Reply to thread

Message

[QUOTE="omniorange, post: 288678, member: 636"]
The whole expansion back in 2003 was meant to be a "first" step toward an eventual expansion to 14 down the road (5-7 years after stabilizing with Miami, BC, and SU) with ND and PSU or ND and Pitt.  Two ACC officials said back then - one I believe was Debbie Yow then AD at Maryland and the other was either the president of Clemson or the president of Georgia Tech that there would be further expansion down the road.
 
At the time, the ACC didn't believe ND was ready to give up independence and the conference's whole approach was to emphasize it would be an entire East Coast conference from Boston to Miami thereby making ND "unique" (when they were ready to join a conference) since they would be a midwestern institution in terms of geography in an Atlantic Coast conference.
 
But what surprised the ACC officials was that ND approached the ACC (after initially rebuffing them in March of 2003) about the possibility of partial membership for seven years with a commitment for full membership afterward.   The ACC presidents got too cocky and thought they could force the issue of full membership then and there which is why there was no vote on either BC or SU back in late June.  The negotiations between ND and the ACC continued through the summer but hit a major roadblock in early September which then resulted in their termination and eventual turning to BC for #12.
 
As for ND, who knows what they will do.  Things are drastically different now then they were back in 1999 when they almost joined the Big Ten.  Assuming no loss of members, the ACC has done everything it can do make themselves a viable alternative to the BiG.
 
Cheers,
Neil
[/QUOTE]

Verification

What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?