ACC media day begins Tuesday in Charlotte, N.C. That means we are getting close to the beginning of preseason camp, so it’s a great time to answer your questions about the league. And we had so many good ones, we are breaking the mailbag into two parts. Today’s edition focuses more on off-the-field issues — realignment, TV deals, branding, etc. Next week, we will (try to) stick to football.
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Does the deal with The CW increase revenues for ACC schools? If not, what’s the benefit for the conference? — Eric V.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips has been candid about the league needing to close the gap between the SEC and the Big Ten. Making a deal with The CW isn’t going to all of a sudden catch the ACC up, but it’s an additional stream of revenue for a conference that needs it. This deal also gives the conference more exposure on a national level.
The CW acquired the rights to 50 ACC football and basketball games each season through 2026-27 and will kick off the deal with Pitt-Cincinnati on Sept. 9. According to The CW and the ACC’s joint press release, The CW reaches 100 percent of U.S. television households, which allows these ACC’s games to be viewed nationally. We’ve all been frustrated at one point or another trying to get access to the ACC Network or having to download yet another streaming service. More eyes on these games (especially in prime time) will equate to more revenue, even if it feels like a bit of a wonky fit. — Raynor
Kenny Pickett led Pitt to the 2021 ACC championship. (Justin Berl / Getty Images)Of all the realignment that’s occurred over the last decade or so, is Pitt’s move to the ACC the most successful that’s occurred? Speaking in terms of on-field success — schools like Texas A&M and Nebraska are doing better financially despite their mediocrity. Along with Utah, they’re the only ones who’ve won an outright championship in their new conference, and they consistently pump out NFL talent. Did the Panthers come out as a rare winner on the field and off? — Joseph Y.
One of the things that I love about our mailbags is that our readers constantly have me think about things in a way I might not have before. So thanks for the question, Joseph. Texas and OU to the SEC and USC and UCLA to the Big Ten will make big bucks for four programs that will now each be competing in one of the country’s two most competitive leagues. So I have a feeling those will age well. I also recently wrote about South Carolina joining the SEC, which people around the program believe was the greatest athletic moment in school history. I’m sure Arkansas felt the same in the early 1990s.
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But if we’re factoring in on-field success as well, I like where your head is with Pitt, which first started playing in the ACC in 2013. The Panthers joined a league they are competitive in, and they won their first conference championship in 2021 behind star quarterback Kenny Pickett. Coach Pat Narduzzi also produced six draft picks this year, tied for first in the ACC with Clemson and ranking fifth nationally. The 14 picks the Panthers have had over the last three years are the most for the program since 1990 through 1992. In all, it has worked out quite nicely for the Panthers in football. Basketball is another story … but that is for another time. — Raynor
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What are the biggest realignment mistakes or misses in the ACC over the last 35 years? Reading recent Athletic articles stating that Penn State was in play for the ACC in the early 1990s got my mind racing on what could have been. I can’t help but feel conference leadership failed to be visionary. The ACC always seemed to be reactionary following trends late (expansion, championship game, non-geographic divisions, TV network). — Stephen S.
This one is easy: failing to go after Florida State, Penn State and Miami at the peak of their glory in the 1980s. Having just spent about a week sifting through old newspaper clippings online and tracking down folks who were alive and involved when the SEC first began looking to expand in 1989 with programs like Florida State, Miami, South Carolina, Arkansas, Texas and Texas A&M in their targets, I feel qualified to answer this question with a decent perspective. For some background, I never was able to speak with former ACC commissioner Gene Corrigan (1987-95), who died in January 2020. But I did speak to ex-Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese, who was close to Corrigan. Tranghese told me last week that the ACC was never interested in adding any school but Florida State at the time.
I also came to learn later from talking to former Florida State administrator Wayne Hogan that even getting the Seminoles in — after they’d agreed to join in September 1990 — wasn’t an easy sell for Corrigan to league presidents. “He had to fight his butt off to get that vote,” said Hogan, who was at FSU through 1995. “We were all set to pop champagne in Tallahassee. They’re having a conference call of the presidents in Greensboro, and I got a phone call saying they took their first round of votes and we only had five. We needed six.”
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FSU eventually got into the league and dominated it, but the ACC had no interest in inviting basketball-weak (at the time) Miami, a three-time football national champion at the peak of its glory, and was clueless Penn State was having talks with the Big Ten. Corrigan later told PennLive columnist David Jones he’d have persuaded ACC presidents to get Penn State into the league had he known it was looking to leave the ranks of the independents.
We’ll never know if the ACC would’ve surpassed the SEC as a football conference had it been quicker on its feet and added those programs then, but it sure is fun to think about. — Navarro
Is there any way the four North Carolina schools stick together through realignment? Is Wake the one left out in the cold? — Matthew K.
The four North Carolina schools were all charter members of the conference together in 1953 and are currently locked into a media rights deal that runs through 2036. The grant of rights, presently, is the main piece keeping the league from splintering and it has yet to be challenged in court. As our Nicole Auerbach reported earlier this spring, “if it were simple” to challenge the document and leave the conference, “everybody would have done it already.”
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That said, if we get to the point where there is movement within the conference, it’s hard to see a scenario in which the four schools stay together. North Carolina is the biggest, most attractive brand of the four and offers the Big Ten and the SEC the opportunity to expand their footprint into the Tar Heel State. UNC, with its Jordan Brand and large alumni base, would have the most leverage in this scenario.
NC State would be the second-most attractive brand, as the Wolfpack’s football has been nationally relevant and NC State has gone head-to-head over the years in the Atlantic Division with the league’s two biggest schools: Clemson and Florida State. In many ways, NC State operates like an SEC school now with what I think is one of the best game day atmospheres in the conference. Those fans would fit in seamlessly with the culture of the SEC, where football is king.
Duke’s football brand alone isn’t enough to carry the Blue Devils, but performing as they do in basketball would assure that Duke had someplace to land and isn’t hung out to dry. Our pal Brendan Marks will have a story exploring this soon. That leaves Wake Forest. For as much as Dave Clawson has done with the Wake Forest program and for as many times as the Demon Deacons have quietly exceeded expectations, it stands to reason that Wake Forest would be the team left out. It’s a small school with a small brand, despite the recent success in football. — Raynor
Does the ACC exist in 10 years? Are Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Boston College still a part of it? — Daniel C.
I think so. As Grace mentioned, unless lawyers find a magic bullet in the grant of rights — or ESPN out of the goodness of its heart works with ACC schools to help maneuver realignment — the league will remain intact through 2036. That said, we’ve learned nothing is ever ironclad. A couple of things to keep in mind: The Big Ten’s TV deal runs through 2030, and the SEC’s deal expires in 2034. If either league feels the need to expand into ACC country, you’d imagine ESPN, which owns the SEC’s TV rights, would want to position itself to be on the winning end of any further movement.
As for Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Boston College, it’s hard to imagine any of those programs rising to the level where the Big Ten and SEC are fighting to get them to leave the ACC. I know Boston is a top-10 TV market, but unless the Eagles turn into Ohio State or Georgia over the next seven to 10 years, what’s the appeal of bringing in a program lagging far behind in interest compared to the city’s pro sports teams?
If the ACC decides to stick together after losing, say Clemson, Florida State, Miami and North Carolina, programs like Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Boston College are ideal to keep around in a league without a football superpower. — Navarro
Which coaches have the most to prove this year? — Sam N.
This is a fun question because … it depends!
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If we’re talking about coaches who have the most to prove in terms of righting the ship from 2022, the natural choices are Jeff Hafley at Boston College, Brent Pry at Virginia Tech, Tony Elliott at Virginia and Mario Cristobal at Miami. Pry, Elliott and Cristobal were all new in 2022 and aren’t facing any immediate job security danger but must prove they can take the next step in 2023 — especially Cristobal, given Miami’s tradition and recruiting resources.
If we’re talking about coaches who have the most to prove in terms of re-elevating their teams to the national level, give me Dabo Swinney at Clemson, Mike Norvell at Florida State, Dave Doeren at NC State and Mack Brown at UNC.
Clemson made six consecutive College Football Playoff appearances from 2015 through 2020 but hasn’t been back since and will usher in a new offense in 2023 under coordinator Garrett Riley. Florida State has as much hype and talent as anyone in the league, but now has to actually go do it. NC State’s expectations change now that the Wolfpack are out of the Atlantic Division, where they were always stuck behind the Tigers and Seminoles. And UNC has a legitimate Heisman Trophy contender in quarterback Drake Maye but will need to beef up its defense and prove that the offense can still operate at an elite level now that offensive coordinator Phil Longo is off to Wisconsin.
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Then you’ve got the new coaches in the league who want to get off on the right note in Louisville’s Jeff Brohm and Georgia Tech’s Brent Key — both coaching at their alma maters. So it all depends on how you look at it. Regardless, the ACC still has some very fascinating storylines this season. — Raynor
Rank the ACC’s football brands from 1 to 15 (including Notre Dame) – Kendall H.
A couple of seasons ago, putting Clemson at the top of this list would’ve made sense when the Tigers were a College Football Playoff regular. But at this point, it’s probably safe to go back to Notre Dame as the most coveted brand in the league, even if it is sort of just a part-time member.
Clemson, Florida State and Miami follow the Irish, in that order, as the other schools easily identifiable to football fans as championship-winning programs with titles this century. After that, I’d go with Pittsburgh, which won its last national title in 1976 and is the only other team to win the league title in the last seven years.
Virginia Tech, a former title contender that has fallen on hard times since the Frank Beamer era ended in 2015 and won its last ACC title in 2010, would come next at No. 6.
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The Hokies are followed by the four North Carolina schools, Georgia Tech and Louisville, who all slot in tied for seventh. I’m sorry, but I can’t break a tie among programs that all have had a few bright moments on the gridiron but are viewed as basketball or baseball schools first.
That brings us to the bottom three, who have been consistently bad more often than good: Boston College, Virginia and Syracuse (in no particular order). — Navarro
(Top photo of Jordan Travis: Sam Navarro / USA Today)
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