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ACC juggling radical possibilities?
From Bonesville.net and Associated Press reports
[ Originally posted 06.19.03. ]
Potential outcomes of the encumbered effort by the Atlantic
Coast Conference to expand seem to be getting more convoluted by the hour.
Vastly different scenarios were highlighted overnight by The Associated
Press and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
AL
MYATT: Good thing
for the ACC that W & M
and Richmond dont
play I-A football...
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While the AP was reporting that Virginia Tech, a litigant in
a lawsuit aimed at the ACC, is suddenly in the mix as a possible candidate
to join the conference, an account from the Atlanta newspaper said league
executives are studying the idea of changing their governing by-laws to
require fewer affirmative votes to approve new members.
Georgia Tech president Wayne Clough, a proponent of
expansion, told the Journal-Constitution that a plan was discussed to reduce
the number of mandatory 'yes' votes for admitting original targets Miami,
Boston College and Syracuse to six.
The adoption of such an amendment would could clear the way
for the nine-team conference to bypass opposition from Duke, North Carolina
and Virginia and successfully execute a plan its presidents endorsed last
month to expand to 12 schools by luring the Hurricanes, the Eagles and the
Orangemen from the Big East.
Meanwhile, the AP dispatch cited two unnamed sources who
indicated that the ACC will explore Virginia Tech's willingness to swap its
lawsuit for a membership.
Atlantic Coast Conference presidents have asked the
Hokies to consider joining the three other Big East schools
in jumping to the ACC, according to the anonymous sources cited by The AP.
The decision to add Virginia Tech, reported The AP, was made
during a three-hour teleconference of the nine league presidents on
Wednesday after it appeared that the original expansion involving Miami,
Boston College and Syracuse would not get the required seven votes for
approval, a government source with knowledge of the talks said.
The suggestion to reconsider the Hokies was made by Virginia
president John T. Casteen III, who has supported including Virginia Tech in
the plan throughout. After the Hokies were first rejected last month, he
pledged to continue pushing for their inclusion.
Virginia Tech president Charles M. Steger was notified of
the ACC's change of heart in a meeting with Georgia Tech president G. Wayne
Clough in Blacksburg on Wednesday night, the second source said.
Clough, a former dean of the college of engineering at
Virginia Tech, told The AP on Wednesday night that he and Steger have been
friends for a long time and that he met with him to see what his thoughts
were about the situation and what Virginia Tech's options were.
''It was a friend to a friend and I said any information I
got from the meeting I would take back to my colleagues,'' Clough said when
reached at his Blacksburg home.
He said he did not meet with Steger in any official ACC
capacity.
Steger was expected to speak with members of the school's
Board of Visitors on Thursday to gauge their feelings on whether Virginia
Tech should accept the offer.
''No individual member institution has the authority to act
on behalf of the ACC,'' conference spokesman Brian Morrison said Wednesday
night. ''No invitations have been extended at this time.''
Steger and others at Virginia Tech have been among the most
outspoken critics of the ACC's expansion plan, which would leave the
remaining schools in a stripped down Big East with an uncertain athletic
future. Virginia Tech is one of five Big East football schools that filed
suit on June 6 against the ACC, Miami and Boston College trying to stop
expansion.
Casteen, who left later Wednesday for a vacation in Europe
and was not available for comment, was seen as having the possible deciding
vote on expansion one that could have dealt Virginia Tech athletics a
serious blow if he approved the plan.
Casteen offered Virginia Tech as an ACC expansion target on
May 16, but the suggestion was voted down by the league's presidents, who
then decided to pursue the other three schools.
Casteen is under pressure from Virginia Gov. Mark
R. Warner and other state officials to do whatever he could
to protect Virginia Tech's athletic viability.
The latest teleconference was the third among the ACC's
presidents and chancellors in recent days. The calls lasted a total of eight
hours but never ended in a consensus, with Duke and North Carolina raising
concerns about travel costs, student welfare and projected revenues of an
ACC football title game and future TV contracts.
Morrison said commissioner John Swofford had no comment on
the issues discussed in Wednesday's teleconference or when another one would
be scheduled.
A Big East spokesman said Wednesday night the conference
would have no comment on the report.
William C. Latham, a member of Virginia Tech's Board of
Visitors, said Steger's secretary called Wednesday afternoon to schedule a
telephone appointment for Thursday. Latham said he did not know what the
phone call would be about.
Virginia Tech officials initially spoke of wanting to either
see the Big East remain intact or for it to be included in an ACC expansion
plan. After the three other schools were selected, Virginia Tech joined
Pittsburgh, West Virginia, Rutgers and Connecticut in the lawsuit accusing
the ACC, Miami and Boston College of trying to ruin the Big East.
Richard Blumenthal, the attorney general for Connecticut
where the suit was filed, said an offer to Virginia Tech is ''another sign
that the ACC is desperate and divided, and that it's real goal is to destroy
the Big East as we know it.''
''In any event, we would pursue our lawsuit with
undiminished vigor and even greater determination,'' he said. ''In fact, our
legal claims might be stronger because this reversal is more evidence of the
ACC's scheme to destroy the Big East.''
Phone messages left at Steger's home Wednesday night were
not returned.
The Big East schools leaving for the ACC must each pay a $1
million exit fee. The penalty doubles after June 30.
Copyright 2003 Bonesville.net.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
02/23/2007 10:36:40 AM
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