OPINION: ACC Weaknesses – Funding Shortfalls, Poor Leadership and Missed Opportunities

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If Presidents and Athletic Directors at Clemson, Miami, Florida State, Louisville and even Georgia Tech, Boston College and Syracuse aren’t asking themselves these questions, then they should be charged with dereliction of duty.

The Great Conference Realignment of 2008-10 shook the world. It forced deals that were once unheard of (granting of media rights) and revealed in full glare that the most august, high-brow academics who often argued that these “conferences were about much more than sports” were right – we learned that conferences and all they represented were all about nothing more than money!

Regardless, the realignment craze created an opportunity to win or lose. The Big East was destroyed, the Big 10 and SEC grew stronger. It’s difficult to argue that the ACC won by adding two basketball schools in Louisville and Syracuse, and a half-pregnant spouse in Notre Dame. The missed opportunity did give John Swofford the chance to lock down the media rights of his member schools. Given these facts, it appears that the conference gained strength – but not against its peers, but against and at the expense of its member universities’ autonomy.