Thursday afternoon update -- The ACC athletic directors and faculty reps held their final meeting this morning. Afterward, I was able to catch up with Stan Wilcox, and then Ben and I joined the other reporters in a sit-down with Commissioner Swofford.
While there were a number of major issues discussed, few of them came to a vote. The only real strong statements to come from the league were that the schools support an early signing period for football and they hope that will be passed by the NCAA. The ACC actually wanted an August signing period (which Jimbo Fisher has long advocated for), but they are going to support the December signing period, which is more likely to be passed. Swofford said he thinks that will happen.
The conference also is standing by its policy against "satellite camps," where schools conduct summer camps in areas far from their campus in an effort to reach recruits in other states. Swofford said the ACC is hopeful that they will be banned by the NCAA.
As we mentioned earlier, there was discussion about football scheduling and the desire to have schools play teams in the other division more frequently. Swofford said no vote was taken and no changes are "imminent." But he also said there is consensus that something has to happen. Although the 9-game schedule is not being considered right now, Swofford said he wouldn't rule it out entirely. He also said that realigning the divisions is an option as well, but he said there is nothing near a consensus yet on how to do it. Wilcox told me the ACC gave the A.D.'s several options to look at, and the A.D.'s have asked for more options.
On the ACC Network/Cable Channel, Swofford said he wouldn't give an update publicly but said that progress is happening the way they expected, and he said it is in line with the progress other conferences made during the evolution of their channels. I asked if the recent feud between Verizon and ESPN over unbundling channels would have any effect, and he said no it won't.
Swofford said there is an interest from the conference and schools to start an ACC Global initiative, where they look to play games in different sports abroad (most likely Europe), but he said there are no formal plans in place yet.
We'll have more complete coverage coming over the next day or so ... including a Q&A with Wilcox and more from Swofford and others. But right now, we're heading back to the Clemson baseball game.
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Wednesday 2:38 p.m. Update -- The coaches' portions of the meetings have wrapped up, and we were able to catch up with Leonard Hamilton and Sue Semrau after speaking to Jimbo yesterday. The biggest topic in men's basketball was the proposed switch to a 30-second shot clock. Hamilton is not a fan of it at all because he doesn't think it's going to improve the game -- he said he hasn't seen any evidence that it's going to improve scoring or offense in general -- but it sounds like he might have been the lone dissenter. The ACC coaches are going to support the 30-second clock, and the feeling is it will be adapted at the NCAA level.
We also talked to Hamilton and Semrau about the additional renovations that are taking place at the Civic Center this offseason -- new sound system, locker rooms and other improvements -- that should continue to help FSU catch up with other arenas in the conference. We'll have a full story on that coming soon. And we also talked with Hamilton and Semrau about their recent big recruiting successes and will have a story on that as well.
We're also hoping to get up with Stan Wilcox again today to see if any progress is happening with the division alignments or other topics in the Athletic Directors' meetings. We spoke with Wilcox yesterday and will be posting a Q&A from that shortly.
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4:35 p.m. Update -- We've talked with several ACC coaches and administrators, about the football scheduling situation, and it sounds like there is definitely consensus that they want to start playing every team in the conference more often. The question is how do they achieve that. One option is eliminating the permanent annual crossovers (such as Florida State and Miami), which would put traditional rivalries at risk. There also is talk about restructuring the divisions. Apparently, the ACC presented the coaches and ADs several scenarios, but nothing has been decided yet.
Officials with the College Football Playoff made a presentation today, along with ESPN, about how successful the first year of the playoff was in terms of ratings, etc., and it sounds like Jimbo Fisher and a couple other coaches expressed their concerns about how the rankings were done last season. Basically every talking point you can think of -- the ACC's number of draft picks, non-conference wins, bowl wins, etc. -- was brought up to the playoff officials. Sounds like Jimbo and the other coaches didn't hold back. We'll have a full story on that this evening.
As you can imagine, the ACC's football coaches are coming out strong against the idea of satellite camps in recruiting. Dabo Swinner and Fisher both had some strong comments about that.
Also, as you can see on the front page of the site, Jimbo talked about the recruitment of Everett Golson. So check that out if you haven't already.
And check back tonight for complete stories on some of these topics.
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The ACC's athletics directors, football coaches, men's and women's basketball coaches, and faculty representatives are here this week to discuss a variety of topics.
One of the hot topics, of course, is the ACC's divisions and scheduling ... it seems there is consensus that most schools are unhappy with the fact that they only see some teams (in the other division) once every six years. So the ACC has outlined a variety of options for ways that those games could happen more frequently.
We just spoke with Stan Wilcox, FSU's A.D., and he wouldn't divulge what those options are, but he said there are several. It's not clear if a vote on that is happening this week.
Wilcox also said the conference is not discussing a 9-game league schedule because that was voted down last year.
Wilcox also had some interesting things to say about the College Football Playoff and the incredible ratings that the CFP selection show generated last season ... based on a presentation from CFP officials who are here. Will have more on that and more in a bit.
The football coaches and basketball coaches are about to break from their meetings, so we'll have much more coverage coming soon.
While there were a number of major issues discussed, few of them came to a vote. The only real strong statements to come from the league were that the schools support an early signing period for football and they hope that will be passed by the NCAA. The ACC actually wanted an August signing period (which Jimbo Fisher has long advocated for), but they are going to support the December signing period, which is more likely to be passed. Swofford said he thinks that will happen.
The conference also is standing by its policy against "satellite camps," where schools conduct summer camps in areas far from their campus in an effort to reach recruits in other states. Swofford said the ACC is hopeful that they will be banned by the NCAA.
As we mentioned earlier, there was discussion about football scheduling and the desire to have schools play teams in the other division more frequently. Swofford said no vote was taken and no changes are "imminent." But he also said there is consensus that something has to happen. Although the 9-game schedule is not being considered right now, Swofford said he wouldn't rule it out entirely. He also said that realigning the divisions is an option as well, but he said there is nothing near a consensus yet on how to do it. Wilcox told me the ACC gave the A.D.'s several options to look at, and the A.D.'s have asked for more options.
On the ACC Network/Cable Channel, Swofford said he wouldn't give an update publicly but said that progress is happening the way they expected, and he said it is in line with the progress other conferences made during the evolution of their channels. I asked if the recent feud between Verizon and ESPN over unbundling channels would have any effect, and he said no it won't.
Swofford said there is an interest from the conference and schools to start an ACC Global initiative, where they look to play games in different sports abroad (most likely Europe), but he said there are no formal plans in place yet.
We'll have more complete coverage coming over the next day or so ... including a Q&A with Wilcox and more from Swofford and others. But right now, we're heading back to the Clemson baseball game.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday 2:38 p.m. Update -- The coaches' portions of the meetings have wrapped up, and we were able to catch up with Leonard Hamilton and Sue Semrau after speaking to Jimbo yesterday. The biggest topic in men's basketball was the proposed switch to a 30-second shot clock. Hamilton is not a fan of it at all because he doesn't think it's going to improve the game -- he said he hasn't seen any evidence that it's going to improve scoring or offense in general -- but it sounds like he might have been the lone dissenter. The ACC coaches are going to support the 30-second clock, and the feeling is it will be adapted at the NCAA level.
We also talked to Hamilton and Semrau about the additional renovations that are taking place at the Civic Center this offseason -- new sound system, locker rooms and other improvements -- that should continue to help FSU catch up with other arenas in the conference. We'll have a full story on that coming soon. And we also talked with Hamilton and Semrau about their recent big recruiting successes and will have a story on that as well.
We're also hoping to get up with Stan Wilcox again today to see if any progress is happening with the division alignments or other topics in the Athletic Directors' meetings. We spoke with Wilcox yesterday and will be posting a Q&A from that shortly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4:35 p.m. Update -- We've talked with several ACC coaches and administrators, about the football scheduling situation, and it sounds like there is definitely consensus that they want to start playing every team in the conference more often. The question is how do they achieve that. One option is eliminating the permanent annual crossovers (such as Florida State and Miami), which would put traditional rivalries at risk. There also is talk about restructuring the divisions. Apparently, the ACC presented the coaches and ADs several scenarios, but nothing has been decided yet.
Officials with the College Football Playoff made a presentation today, along with ESPN, about how successful the first year of the playoff was in terms of ratings, etc., and it sounds like Jimbo Fisher and a couple other coaches expressed their concerns about how the rankings were done last season. Basically every talking point you can think of -- the ACC's number of draft picks, non-conference wins, bowl wins, etc. -- was brought up to the playoff officials. Sounds like Jimbo and the other coaches didn't hold back. We'll have a full story on that this evening.
As you can imagine, the ACC's football coaches are coming out strong against the idea of satellite camps in recruiting. Dabo Swinner and Fisher both had some strong comments about that.
Also, as you can see on the front page of the site, Jimbo talked about the recruitment of Everett Golson. So check that out if you haven't already.
And check back tonight for complete stories on some of these topics.
-----------------------------------------------------
The ACC's athletics directors, football coaches, men's and women's basketball coaches, and faculty representatives are here this week to discuss a variety of topics.
One of the hot topics, of course, is the ACC's divisions and scheduling ... it seems there is consensus that most schools are unhappy with the fact that they only see some teams (in the other division) once every six years. So the ACC has outlined a variety of options for ways that those games could happen more frequently.
We just spoke with Stan Wilcox, FSU's A.D., and he wouldn't divulge what those options are, but he said there are several. It's not clear if a vote on that is happening this week.
Wilcox also said the conference is not discussing a 9-game league schedule because that was voted down last year.
Wilcox also had some interesting things to say about the College Football Playoff and the incredible ratings that the CFP selection show generated last season ... based on a presentation from CFP officials who are here. Will have more on that and more in a bit.
The football coaches and basketball coaches are about to break from their meetings, so we'll have much more coverage coming soon.
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