Speaking at the commissioner’s forum at the ACC Kickoff on Sunday, conference leader John Swofford was confident that a proposal that could revolutionize college athletics will pass when it is voted on by the NCAA board of directors Aug. 7.
The proposal, released Friday by a Division I committee charged with creating a new governance structure for Division I, seeks to give the “power five” conferences the ability to make autonomous decisions for those 64 schools and Notre Dame.
Swofford said that given “the way it’s gone forward from steering committee to the board, I think (it) will have enough votes to pass.” It would likely end the threat of the power conferences – the ACC, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC – to break away from Division I or the NCAA altogether.
Commissioners of the power five have long pushed for legislation to supplement scholarships with cost-of-attendance stipends. Other changes could include expanded health-care coverage, scholarship support for athletes whose eligibility has expired and a revamping of the rule limiting athletes to 20 hours of sports-related activity. Swofford conceded the rule is “being abused.” A priority of Swofford’s is a four-year scholarship, rather than scholarships that are renewed annually by the schools.
“The change that continues to be called for is key to ensuring that the model reflects the needs of the 21st century student-athletes, while also recognizing how special the collegiate model is to the educational system within our country and to our culture,” he said.
More Swofford: The commissioner was also confident that another ACC-related matter will pass if the NCAA board votes on it Aug. 7. The ACC wants the NCAA to lift the restrictions requiring conferences to have two divisions in order to have a conference championship game. Swofford said he based his confidence on conversations with other conference commissioners. The vote may wait until October because of the magnitude of the autonomy vote.
In pushing for the rule change, the ACC has considered different possibilities, including a one-division format, a realignment of the two divisions (Swofford suggested a north-south configuration Sunday) or two divisions with no requirement for teams to play every opponent in their division. With the ACC’s expansion to 14 teams and the league staying at an eight-game conference schedule, teams play cross-division opponents with less frequency.
“It could give you much more flexibility in your regular-season scheduling so that teams see each other more often,” he said.
Swofford also said that there was no update regarding a possible ACC channel with ESPN, but that discussions with the network have been productive and insightful. The population and television households in the ACC footprint – the largest of any conference in the country – gives the ACC “enormous potential,” he said.
Winston holds court: Sunday, when players from each school met with media, the most popular interview by a landslide was Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston, who led the Seminoles to the BCS championship and won the Heisman Trophy last season as a redshirt freshman.
“Before I say anything, how does it feel to have an ACC team come in here with a national championship, y’all?” Winston asked, smiling. “Can we give the ACC a round of applause? Finally. We took it away from the SEC. It’s a blessing.”
Asked if he thought a one-loss ACC team could advance to the first-ever four-team football playoff, Winston replied, “A loss is not in our vocabulary. I can’t speak on that.”
Clock ticking: Clemson will open with Georgia on Aug. 30 in Athens, but it has another SEC opponent on its mind. In all of the Tigers' meeting rooms, a clock counts down the time to their season-ending meeting with South Carolina. The clocks also read "0-5," which is the Tigers' record against South Carolina in the past five games. There's also a picture of former South Carolina quarterback Connor Shaw signing a Clemson helmet.
“Just to kind of remind us to keep a little fire in us that that game’s coming,” Clemson quarterback Cole Stoudt said.
Quotable: While Swofford, who played quarterback for North Carolina in his college days, was pushing for increased benefits for athletes, the Tar Heels' current quarterback said he was OK with how things are.
“We get food, we get meal checks,” Marquise Williams said. “I don’t understand. What else do you need? Do you want a Bentley in your driveway?”
