My Mount ACCmore, part II
If there was a Mount Rushmore for the Atlantic Coast Conference - Mount ACCmore, if you will - who would be the four faces on the mountain? That is the question being asked by ACC Nation. You can actually vote in our regionals until Wednesday. At that point we'll have our final eight. Eventually, listeners to ACC Nation and visitors to this blog and to our Web site will select two people, Chris will select one and I will select one.
I think John Swofford is deserving of a place on Mount ACCmore. Forget for a moment everything else good for the conference he has done - including some impressive television contracts - and focus on expansion.
Whether you think increasing the ACC to 12 schools was a boon or a bust, you can't deny that it forever changed the landscape of the ACC, as well as college sports in general.
There's a story today in the News and Observer that shows at least one school, N.C. State, has already made more money off conference revenue sharing this year, following expansion, than it did the previous season. And there is one more payment from the conference remaining.
When arguing against expansion, many point to last season's BCS when only one ACC football team, Florida State, was included. That, to me, is more the fault of college football than expansion. Tossing out Duke, the ACC is possibly the best overall conference in college football (I will accept arguments from the SEC and Big Ten, but Pac-10 and Big 12 fans should just realize they can't even be in the discussion).
It's tough for the ACC to get an at-large berth in the BCS simply because a second-place team will have at least two losses and probably more. If there was a college football playoff, then the ACC would be in good shape. Until then, expect more results like last season.
Instead, look women's basketball - three ACC teams in the Final Four - or baseball - four teams in the eight-team College World Series. That's the kind of success the ACC hopes for in the future.
On whether the conference's expansion was a good move or not, I think the jury is still out. But the impact it has already created - good or bad - is reason enough for John Swofford to be placed on Mount ACCmore.
-Patrick Hite