Regardless of opinions of his job performance, Swofford's tenure is nearing its end from an age perspective. I imagine the ACCN launch could well be the swan song.

So .... what should the ACC look for in its next commissioner?

Some thoughts:
- They MUST be from a football background and have a football first mentality. Football drives the revenue bus. I'm not saying abandon basketball. But I am saying the priorities are clear with regards to revenue, and basketball needs to be treated according to the weight it pulls.
- They need to NOT be from a Tobacco Road school
- They need to NOT be from Notre Dame for COI reasons
- Ideally they'd come from VT/GT/Clemson/FSU/Miami
- Ideally they'd have meaningful experience in either the SEC or B1G or Big 12 so they can see how life operates elsewhere too
- Ideally they'd have experience as AD at a mid-level or higher P5 with a track record of successful hires across non-revenue and revenue sports
- Ideally they'd have a background that demonstrated creative fundraising ability
- Ideally they'd have background in defining and advancing brands particularly with respects to video, digital, and online


So the ideal candidate is a former football player in the ACC who went on to work their way up to be Athletic Director in the P5, but traveling some along the way to major programs in the SEC/B1G/Big12.


Here's a name for you: Dan Radakovich. He ticks all those boxes, even if he's not the guy you want responding to a NCAA inquiry.

As I was reading your description - which is pretty good, by the way - the name that came to my mind was Dan Radakovich, yes.

(11-27-2018 10:20 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Regardless of opinions of his job performance, Swofford's tenure is nearing its end from an age perspective. I imagine the ACCN launch could well be the swan song.

ut to ACC will be swoff's coup de grace (capper) ...

5-YEAR PLAN

(11-27-2018 10:20 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Regardless of opinions of his job performance, Swofford's tenure is nearing its end from an age perspective. I imagine the ACCN launch could well be the swan song.

So .... what should the ACC look for in its next commissioner?

Some thoughts:
- They MUST be from a football background and have a football first mentality. Football drives the revenue bus. I'm not saying abandon basketball. But I am saying the priorities are clear with regards to revenue, and basketball needs to be treated according to the weight it pulls.
- They need to NOT be from a Tobacco Road school
- They need to NOT be from Notre Dame for COI reasons
- Ideally they'd come from VT/GT/Clemson/FSU/Miami
- Ideally they'd have meaningful experience in either the SEC or B1G or Big 12 so they can see how life operates elsewhere too
- Ideally they'd have experience as AD at a mid-level or higher P5 with a track record of successful hires across non-revenue and revenue sports
- Ideally they'd have a background that demonstrated creative fundraising ability
- Ideally they'd have background in defining and advancing brands particularly with respects to video, digital, and online


So the ideal candidate is a former football player in the ACC who went on to work their way up to be Athletic Director in the P5, but traveling some along the way to major programs in the SEC/B1G/Big12.


Here's a name for you: Dan Radakovich. He ticks all those boxes, even if he's not the guy you want responding to a NCAA inquiry.

I like the sound of all that. I'd like the ACC not to fall into the trap of feeling like they have to hire someone from the world of media or technology or business. That seems to be somewhat of a trend about hiring ADs and commissioners over the years.

I think the product is more important than anything. The PAC 12 went down that path, committing to being a media company, a technology company, a global brand...basically everything but a sports product, and it's been pretty disastrous.

The ACC has a lot in common with the PAC...they are the two conferences that have the least committed alumni bases, and cover the most non-college football-obsessed ground. They're at a built in disadvantage.

The mistake that the PAC made is thinking they could pivot off that and short circuit that gap with some entirely different model, without regard to the product. I even bought into it for a while.

There's a difference between being forward thinking which we all want (which the ACC has definitely lacked), and thinking that you can beat fundamentals. And the fundamentals are that product is almost everything.

Given that football is the sweetest peach, the ACC will never have the equal product as the B1G or SEC...the history and alumni bases and geography preordains that.

But to my mind, the commissioner's top responsibility should be on focusing the conference on a football product that is as close to the SEC/B1G as is possible. This conference can still thrive putting a product on the field that's 75-80% of the SEC/B1G, which I think they have in the past 4-5 years (although a step back this year masked by Clemson).

They can NOT thrive (or maybe even survive) if they go back to putting a 40% product on the field like they did for decades.

Cutting distribution deals to get the ACC on TV in Australia or Singapore, exclusive streaming rights on Sprint, a chain of ACC restaurants...that's a lot of shiny extraneous fluff. EVERYTHING that the ACC does, the first question needs to be "How does this make our football (and to a lesser extent other sports) product better?" It needs to be a relentless focus, and everything else needs to line up behind that.

To the extent that other stuff helps, so be it, but I don't want to hire a commissioner who's about that stuff first.

Money is number one, as always. But a good commissioner can get everyone on the same page with the program. There needs to be conference-wide leadership and vision selling about things like scheduling, rules, divisions, officiating, etc.

The best thing Mike Slive ever did was get the SEC schools to stop ratting each other out. The ACC needs a commissioner that can get everyone pulling in the same direction, never an easy task given the disparate institutions, but it's way closer now post realignment-scare than it was ten years ago. We need someone with real gravitas to the athletic departments, not just someone who gets googly-eyes from the presidents.

I don't know who it is...I have a better idea who I don't want than who I want. Someone like Radakovich is definitely promising, that is decently in the mold of what I have in mind.

(11-27-2018 10:20 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Regardless of opinions of his job performance, Swofford's tenure is nearing its end from an age perspective. I imagine the ACCN launch could well be the swan song.

So .... what should the ACC look for in its next commissioner?

Some thoughts:
- They MUST be from a football background and have a football first mentality. Football drives the revenue bus. I'm not saying abandon basketball. But I am saying the priorities are clear with regards to revenue, and basketball needs to be treated according to the weight it pulls.
- They need to NOT be from a Tobacco Road school
- They need to NOT be from Notre Dame for COI reasons
- Ideally they'd come from VT/GT/Clemson/FSU/Miami
- Ideally they'd have meaningful experience in either the SEC or B1G or Big 12 so they can see how life operates elsewhere too
- Ideally they'd have experience as AD at a mid-level or higher P5 with a track record of successful hires across non-revenue and revenue sports
- Ideally they'd have a background that demonstrated creative fundraising ability
- Ideally they'd have background in defining and advancing brands particularly with respects to video, digital, and online


So the ideal candidate is a former football player in the ACC who went on to work their way up to be Athletic Director in the P5, but traveling some along the way to major programs in the SEC/B1G/Big12.


Here's a name for you: Dan Radakovich. He ticks all those boxes, even if he's not the guy you want responding to a NCAA inquiry.

Your attitude is screw the NC schools and screw basketball. If a number of ADs and school presidents are of a similarly angry mindset, expect this search to be highly divisive. You seem to think that somehow at the behest of the NC schools that Swofford has been sabotaging ACC football and that if we just have a real football man in charge that ACC football will flourish and the girly sport of basketball can just go to hell. That's ridiculous. Whatever problems ACC football has, they have almost nothing to do with the ACC Commissioner. Football just isn't as popular in most of the ACC footprint as it is in the SEC footprint or the B1G's footprint. That's not John Swofford's fault and there's nothing that he or some other Commissioner can do about it. In any case, the next ACC Commissioner will have to deal with currently unimagined issues. Get the best person and let him or her deal with them.

(11-28-2018 04:41 PM)Hallcity Wrote:  

(11-27-2018 10:20 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Regardless of opinions of his job performance, Swofford's tenure is nearing its end from an age perspective. I imagine the ACCN launch could well be the swan song.

So .... what should the ACC look for in its next commissioner?

Some thoughts:
- They MUST be from a football background and have a football first mentality. Football drives the revenue bus. I'm not saying abandon basketball. But I am saying the priorities are clear with regards to revenue, and basketball needs to be treated according to the weight it pulls.
- They need to NOT be from a Tobacco Road school
- They need to NOT be from Notre Dame for COI reasons
- Ideally they'd come from VT/GT/Clemson/FSU/Miami
- Ideally they'd have meaningful experience in either the SEC or B1G or Big 12 so they can see how life operates elsewhere too
- Ideally they'd have experience as AD at a mid-level or higher P5 with a track record of successful hires across non-revenue and revenue sports
- Ideally they'd have a background that demonstrated creative fundraising ability
- Ideally they'd have background in defining and advancing brands particularly with respects to video, digital, and online


So the ideal candidate is a former football player in the ACC who went on to work their way up to be Athletic Director in the P5, but traveling some along the way to major programs in the SEC/B1G/Big12.


Here's a name for you: Dan Radakovich. He ticks all those boxes, even if he's not the guy you want responding to a NCAA inquiry.

Your attitude is screw the NC schools and screw basketball. If a number of ADs and school presidents are of a similarly angry mindset, expect this search to be highly divisive. You seem to think that somehow at the behest of the NC schools that Swofford has been sabotaging ACC football and that if we just have a real football man in charge that ACC football will flourish and the girly sport of basketball can just go to hell. That's ridiculous. Whatever problems ACC football has, they have almost nothing to do with the ACC Commissioner. Football just isn't as popular in most of the ACC footprint as it is in the SEC footprint or the B1G's footprint. That's not John Swofford's fault and there's nothing that he or some other Commissioner can do about it. In any case, the next ACC Commissioner will have to deal with currently unimagined issues. Get the best person and let him or her deal with them.

I agree that the next commissioner should not come with direct ties to UNC-Ch. It's been a conflict of interest for the past 20 years.

That being said, it's damn tiresome to be lumped in with Duke and UNC-Ch, and it's damn tiresome when people fail to realize that even if you hate Swofford he has in fact made every pro-football adjustment that could be made on behalf of the ACC. What more could he have done? Was it his fault that FSU kept Bowden four years too long? Was it his fault that Miami fell to ****? Was it his fault that NC State effectively deemphasized athletics for 15 years? Was it his fault that UNC is not a football school?

Mentally prepare yourself for someone more like Gene Corrigan as opposed to Swofford. That being said, of the current AD's, Radikovich is the probably the pick of the litter.

Regarding why it can't be somebody from Tobacco Road .... it's bad optics and it's bad politics and it's largely Swofford's fault. The ACC piled on the NCAA penalties for Clemson. But when UNC-CH does something that should cost them their accreditation by creating entirely fake degree programs ... no further punishment is necessary. It's the height of hypocrisy and the ultimate academic betrayal. You want another Carolina stooge as Commish? Have UNC self-impose the death penalty one year for every year they manufactured a fake degree. Then we'll consider that debt as paid in full.

(11-28-2018 06:24 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Regarding why it can't be somebody from Tobacco Road .... it's bad optics and it's bad politics and it's largely Swofford's fault. The ACC piled on the NCAA penalties for Clemson. But when UNC-CH does something that should cost them their accreditation by creating entirely fake degree programs ... no further punishment is necessary. It's the height of hypocrisy and the ultimate academic betrayal. You want another Carolina stooge as Commish? Have UNC self-impose the death penalty one year for every year they manufactured a fake degree. Then we'll consider that debt as paid in full.

So, the ACC under the leadership of MD's Bob James, did something back in 1982 after Clemson was caught giving out cash. Now while it's true Carolina was cheating academically even back then, comparing 1982 to 2015 is a stretch. Swofford is not Carolina's stooge. Swofford is Carolina's commissioner plain and simple. I doubt that someone tied to Duke, WF, or NC State would treat UNC-Ch as kindly as Swofford. You lump too much together when you attempt to paint State, WF, and Duke for Carolina ****.

SU's AD John Wildhack would be an excellent candidate. Not sure he would take it though.

(11-28-2018 08:50 PM)Statefan Wrote:  

(11-28-2018 06:24 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Regarding why it can't be somebody from Tobacco Road .... it's bad optics and it's bad politics and it's largely Swofford's fault. The ACC piled on the NCAA penalties for Clemson. But when UNC-CH does something that should cost them their accreditation by creating entirely fake degree programs ... no further punishment is necessary. It's the height of hypocrisy and the ultimate academic betrayal. You want another Carolina stooge as Commish? Have UNC self-impose the death penalty one year for every year they manufactured a fake degree. Then we'll consider that debt as paid in full.

So, the ACC under the leadership of MD's Bob James, did something back in 1982 after Clemson was caught giving out cash. Now while it's true Carolina was cheating academically even back then, comparing 1982 to 2015 is a stretch. Swofford is not Carolina's stooge. Swofford is Carolina's commissioner plain and simple. I doubt that someone tied to Duke, WF, or NC State would treat UNC-Ch as kindly as Swofford. You lump too much together when you attempt to paint State, WF, and Duke for Carolina ****.

Duke joined Carolina in that lone no for football expansion. I think Duke is too close to Carolina to be considered a change. While NCST and WF may be dissenting voices ... it's just better optics and politics to go out of state this time.

(11-28-2018 06:24 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Regarding why it can't be somebody from Tobacco Road .... it's bad optics and it's bad politics and it's largely Swofford's fault. The ACC piled on the NCAA penalties for Clemson. But when UNC-CH does something that should cost them their accreditation by creating entirely fake degree programs ... no further punishment is necessary. It's the height of hypocrisy and the ultimate academic betrayal. You want another Carolina stooge as Commish? Have UNC self-impose the death penalty one year for every year they manufactured a fake degree. Then we'll consider that debt as paid in full.

The ACC has been led by Wake Forest, Maryland, Duke/UVa (Corrigan although a Duke grad spent most of his career at UVa) and Carolina.
It's Clemson or NCSU's turn to provide leadership since South Carolina is no longer in the picture.
BTW your entire statement is nothing but .

(11-28-2018 06:24 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Regarding why it can't be somebody from Tobacco Road .... it's bad optics and it's bad politics and it's largely Swofford's fault. The ACC piled on the NCAA penalties for Clemson. But when UNC-CH does something that should cost them their accreditation by creating entirely fake degree programs ... no further punishment is necessary. It's the height of hypocrisy and the ultimate academic betrayal. You want another Carolina stooge as Commish? Have UNC self-impose the death penalty one year for every year they manufactured a fake degree. Then we'll consider that debt as paid in full.

As I understood it there were allegedly “fake” classes (independent studies) to benefit athletes. I believe non-athletes could enroll in the degree program.

(11-28-2018 09:47 PM)TexanMark Wrote:  SU's AD John Wildhack would be an excellent candidate. Not sure he would take it though.

Why would you say that? We finally have an AD worth keeping. We don't want him leaving.

I think we should go FULL SEC and hire Jurich.

Cheers,
Neil

Jack Swarbrick may be looking for another challenge......

(11-29-2018 02:23 PM)TerryD Wrote:  Jack Swarbrick may be looking for another challenge......

Swarbrick?...........that means that Notre Dame would be "all in".

(11-29-2018 04:24 PM)XLance Wrote:  

(11-29-2018 02:23 PM)TerryD Wrote:  Jack Swarbrick may be looking for another challenge......

Swarbrick?...........that means that Notre Dame would be "all in".

He's a little old for the job as would be Kevin White. Needs to be someone in Whit Babcock's age grouping.

(11-29-2018 06:11 PM)Statefan Wrote:  

(11-29-2018 04:24 PM)XLance Wrote:  

(11-29-2018 02:23 PM)TerryD Wrote:  Jack Swarbrick may be looking for another challenge......

Swarbrick?...........that means that Notre Dame would be "all in".

He's a little old for the job as would be Kevin White. Needs to be someone in Whit Babcock's age grouping.

Kevin White would be great. Having been AD at both Notre Dame and Duke gives you a patina and he appears to be trusted by the other ADs but he’s clearly too old, hardly younger than Swofford.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the ACC ends up with someone currently working for a pro league. I wish we could hire Adam Silver but the ACC can’t compete with NBA money. I can’t think of any ACC AD who would be a candidate, especially since Swofford, fairly or unfairly, was always suspected of favoriticism to UNC or the NC schools.

(11-29-2018 06:36 PM)Hallcity Wrote:  Kevin White would be great. Having been AD at both Notre Dame and Duke gives you a patina...

A WHAT?