ACC commissioner Jim Phillips bullish on league’s future amid chaos surrounding college athletics

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — No matter where you find Jim Phillips, the Atlantic Coast Conference’s perpetually buoyant commissioner, and no matter what storm he’s navigating at any given moment, his weather forecast seems to be the same.

It’s always sunny in Phillipsdelphia.

“I feel great about the league,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “I feel great about its future.”

Not everyone around the country shares his optimism. Once considered an equal partner among the power conferences, the 71-year old ACC finds itself in a strange position.

Despite continuing to win across the board —it had three Elite Eight teams in the most recent NCAA men’s basketball tournament, a women’s Final Four team, robust success in Olympic sports and two of the top 11 teams in the football poll — the narrative that surrounds the ACC these days centers largely on the bruising legal fight with Florida State and Clemson, two prominent members who are suing to break the contract that binds them to the conference until 2036.

There is also, on this particular Thursday, the not-so-small matter of what’s going on 400 miles west of here. As the ACC holds its annual preseason basketball media event, administrators from the SEC and Big Ten are meeting in Nashville, Tennessee, for a strategic conversation that could be interpreted as a step toward the two richest conferences reshaping college sports.

Notably, there was no invitation for the league that has won three of the last 11 football national titles, three of the last 10 men’s basketball championships and a conference-leading 23 NCAA titles across all sports over the last three years.

“I don’t want to read too much into it,” Phillips said. “I think you have to pay attention, you have to understand what’s happening in order to chart your course. We’ve spent a lot of time together, the four (power conference) commissioners, about how we’re going to move forward with a new structure and governance and we’ve worked collaboratively. I…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/acc-commissioner-jim-phillips-bullish-194831662.html

Author : USA TODAY Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-10 19:48:31

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