Tag Archives: John Swofford

“From Swofford to Delany”: A Romantic Comedy

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Yesterday, the Washington Post had a feature on the professional rivalry between ACC commissioner John Swofford and Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany, dating back to when the two attended North Carolina together. Obviously, this lent itself to one entertaining (and completely fictional) romantic comedy idea. Do with this preview what you will…

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Trailer starts with a panoramic view of Chapel Hill, and this song rising up:

 

Voice-over announcer: “Jim Delany was a star point guard, living in the moment.”

“John Swofford was a Southern academic… and a football player.”

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“But despite their differences, they both shared a common bond; one they’d battle over for the next 40 years…”

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Conference Realignment: ACC Favoring UConn or Louisville as Replacement for Maryland

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Louisville’s Making its Pitch to the ACC, But Will the League Take the Cardinals, or Opt With UConn?

For the first time in the past decade’s realignment carousel, commissioner John Swofford and the ACC will be making a reactionary move. After Maryland‘s defection over to the Big Ten today, the ACC is faced with replacing one of its founding members, while catering to the differing needs of the conference as a whole, and both new and old members of the league.

If the only goal is to simply replace Maryland with another school, then the clear-cut choice would be Connecticut. Providing another team in the general northeast area, the Huskies already have rivalries with Syracuse and Pittsburgh, plus an easy new one with regional foe Boston College. But there’s so much more to consider as realignment takes a turn. Up until this point the number-one rule of realignment was John Swofford always wins. Now that this has been proven patently false, the league must quickly adjust, not only to add replace the Terps, but to keep the rest of its members in place as well. And that’s no easy task, considering the league’s pipeline for new members has virtually dwindled to four.

According to CBS Sports, the ACC is having conversations about adding a replacement school already, and plan to act quickly. The candidates should not surprise anyone: Connecticut, Louisville, USF and Cincinnati, with the former two being the frontrunners. For UConn, the draws are an easy cultural and academic fit, well-rounded athletics outside of football and a close proximity to ESPN’s Bristol, Conn. campus. Louisville, while lagging behind on the academic front, has made a huge investment in athletics over the past 10 years and has strong football and basketball brands. The Louisville area also appears to be a growing market, and could potentially be an assist when it comes to television negotiations.

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ACC Media Days 2012: Top 10 Storylines

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We Give a Rundown of the Top 10 Topics You’ll Be Hearing About at ACC Media Days, Which Start This Sunday

It’s nearly football season. Or at least I keep telling myself as much. But it’s getting even closer with ACC Media Days starting this Sunday, July 22. While I’ll be down in North Carolina myself next week, it sadly won’t be for the event. Nonetheless, I’ll be paying a visit to Chapel Hill and hopefully engaging in some lively banter with locals about BBQ and the upcoming football season.

Below, I’ve compiled a list of the top 10 talking points we’re likely to see addressed at media days. Some topics (like the top item), commissioner John Swofford and the coaches will have plenty to say about. While others, like the ongoing institutional issues at two universities in particular, will be pushed aside in a valiant attempt to forget about them for two days. Without further ado, your guide to ACC Media Days 2012:

1. Syracuse & Pittsburgh Joining in 2013: After both schools announced separate $7.5M settlements for early exits from the Big East, there’s finally a date attached to their arrival. And while there won’t be any representatives from either institution at the event, there’s bound to be a ton of questions. With the 14-team model now ready to go for next season, we’ll hear all about the new scheduling conventions, permanent rivals, and overall feelings about traveling up to New York and Pittsburgh (odds are no one beyond Boston College is that thrilled). All of this will be framed within the “new era of the ACC” narrative, and everyone will be told how much bigger, better and different things will be.

2. Where are Discussions With Notre Dame at?: This will be a hot topic amongst media attendees, even if Swofford will likely try and pretend there’s nothing going on whatsoever. The league offices have admitted to conversations about the Orange Bowl (we’ll get to that). But what about expansion? If those conversations have started at all, no one’s saying, and rightfully so. As we’ve seen during the last two rounds of expansion, Swofford pulls off deals like this in the dead of night. If something happens, everyone but his secretary will be surprised when it’s announced. Continue reading →

Breaking News: ACC and Orange Bowl Reach 12-Year Agreement

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12-Year Agreement Looks Like Good News for the ACC

The Discover Orange Bowl will be played annually on New Year’s Day at 1 p.m. ET, and will feature the ACC champion. The agreement is set to begin in 2014, the same year as the new playoff system. If the ACC champion is selected to play in the 4 team playoff, then a replacement ACC team will compete instead.

The ACC champ has played in the Orange Bowl every year since 2006, so this may not seem like much of a story, but believe it, it is. The ACC joins the other major conferences with a tie-in with a major “BCS” bowl. The Orange Bowl has seen some lackluster matchups in recent years, but is still one of the premier bowl destinations. If you also consider that the Orange Bowl anticipates it will be one of the alternating playoff destinations, then this partnership looks even better for the ACC.

“The Discover Orange Bowl has a rich history of prestige, is located within the league’s footprint and is a great destination for our student-athletes, alumni and fans. In addition to our continued partnership, we are very pleased to be playing annually on New Year’s Day” said ACC Commissioner John Swofford. Translation: tune in and see us in prime time, at the same time, every year, just like the big boy conferences.  Undoubtedly, more news and analysis will come on this partnership; but for now this looks like a nice move by the ACC.

College Football Playoffs Are Finally Here!

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With a College Football Playoff, Fans Have Scored the Biggest Victory of All

Somehow, THIS happened yesterday. From years of moaning and complaining, to best-seller “Death to the BCS,” and an all-SEC title game — suddenly, everyone in charge came to their senses. All 11 conference commissioners, plus Notre Dame‘s John Swarbrick, got in a room together and actually (for once) listened to the fans of their game. We wanted a playoff. Well, we finally got one… or at least, the beginnings of the one we’d really prefer.

Believe me, I’m not going to be an ingrate about this. I understand that it’s taken well over 100 years for the sport to adopt the same system of determining a champ that literally every other athletic organization in the world has used since day one. But, I can’t deny how much I’m holding out hope for bracket creep, and the eventual growth of the tournament out to at least six or eight teams. I’ve always been of the mindset that asks, “What’s better than one of the things you really like? Two of the things you really like,” so it’s only natural that I (along with most college football fans) would want to watch even more nerve-wracking, late-season football. Continue reading →

College Football Playoffs Have Finally Arrived (Say Conference Commissioners)

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A College Football Playoff (And Annual Games Like Stanford-Oklahoma State) Is a Few Mere Approvals Away From Being Official

Finally! After long, long last college football appears to have a playoff system ready and waiting to name a champion once 2014 rolls around. As agreed upon by the conference commissioners, the four-team model will pit the top four schools against one another, irregardless of league affiliation. The BCS is dead, the sites will rotate amongst the current larger bowl spots (plus a few, we assume), and the title game will be shopped out to cities for bidding on what will quickly become the country’s second-largest sporting event (behind only the Super Bowl).

With this basic framework in place, all the commissioners need to do is head on back to their conference presidents and get a big ‘APPROVED’ stamp on the proposal. Unless the Big Ten suddenly sees a stodgy, traditionalist mutiny, this only appears to be a formality. There’s still another issue, however, which will take a good deal of time to address (luckily, we have a few seasons to work it all out): How will the participants be chosen?

Talks in Chicago gathered several ideas, including a football-equivalent of the RPI (Sagarin rankings!), strength of schedule and conference championship components, and a selection committee. Together, this mashup of methods will produce our four teams, and because of the human element (yes, I’m a proponent), I’d say we’ll end up with the “right” four teams far more often than not. That is, if they construct the committee correctly. Continue reading →

Conference Realignment: How to Fix the ACC (With or Without Florida State)

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Is John Swofford Part of the Problem or Solution for an ACC Still Trying to Survive Realignment Scares

The conference realignment carousel keeps on turning, with rumors flying every which way about who’s staying, who’s going and what might happen to those who wait around too long in the ACC and other conferences around the country. One of the overarching themes, however, is that the ACC needs to act — in some way (ANY way) to solidify its future, whether that’s with Florida State or without them. They have to start taking steps, before the Big 12 just loots the place, leaving them penniless.

Below are the best suggestions we’ve got toward fixing the ACC, both right now, and for the future. Some may be a bit more rational/realistic than others, but given the speed of change in college football right now, sometimes the most irrational move can also be the smartest one, too.

Step 1: Level with ESPN

Overall, most are of the opinion that the ACC was grossly undervalued in its latest deal with ESPN, especially considered the worldwide leader took home all of the league’s third-tier rights, too. Since the ACC is the only league ESPN owns in full, come back to the negotiating table laying out the terms in black-and-white. “If we don’t fix this, your property loses value by losing member institutions.” There’s also the option of using it as motivation to grab Notre Dame, the one piece ESPN would really kill to own. But we’ll get to that… Continue reading →