roommates, including Roanoker Richard Woolwine.
VMI and Army were the first two schools to offer Deke, whose quarterback coach at Loyola High School in Los Angeles is Ken O'Brien, selected by the New York Jets in the first round of the 1983 NFL Draft that included John Elway, Jim Kelly and Dan Marino .
ACC FOOTBALL NOTES
Jul 24, 2003
INCREASED INTEREST: For the first time, ACC Commissioner John Swofford said,
seven of his league's nine schools will sell at least 30,000 season tickets each
for football. Not bad for what has long been known as a "basketball conference."
"If you know the history of our league, that says a lot about where we're
going," Swofford told reporters Tuesday at ACC Football Kickoff in Greensboro,
Ga.
Duke and Wake Forest lag significantly behind their counterparts in
season-ticket sales, but Maryland has made strides since Ralph Friedgen returned
to coach his alma mater.
"It's a little slower than what I anticipated," Friedgen said, "but I'm not a
very patient person."
When Friedgen arrived in College Park, Md., after the 2000 season, the Terrapins
had about 10,000 season-ticket holders, he said. The total grew to 13,000 his
first year and then to 21,000 in 2002, Friedgen said. "Hopefully we can get to
30,000 this year, and then we'll have sold all our season tickets, and then it's
time to expand."
Friedgen, 56, would like to see the capacity of 48,055-seat Byrd Stadium
increased to at least 60,000 in the near future.
"And then hopefully by the time I leave in 10 years it'll be about 85,000," he
said.
SEASONED GROUP: Eight of the ACC's nine starting quarterbacks from 2002 are
back, including the conference's player of the year, Virginia senior Matt Schaub.
Wake Forest's James MacPherson was a senior last season. His replacement is
sophomore Cory Randolph, who completed 24 of 48 passes for 333 yards in 2002.
CROSSING STATE LINES: Maryland's freshman class includes two former U.Va.
recruits - defensive tackle Robert Armstrong and offensive lineman Robert
Jenkins.
Armstrong signed with Virginia in February 2002 but didn't qualify academically.
Jenkins signed with the Cavaliers in February 2001 and again a year later but
never cleared admissions.
"Robert Armstrong is definitely going to be a good football player," Friedgen
said. "He's done very well academically and had a very good spring. Robert
Jenkins right now is struggling academically, and I think it'll be a year or so
before he helps us."
LONELY AT THE TOP: Seventeen players from the ACC were chosen in this year's NFL
draft, but only Wake defensive end Calvin Pace went in the first round. Three
ACC players went in the second, two in the third, six in the fourth, one in the
fifth and four in the seventh and final round.
FSU had six players drafted, the most of any ACC school. Wake was next with
three.
POSTSEASON: The ACC has ties-in to six bowls this season. Its champion, as
usual, will advance to the Bowl Championship Series. The ACC also will send
teams to the Jan. 1 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., the Jan. 2 Peach in
Atlanta, the Dec. 22 Tangerine in Orlando, Fla., the Dec. 27 Continental Tire in
Charlotte, N.C., and, for the first time, to the Jan. 3 Humanitarian in Boise,
Idaho.
The Gator will pick first from among the bowl-eligible ACC teams not headed to
the BCS, followed by, in order, the Peach, the Tangerine, the Continental Tire
and the Humanitarian.
In 2002, U.Va. fans were incensed that the Gator took N.C. State, the Peach
selected Maryland and the Tangerine chose Clemson, despite the fact that the
Cavaliers had beaten each of those teams. But the complaints directed to
Swofford's office apparently went for naught. In each case, the team chosen met
the criteria for eligibility the ACC had established, and the conference hasn't
changed its policy.
"Each of our bowls make the selection," Associate Commissioner Mike Finn said.
"This is a partnership between bowl partners and the ACC, and we emphasize
'partnership.'"
BLAST FROM THE PAST: Clemson, once renowned for its powerful running game,
ranked eighth among ACC teams last season in rushing offense (120.7 yards).
That's one reason embattled coach Tommy Bowden will use the I-formation more
this year. He believes the Tigers will run better out of the I.
"We're still going to be continue to be no-huddle, and we're still going to use
the shotgun, and we're still going to use three or four wideouts," said Bowden,
whose record at Clemson is 29-20. "We're just going to do it out of the
I-formation." - Jeff White
GREENSBORO, Ga. - In six weeks ACC officials will start hammering out the finer points of expansion, including two possibilities -- keeping the double round-robin schedule for basketball, and putting the football championship game in Charlotte permanently.
ACC commissioner John Swofford didn't handicap the likelihood of either possibility, but left those and other doors open when he said, "Anything is possible at this point."
Such details related to the additions of Miami and Virginia Tech in 2004 will be discussed at a meeting in September, Swofford said, with a follow-up meeting set for October.
Regarding the football championship game, Swofford said the eventual 11-team league has been contacted by Charlotte and three other cities -- Atlanta, Jacksonville, Fla., and Orlando, Fla. -- interested in hosting the event.
The ACC won't know until April if the NCAA will allow leagues with fewer than 12 teams to stage a title game. Swofford called it "a coin flip" and said the ACC wouldn't necessarily seek a 12th team if the rule change isn't approved.
Between now and April the ACC will make preliminary plans to stage a game in 2004, though Swofford said the league's inaugural title game might not take place that soon.
"If you're going to have a championship game," he said, "you need to make sure you do the first one well."
The country's two biggest football title games, staged by the SEC and Big 12, are done differently. The SEC uses Atlanta as its permanent site, while the Big 12 rotates sites. Swofford said the SEC has "the optimal situation," citing Atlanta's dome, amenities and location in the heart of SEC country.
Of the four cities to have expressed interest in hosting the ACC title game, Charlotte is the most centrally located. Its weather in December, however, isn't typically as pleasant as some of its competition.
"We'd be very interested in hosting the game, and while we'd love to have it every year, we'd be fine with being part of a rotation," Raycom Sports president Ken Haines, whose company runs the Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte, said last week.
Swofford said the ACC is a few months away from deciding where to hold the first title game, and whether to seek a permanent host city.
Regarding the basketball round-robin, Swofford indicated the ACC hasn't ruled out a 20-game conference schedule, which would be required for all 11 teams to play each other home and away. Such a schedule wouldn't seem likely, given its difficulty, but Swofford responded to a follow-up question on the issue by saying the league hadn't ruled it out.
Notes
• Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has apologized to Swofford for verbally lashing out at the ACC for its pursuit of Big East schools during expansion."I have a lot of respect for Mike, and you move on," Swofford said.
• In 2002, average attendance for ACC football surpassed 50,000 for the first time. Swofford said seven of the league's nine schools are on pace to sell more than 30,000 season tickets this season -- another first.
• Seeking to protect players from summer heat, the NCAA has made two significant changes to the preseason practice schedule. First, players will be gradually phased into full-pad workouts during a five-day period. Second, teams cannot conduct two-a-day sessions on consecutive days. Several ACC coaches have expressed irritation with the latter change.
• Punt returners no longer will be protected by the "halo" rule, but any illegal contact with a returner will be treated more harshly this season -- an automatic 15-yard penalty against the punting team.
• Each ACC school's share of the NCAA's new $17 million Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund will be roughly $100,000, assistant commissioner Shane Lyons said. That money, available to scholarship athletes, will be available for such expenses as travel home and summer tuition.
• The 2003 Continental Tire Bowl in Charlotte has been set for Dec. 27, said ACC assistant commissioner Mike Finn.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Fresh off two defections that shattered the conference, the Big East has little time to regroup if it wants to maintain its status as a major player in college football.
At the conference's final football media day before powerhouses Miami and Virginia Tech bolt, commissioner Mike Tranghese said the remaining 12 schools need to decide soon whether they want to stay together or split into two conferences - one that plays football and one that doesn't.
"That's the first question that has to be answered," Tranghese said Wednesday. "We can't proceed until we have that answer."
Negotiations for the next Bowl Championship Series contract begin in September 2004, and the Big East needs to know what schools it has if it wants to maintain its automatic bid in the BCS when the new deal begins in the 2006 regular season.
The Big East needs to add at least two teams in order to maintain its conference status and the quality of those schools could determine its place in the BCS.
"I can't conceive of any type of football system without Northeast representation," Boston College coach Tom O'Brien said. "It would be wrong not to have the Northeast in the major college football scene."
Tranghese, who has been with the Big East since its inception in 1979, said the decision to stay together or split up will come in the next few months. If the two factions split, Tranghese said he won't go with either side because he needs to run the league objectively for the next two seasons.
When Miami and Virginia Tech leave after this season for the Atlantic Coast Conference and Temple gets kicked out after 2004, the Big East will have six football schools remaining: Boston College, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Syracuse, and West Virginia.
The conference will likely add two or three teams although no premier programs probably will be available. Louisville, Cincinnati, Central Florida and South Florida are among the top possibilities.
Tranghese's hoping one of the schools that's added develops into a national force the way Virginia Tech did.
"Whatever we do we still have six strong teams," Tranghese said. "There's no Miami out there to invite. We have to identify people who have the potential to get there."
Georgetown, Providence, St. John's, Seton Hall, Villanova could split off into a non-football conference, targeting schools like Xavier, Dayton, Marquette and DePaul.
Notre Dame is the wild card. The Irish play all sports but football in the Big East, and Tranghese has had regular conversations with them about joining the conference in football - a very unlikely possibility.
"There would have to be some set of unforeseen circumstances that I can imagine of to force them into that," he said. "They cherish their independence."
Tranghese said that before the conference begins courting other teams, he will give his counterpart a courtesy call - something he said the ACC never did.
That move led Tranghese to criticize the ACC and its commissioner, John Swofford, during the expansion process.
Swofford said Tuesday that Tranghese had apologized. But on Wednesday, Tranghese said the only thing he was sorry for was talking to a reporter about his views on expansion before telling Swofford.
"I have nothing to apologize for," Tranghese said. "My conference has nothing to apologize for."
The coaches and players gathered at media day downplayed the impact the departures of Miami and Virginia Tech will have.
"We can only worry about what we can control on the field," Syracuse linebacker Rich Scanlon said.
The departures come at the height of the conference's success. The Big East has had a school play for a national title three of the last four years and a team finish in the top two the last four years.
But Miami and Virginia Tech account for all that success.
"It's up to the other teams that are left to step up," Pittsburgh coach Walt Harris said. "Hopefully, we're all up to the task."
Miami was picked first by a media poll, receiving 21 of 24 first-place votes and 188 points. Pittsburgh was second with 159 points and one first-place vote and Virginia Tech was third with 156 points and two first-place votes.
West Virginia was fourth with 102 points, followed by Boston College (100), Syracuse (87), Temple (42) and Rutgers (32).
"If we do what we're supposed to do, nobody can handle us," Miami tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. said.
Divisions hot topic for ACC
The league will not wait until the NCAA rules on the ACC's petition to allow a
football title game
By CAULTON TUDOR, Staff Writer
GREENSBORO, Ga. -- The ACC's new football divisions could be announced in the
next three or four months, but the format may not be used until 2005 -- a year
after Miami and Virginia Tech join the league.
Commissioner John Swofford said Tuesday that there would be no need for ACC
divisions unless the NCAA changes a rule that allows only leagues with at least
12 members to play a title game in football. With the addition of two members
next year, the ACC will have 11.
The conference has petitioned for the rule change, but the NCAA's decision won't
be made until April, which Swofford said may be too late for a 2004 ACC title
game.
"A lot of talk on that topic will be done during the next several weeks,"
Swofford said as the ACC Football Kickoff concluded. "We couldn't wait until
April to start planning a game for '04."
One widely discussed scenario would split the four North Carolina schools, with
N.C. State and North Carolina winding up in different divisions. The same would
go for Duke and Wake Forest, Miami and Florida State, and Virginia and Virginia
Tech.
Many of the traditional rivalries would be maintained, however. UNC and State
would still meet in football each year.
Swofford said input would be sought from the ACC's presidents and chancellors,
who are scheduled to meet Sept. 3 and 4 at Clemson . The athletics directors
will meet Sept. 10 in Greensboro, N.C., and again Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in
Charlottesville, Va.
The ACC has already been approached by several cities -- Atlanta, Charlotte,
Jacksonville, Fla., and Orlando, Fla. -- about becoming the host site for a
league title game in football.
"You would want that first game, if there is one, to come off as smoothly as
possible," Swofford said. "It's not something you would want to rush through."
The possibility of having a championship game was one reason the ACC wanted to
expand. Swofford estimated a title game would be worth $7 million to $10 million
a year to the conference.
The commissioner addressed several other issues as well.
* BIG EAST APOLOGY: Swofford said Big East Commissioner Mike Tranghese has
apologized for his remarks during the expansion process. Tranghese had blasted
the ACC's approaches to Miami, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Syracuse,
accusing the league of plotting to destroy the Big East.
Swofford said he had spoken by phone with Tranghese but declined to elaborate.
"When you go through something like this, people have differences of opinion and
express them in certain ways," Swofford said. "It's disappointing.
"But we've worked together for a long time on various things, and we will again.
As far as I'm concerned, it's over with."
* 12TH MEMBER: A 12-team conference would be ideal, but no action is under way
to find another member.
* BASKETBALL SCHEDULE: Swofford would not rule out 20 ACC regular-season games
for each team, thus preserving the traditional home-and-away series between all
of the members.
The coaches, however, might object to more than 16 conference games a year.
The ADs will discuss the 2004-05 schedule during their meetings.
* ACC BYLAWS: Swofford said the league presidents may discuss changing the
bylaws regarding the required approval for expansion. It took a three-quarters
vote -- seven of the nine school leaders saying yes -- to invite Miami and
Virginia Tech.
The proposed addition of Syracuse and Boston College fell short of the necessary
votes.
The voting bylaws would have to be changed anyway when Miami and Tech join July
1, 2004.
"On everything else we do, it's a simple majority," Swofford said. "That's
something the presidents may take up, but that's completely up to them."
According to the bylaws, a two-thirds vote -- six of nine -- is required to
amend them.
* HUMANITARIAN BOWL: The ACC signed a two-year deal with the bowl game. The
ACC's opponent in the Jan. 3 game in Boise, Idaho, will probably be the Western
Athletics Conference champion. The ACC now has six guaranteed bowl slots: a BCS
game, the Gator, Peach, Tangerine, Continental Tire and Humanitarian bowls.
Booster club short on scholarship money
Baddour cites rising costs.
Athletics department will have to make up for the shortfall, but AD Baddour says
a contingency fund is available
By JANE STANCILL, Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL -- For the first time in years, the University of North Carolina's
athletics department will have to help pay the cost of athletics scholarships
because the school's booster club can't fully cover it.
UNC athletics director Dick Baddour said Wednesday that the scholarship budget
will have an estimated $100,000 to $350,000 shortfall in the coming academic
year . He said the Educational Foundation, better known as the Rams Club, has
committed $7 million to scholarship costs that could climb as high as $7.4
million.
The athletics department will have to come up with the rest. Baddour, who said
he couldn't remember the last time that had happened, added that the department
has about $300,000 in a contingency fund, so the shortfall probably won't be a
crisis this year.
But he told members of the university's Board of Trustees that in the future the
department would have to generate more revenue -- from TV contracts, student
fees or other sources -- to help pay for athletics scholarships.
That led trustee Rusty Carter to question UNC's longstanding policy of not
allowing permanent advertisement signs in its sports venues, especially the Dean
Smith Center and Kenan Stadium. UNC is one of the few major universities that
bans permanent signs in arenas and stadiums. It is a tradition that has been
staunchly defended by faculty and other university supporters.
"Has the whole signage issue been explored for revenue sources?" Carter asked.
"I know it's a touchy subject. I know there's a lot of passion about it."
Baddour responded that there had been no formal study about how much money the
university could raise by allowing permanent corporate advertising. It hasn't
been part of the university's "culture," he said.
Carter asked Baddour to look into the possibility of new revenue sources and
report back to the trustees in September.
"If we've got shortfalls, we need to create revenue," he said. "At some point,
we need to at least be prudent enough to explore it."
UNC was the last university in the ACC to install a giant video scoreboard in
its football stadium. The $2 million scoreboard, paid for by a sports media
company, will begin broadcasting corporate-sponsored game highlights and instant
replays this fall. But the board has no fixed sign on it.
Complicating UNC's athletics budget is the still-uncertain financial impact of
the expanded ACC. Baddour said he wouldn't know firm numbers until this fall.
UNC had opposed expansion partly because of concerns about the financial
implications and added travel costs. The university has 28 varsity sports teams,
more than any other school in the conference.
Baddour said the university had not added any new scholarships in about five
years, but the cost of the scholarship budget has risen sharply recently because
of hefty tuition increases . This year, tuition will rise 5 percent for UNC
students.
The Rams Club is one of the richest booster clubs, with a $100 million endowment
for scholarships. But the organization can spend only 5 percent of its endowment
each year, so it must dip into its annual fund-raising coffers to cover the cost
of UNC's scholarships.
Booster clubs typically agree not to spend the principle of an endowment
donation, only a percentage of the endowment's value after investment returns.
While the UNC endowment's investments have lost money with the stock market's
slump, annual fund-raising has been strong. The Rams Club hopes to raise $8
million this year.
Rotelli is ACC's best
Jul 25, 2003
Chris Rotelli, who helped Virginia capture the NCAA men's lacrosse title in May,
has been named the ACC's male athlete of the year for 2002-03.
Rotelli becomes only the fourth Cavalier (in 50 years) to receive the Anthony J.
McKevlin Award, named for a former sports editor of The News & Observer in
Raleigh, N.C. The others were Frank Quayle (football) in 1969, Barry Parkhill
(basketball) in'72 and Ralph Sampson (basketball) in'83.
Duke basketball star Alana Beard won the Mary Garber Award as the ACC's top
female athlete.
Rotelli, who became the first lacrosse player to win the award, received 16
votes, four more than runner-up Josh Howard, who starred for Wake Forest's
basketball team. A native of Rhode Island, Rotelli won the Tewaaraton Trophy,
college lacrosse's top award, as a senior and also was named midfielder of the
year by the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association. He was a three-time
all-ACC selection and twice made the All-America first team. - Jeff White
U.VA. NOTES
Jul 25, 2003
LOOKING AHEAD: Virginia's football team will start only about a half-dozen
seniors this season, but one of them is quarterback Matt Schaub, the reigning
ACC player of the year. The Cavaliers' coaching staff will pay special attention
to Schaub's backups, knowing the team's 2004 season may hinge on their
development.
"I think our best team could very well be in the future, provided that we
develop that type of quarterback," U.Va. coach Al Groh said.
"I think in many ways we're going to have to accelerate the progress of the team
as a whole to take advantage of the season we have left with this quarterback,"
Groh said. "On the other side of the tracks, we're going to have to accelerate
the progress of the young quarterbacks so that they're ready for the rest of the
team in a year."
Redshirt freshman Anthony Martinez and true freshman Kevin McCabe are behind
Schaub on the Cavaliers' depth chart. Sophomore Marques Hagans will play wideout
this season, Groh said, but could move back to QB after Schaub leaves.
Groh said he'll try to get Schaub's backups as much game experience as possible
this season. But even if they don't play much, their progress in practice will
be followed closely.
"We're going to have something to go on to establish a batting order before we
go into spring practice," Groh said.
PUMPING IRON: If you think Groh likes the work of his new strength coach, you're
correct. Under Evan Marcus' tutelage, Groh said, players have "made tremendous
progress."
Marcus was the New Orleans Saints' assistant strength coach for three seasons
before coming to Virginia in January.
"I think he's very creative and innovative in what he's doing," Groh said. "He's
had a really significant impact on the team, and the players believe in him.
They can see themselves as being significantly bigger and stronger, and there's
a confidence that comes out of that too."
Schaub said: "Everyone loves him."
A HOUSE DIVIDED: Rockbridge County High's Jon Kirchner, who recently committed
to play football at U.Va., is the son of Virginia Tech graduates. Former
Virginia defensive back Buddy Omohundro can appreciate Kirchner's awkward
situation.
Omohundro's parents are 1969 graduates of Tech, and his father, Carl, played
football there with Frank Beamer. Omohundro, now an attorney in Richmond,
graduated from Clover Hill High in 1988 and from U.Va. in '92. He has a law
degree and a master's from the University of Richmond.
In an e-mail, Omohundro said his mother, Linda Cheatham, "became a U.Va. fan the
day I signed with Virginia and continues to root for U.Va. My father, on the
other hand, never saw the light; he'll stay true to the Hokies until the bitter
end."
HOOP IT UP: Billy Glading, who helped U.Va. win the NCAA men's lacrosse title in
May, hopes to join Pete Gillen's basketball team as a walk-on point guard.
The 6-2 Glading has exhausted his lacrosse eligibility, but could play one
season of hoops at U.Va. He's completing work on his economics degree this
summer and would play as a graduate student in 2003-04.
"He really wants to fulfill a dream to see what it's like to play a season of
basketball," men's lacrosse coach Dom Starsia said. "I'm hoping it works out."
Gillen and his staff haven't made any promises to Glading, but he can try out in
the fall for a spot on the team. As a 12th-grader, Glading led D.C.'s Gonzaga
High to three wins over a DeMatha team that included Keith Bogans and Joe Forte.
Glading, whose grandfather played basketball at Cornell and Navy, was a
midfielder in lacrosse and made the All-America third team in 2003.
SHORT-HANDED: U.Va.'s top two starting pitchers - right-hander Jeff Kamrath and
left-hander Mike Ballard - recently had Tommy John surgery and will miss the
2004 baseball season.
"So the new coach has got a challenge," said Brian O'Connor, the former Notre
Dame assistant who was hired this month to replace Dennis Womack at Virginia.
Kamrath was 3-1 with a 2.72 ERA in 2003. Ballard was 2-2 with a 1.93 ERA.
Neither finished the season.
MEDICAL REPORT: Numerous offensive linemen sat out some or all of spring
practice with injuries, including Kevin Bailey, Zac Yarbrough, Brian Barthelmes
and Mark Farrington. Only Farrington's availability is in question for the start
of practice next month, Groh said.
Farrington, a junior who plays guard and center, injured his right leg in a
skiing mishap over the winter.
SOUTHBOUND: Former Virginia football players Stan Norfleet, Justin Walker and
Larry Simmons have one season of eligibility left apiece, and they plan to use
them at Division I-AA Texas Southern. All three have graduated from U.Va.
Norfleet, a linebacker, and Walker, a defensive lineman, were reserves for the
Cavaliers last season. Simmons, a defensive lineman, last played for U.Va. in
2001. - Jeff White
GREENSBORO, Ga. - (KRT) - The ACC doesn't produce great quarterbacks at the same rate as, say, Miami produces first-round draft picks - or, for that matter, national champions.
The list of the 30 most prolific passers in the 50-year history of the ACC includes Chris Weinke, Boomer Esiason, Charlie Ward, Aaron Brooks and Neil O'Donnell. That's two Heisman winners, which isn't bad except that one of them is destined to be a career NFL third-stringer and the other is a point guard who is a better defender than playmaker.
That modest history is what makes the present so interesting. Perhaps it is overstating it to describe the ACC as a conference rich in quarterbacks, but eight of the nine teams return their starters and two of them - Philip Rivers of North Carolina State and Matt Schaub of Virginia - are considered legitimate Heisman candidates. Those two are the featured players on the ACC football media guide.
Rivers started as a freshman for the Wolfpack and, barring injury, will easily establish the ACC record for career passing yards. The 6-5, 236-pound senior has passed for 8,962 yards in three seasons and is within 1,000 yards of breaking Weinke's record of 9,839 yards.
Rivers entered last season as the leading candidate for All-ACC honors. Schaub, in his first season as the starter, was one of the primary reasons the Cavaliers were picked to finish eighth, because of his lack of experience.
However, Schaub led Virginia to a second-place conference finish that included late-season victories over N.C. State (14-9) and Maryland (48-13). He threw for 2,976 yards but more impressively had a 4-to-1 ratio of touchdowns (28) to interceptions (7).
The media rewarded Schaub by naming him ACC Player of the Year and selecting him first-team all-conference. Rivers, who threw for 20 TDs and had 10 interceptions, led the Wolfpack (11-3) to a better record than Virginia (9-5), but he was relegated to second-team all-conference.
"You could analyze it to death," Rivers said at the ACC media day Sunday. "The bottom line is that his team beat us head to head. Our season was probably more successful, but they did a great job, too."
Like Rivers, Schaub (6-5, 240) has excellent size. Schaub is more of a dropback passer than Rivers, whose sidearm delivery is considered a negative by the pros. Each admits to keeping an eye on the other and knows that not only the all-conference quarterback honors, but also the conference championship, could be decided when Virginia visits State on Nov. 1.
"We want to show that last year wasn't a fluke," Schaub said. "We want to show that we're not just a Cinderella team. We want to show that we are one of the top teams in the country."
In terms of exposure, Rivers may have an advantage. Not only will he probably top the 10,000-yard mark in passing, but the Wolfpack also visits defending national champion Ohio State on Sept. 13. A great performance could propel Rivers into the thick of the Heisman discussion. Virginia has a less challenging nonconference schedule.
Regardless, with the presence of the two seniors along with Florida State three-year starter Chris Rix, Maryland's Scott McBrien, North Carolina's Darien Durant and Clemson sophomore Charlie Whitehurst, the ACC is well stocked.
"There are no days off in this league," Wake Forest safety Quintin Williams said. "You're going to play a good quality quarterback every week."
The ACC does not have the reputation as a hotbed for top-level quarterbacks, but the league certainly will have good experience this season as eight of the nine teams return starters, although not all are guaranteed to start.