It's official: BC rounds out ACC dozen
Perhaps nothing speaks more clearly about Boston College's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference than the buffet spread at yesterday's press conference at the school's Yawkey Athletic Center.
Lobster and clam chowder served alongside barbecue chicken, corn on the cob, and baked beans.
New England staples meet southern eats. Not the most logical combination, but clearly a metaphor for the ACC's reach to the Northeast.
The gathering was a formality, really, announcing that today is the first day BC is an official member of the ACC. BC rounds out the number of ACC schools to an even dozen, and commissioner John Swofford said it will stay that way for some time.
''I think this is it for [changes to] the Atlantic Coast Conference. I don't know that we've ever seen in a two- or three-year period this many transitions of affiliation," he said. ''I don't see us looking to grow any larger."
BC athletic director Gene DeFilippo said leaving the Big East for the 53-year-old ACC gives BC's athletics program at least 50 years of stability. Only one school, South Carolina in 1971, has ever left the conference. That vacancy was filled by Georgia Tech in 1978. Florida State was added in 1991, followed by the University of Miami and Virginia Tech in 2004.
By adding BC to its membership, Swofford said, the ACC can finally live up to its name, with schools stretching the entire Atlantic Coast. And for BC, quite a stretch it is, more than 400 miles from its nearest ACC neighbor.
Still, DeFilippo said the travel issue has been overplayed, noting that BC is closer to the University of Maryland than the University of Florida is to Miami. And not every BC program will be affected. The non-revenue sports such as hockey, skiing, fencing, and sailing will continue to play the same teams they have in the past.
The biggest disadvantage, DeFilippo said, will be for the spring sports, which will have to face winter weather when southern schools are practicing outside. To compensate, DeFilippo said the conference will try to schedule spring games at southern schools and games in Boston later in the season. That, however, is really the only disadvantage DeFilippo expects. Despite more travel, he said players will not miss more classes.
Mostly, he is relieved to see this day, which he believes gives BC unmatched stability. Swofford said DeFilippo's optimism about the future is warranted.
''This association of schools that currently make up the Atlantic Coast Conference gives us tremendous stability that should last a half-century, if not more," Swofford said. ''The Big Ten is 100 years old at this point, and I would be very surprised if the current 12-member ACC isn't in existence just as we know it now 50 years from now."
