Atlantic Coast Conference
Atlantic Coast Conference | |
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File:Atlantic Coast Conference logo.png
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Classification | NCAA Division I |
Established | 1953 |
Members | 12 |
Region | East Coast |
Sports fielded | 20 |
NCAA championships |
97 |
NCAA men's titles | 116 |
NCAA women's titles | 57 |
Commissioner | John Swofford |
Locations | |
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953, the ACC's twelve member universities compete in twenty sports in the NCAA's Division I. Its football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division I-A), the higher of two levels of Division I college football.
History
Charter members of the ACC were Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest. The seven ACC charter members had been aligned with the Southern Conference, but left primarily due to the league's ban on postseason play. After drafting a set of bylaws for the creation of a new league, they formally withdrew from the Southern Conference at the Spring Meeting on the morning of May 8, 1953. The bylaws were ratified and the ACC officially came into existence on June 14, 1953. On December 4, 1953, officials convened in Greensboro, North Carolina, and admitted Virginia into the conference.
In 1971, the ACC lost a member in the University of South Carolina, now a member of the Southeastern Conference. The ACC operated with seven members until the addition of former Southeastern Conference member Georgia Tech from the Metro Conference on April 3, 1978. The addition of Florida State, also from the Metro Conference, on July 1, 1991, brought the total to nine. The ACC added three members from the Big East during the 2003 cycle of conference realignment: Miami and Virginia Tech joined on July 1, 2004, and Boston College joined on July 1, 2005, as the league's twelfth member and first from New England. The expansion was not without controversy, as Connecticut, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia (and, initially, Virginia Tech) filed lawsuits against the ACC and against Miami and Boston College for conspiring to weaken the Big East.
Commissioners
- James H. Weaver 1954-1970
- Robert James 1971-1987
- Eugene F. Corrigan 1987-1997
- John Swofford 1997-present
Members
* Division I Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) football is the only sport for which the NCAA does not sponsor a championship. Instead, major-college football championships are sponsored by various third parties, such as the Bowl Championship Series and the Associated Press. The championship totals presented in this table do not include football championships.
Sports
Member universities compete in the following sports:
- Baseball
- Men's Basketball
- Women's Basketball
- Cross Country
- Field Hockey
- Football
- Men's Golf
- Women's Golf
- Men's Lacrosse
- Women's Lacrosse
- Rowing
- Men's Soccer
- Women's Soccer
- Softball
- Swimming & Diving
- Men's Tennis
- Women's Tennis
- Track & Field
- Volleyball
- Wrestling
2007-2008 ACC Champions
Fall Sports
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Winter Sports
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Spring Sports
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2006-2007 ACC Champions
Fall Sports
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Winter Sports
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Spring Sports
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Baseball
See Main Article: ACC Baseball Tournament
Basketball
History
Historically, the ACC has been considered one of the most successful conferences in men's basketball. The early roots of ACC basketball began primarily thanks to two men: Everett Case and Frank McGuire.
North Carolina State coach Everett Case had been a successful high school coach in Indiana who ironically accepted the Wolfpack's head coaching job at a time that the school decided to focus on competing in football with Duke University, then a national power in college football. Case's NC State teams dominated the early years of the ACC with a modern, fast-paced style of play. He became the fastest college basketball coach to reach many 'games won' milestones.
Case eventually became known as “the father of ACC basketball." Despite his success on the court, he may have been even a better promoter off the court. Case realized the need to sell his program and university. That is why he organized the funding and construction of Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh as the new home court for his team. At the time, Reynolds was the largest on-campus arena in America, and it was therefore used as the host site for many Southern Conference Tournaments, ACC Tournaments, and the “Dixie Classic”, an annual event involving the four ACC teams from North Carolina as well as four other prominent programs from across the nation. The Dixie Classic brought in huge revenues for all schools involved and soon became one of the premier sporting events in the south.
At the University of North Carolina, Frank McGuire was hired as the men’s basketball coach to counter Case's personality, as well as the dominant success of his program. McGuire began recruiting in his home area of New York. McGuire knew that basketball was the major high school athletic event of the region, unlike football in the south. Case and McGuire literally “invented” a rivalry. Both men realized the benefits created through a rivalry between them. It brought more national attention to both of their programs and increased fan support on both sides. For this reason, they often exchanged verbal jabs at each other in public, while maintaining a secret working relationship in private.
In 1957, when McGuire’s North Carolina team won the national championship, an entrepreneur from Greensboro named Castleman D. Chesley noticed the popularity it generated. He developed a five-station television network which began broadcasting regular season ACC games the following season. From that point on, ACC basketball gained immense popularity.
Over the course of its existence, ACC schools have captured 10 NCAA championships. North Carolina has won four (1957, 1982, 1993, 2005), Duke has won three (1991, 1992, 2001), N.C. State has won two (1974, 1983) and Maryland has won one (2002). In addition, 8 of the 12 members have advanced to the Final Four at least once. The ACC has been home to many legendary coaches, including Terry Holland, Everett Case, Frank McGuire, Vic Bubas, Press Maravich, Dean Smith, Norm Sloan, Bones McKinney, Al Skinner, Lefty Driesell, Jim Valvano, Mike Krzyzewski, Bobby Cremins, Rick Barnes, Gary Williams, and Roy Williams.
In women's basketball, the ACC has won two national championships: North Carolina in 1994 and Maryland in 2006. In 2006, Duke, Maryland, and North Carolina all advanced to the Final Four, the first time a conference placed three teams in the women's Final Four. Both 2006 NCAA women's finalists were from the ACC, with Maryland defeating Duke for the title.
Present Day
With the expansion to 12 teams in the 2004-2005 season, the ACC schedule could no longer accommodate a home-and-away series between every pair of teams each season. In the new scheduling model, each team is assigned two permanent partners and nine rotating partners over a three-year period. Teams play their permanent partners in a home-and-away series each year. The rotating partners are split into three groups: three teams who are played in a home-and-away series, three teams who are played at home, and three teams who are played on the road. The rotating partner groups are rotated over the three-year period.
The table below lists each school's two permanent scheduling partners (effective through 2007-08 season).
Team | Partner 1 | Partner 2 |
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Boston College | Miami | Virginia Tech |
Clemson | Georgia Tech | Florida State |
Duke | North Carolina | Maryland |
Florida State | Miami | Clemson |
Georgia Tech | Clemson | Wake Forest |
Maryland | Duke | Virginia |
Miami | Boston College | Florida State |
North Carolina | Duke | NC State |
North Carolina State | North Carolina | Wake Forest |
Virginia | Virginia Tech | Maryland |
Virginia Tech | Virginia | Boston College |
Wake Forest | NC State | Georgia Tech |
Football
Divisions
In 2005 the ACC began divisional play in football. Division leaders compete in a playoff game to determine the ACC championship. The inaugural ACC Championship Game was played on December 3, 2005, in Jacksonville, Florida, at the stadium then known as Alltel Stadium. Florida State defeated Virginia Tech to capture their 12th championship since they joined the league in 1992. This division structure leads to each team playing the following games:
- Five games within its division (one against each opponent)
- One game against a "permanent rival" from the other division
- Two rotating games against teams in the other division
In the table below, each column represents one division. Each team's "permanent rival" is listed immediately to the left or right in the other column. (These are not necessarily the school's closest traditional rival, even within the ACC.)
Atlantic Division | Coastal Division |
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Boston College | Virginia Tech |
Clemson | Georgia Tech |
Florida State | Miami |
Maryland | Virginia |
N.C. State | North Carolina |
Wake Forest | Duke |
National Championships
Though the NCAA does not determine an official "national champion" for Division I FBS football, several ACC members have achieved a national championship through the Associated Press, the Coaches Poll or the Bowl Championship Series. Schools that have won national championships in this manner as ACC members include:
- Associated Press National Champions:
- Clemson: 1981
- Florida State: 1993, 1999
- Maryland: 1953
- Coaches Poll National Champions:
- Clemson: 1981
- Florida State: 1993, 1999
- Georgia Tech: 1990
- Maryland: 1953
- Bowl Championship Series National Champions
- Florida State: 1999
Bowl Games
- 1 – BCS (exclusive partnership with the FedEx Orange Bowl [1])
- 2 – Chick-fil-A Bowl (formerly Peach Bowl) in Atlanta, Georgia (vs SEC)
- 3 – Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Florida (vs Big East, the Big 12 or Notre Dame)
- 4 – Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Florida (vs Big 10)
- 5 – Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tennessee (vs SEC)
- 6 – Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina (vs Big East or Navy)
- 7 – Emerald Bowl in San Francisco, California (vs Pac-10)
- 8 – Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho (vs WAC)
Within the Bowl Championship Series, the FedEx Orange Bowl serves as the home of the ACC champion against another BCS at-large selection unless the conference's champion is selected for the national championship game.
The other bowls pick ACC teams in the order listed above. Under ACC rules as of the 2006 season, the ACC championship game loser cannot fall below the Music City Bowl (5th pick); furthermore, a bowl game can bypass a team in the selection process only if the two teams in question are within one game of each other in the overall ACC standings. This rule was instituted in response to concerns over the 2005 ACC bowl season, in which Atlantic Division co-champion Boston College fell to the last-pick MPC Computers Bowl.
Lacrosse
Since 1971, when the first men's national champion was determined by the NCAA, the ACC has won 10 national championships. The Virginia has won four national championships (1972, 1999, 2003, and 2006), North Carolina has also won four (1981, 1982, 1986, and 1991), and Maryland has won two (1973, and 1975).
Women's lacrosse has only awarded a national championship since 1982, and the ACC has won more titles than any other conference. In all, the ACC has won 12 women's national championships: Maryland has won nine (1986, 1992, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001), and Virginia has won three (1991, 1993, and 2004).
Soccer
In men's soccer, the ACC has won 12 national championships, including 11 in the 24 seasons between 1984 and 2007. Five have been won by Virginia (1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994). The remaining six have been won by Maryland (1968, 2005), Clemson (1984, 1987), Duke (1986), North Carolina (2001), and Wake Forest (2007). During the 2006 season, each of the nine ACC men's soccer teams was in the top 25. Seven teams were selected for the NCAA Tournament. Virginia and Wake Forest advanced to the College Cup - the "Final Four" of Men's soccer.
In women's soccer, North Carolina has won 18 of the 25 NCAA titles since the NCAA crowned its first champion (1982–1984, 1986–1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, and 2006), as well as the only AIAW soccer championship in 1981. The Tar Heels have also won 18 of the 20 ACC tournaments, losing only to NC State in 1988 and UVA in 2004, both times by penalty kicks.
Facilities
Rivalries
As with most ACC traditions, the conference's classic rivalries began on the (men's) basketball court. Before the 2003 expansion, the ACC was able to maintain a full home-and-home double round-robin basketball schedule, meaning each team played each other team both at home and away each season. Coupled with the conference's compact geographical footprint (especially before Florida State joined in 1991), this enhanced conference cohesiveness and built strong rivalries, as each school could generally find something historical to be upset about with one another. Some rivalries were, of course, stronger than others — notably those among the four "Tobacco Road" schools located in North Carolina.
Lesser-known are the ACC's football rivalries, with the exception of Florida State-Miami. With the recent expansion, intrastate rivalries in Florida and Virginia that have always been more significant in football than basketball are now under the conference banner. This gives them added meaning, as these games will have more direct impact on postseason bowl game invitations.
Intra-conference rivalries
- Boston College and Miami: These two former Big East colleges have a heated rivalry dating back to the "Hail Flutie" game in 1984, although BC did not beat Miami again until 2007.
- Clemson and Georgia Tech: In football, this series has been very close of late. Between 1996 and 2005, 9 of the 10 games were determined by fewer than 7 points. The schools also have a heated rivlary in baseball, as the two are consistently among the top teams in the ACC and national rankings. This rivalry is also born out of their proximity (approximately 100 miles).
- Clemson and N.C. State: Known as the "Textile Bowl" in football.
- Clemson and Florida State: Known as "the Bowden Bowl"; a newer rivalry in college football pitting head coaches/father and son, Bobby Bowden and Tommy Bowden against one another.
- Duke and Maryland: Traditionally a lopsided men's basketball rivalry; reached heightened status in the 2000-01 season when the teams played four times in ESPN "Instant Classics." Each school won a national championship in 2001 (Duke) and 2002 (Maryland). As noted earlier, the school's women's basketball teams met for the 2006 national title, with Maryland winning. The match-up has resulted in Maryland supporters' intense dislike for Duke, and this has spilled over into other sports such as football.
- Duke and North Carolina: Their men's basketball rivalry is widely considered the best in the country. (See UNC-Duke rivalry) The women's basketball rivalry is equally intense, though without the national profile of the men's matchup. Notably, when the two women's teams first met in the 2006-07 season, both were the last two Division I unbeatens; Duke won. In football, the two schools play for a trophy: "The victory bell". It is often colored in the shade of blue of the team who won it last.
- Duke and N.C. State: In-state Tobacco Road rivals, also members of the Big Four
- Duke and Wake Forest: The two private Big Four schools on Tobacco Road have shared a heated rivalry for decades. Wake Forest and Duke were the first colleges in North Carolina to have basketball teams in the early 1900s.
- Florida State and Miami: Arguably the two most successful college football teams of the last 25 years.
- Florida State and Virginia: Compete for the Jefferson-Eppes Trophy in football. This game resulted in Florida State's first-ever ACC loss in 1995 and a tie with Virginia for ACC champions. Virginia also won again in 2005.
- Miami and Virginia Tech: Both schools were football powers in the Big East and the rivalry has continued with both of them moving to the ACC.
- North Carolina and N.C. State: In-state rivals of long standing (See UNC-NCSU rivalry); formerly competed (with Duke and Wake Forest) in the annual "Dixie Classic" basketball tournament ending in 1961.
- North Carolina and Virginia: The ACC's oldest football rivalry is also known as the South's Oldest Rivalry.
- North Carolina and Wake Forest: Another Tobacco Road rivalry, Wake and Carolina have been at it longer than any other two North Carolina schools. The schools first met on Oct. 18, 1888 when Wake Forest defeated North Carolina 6-4 in the first intercollegiate football game played in North Carolina. As with all Big Four rivalries--and each of the four hates the other three--Wake and Carolina have shared a colorful history.
- N.C. State and Wake Forest: Lesser known outside of North Carolina, but the original rivalry for both schools, as Wake Forest originally was located in the town of Wake Forest, NC, a few miles north of Raleigh. (The other charter members faced their rivals in their final games of the season: Duke and North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia, Clemson and South Carolina, and State and Wake.) The traditional college baseball game these two played on the Monday after Easter in the 1930s and the 1940s, and the fact so many state legislators attended it, was the reason North Carolina's General Assembly created an Easter Monday state holiday, which lasted until the late 1980s. For a time, the two schools also played one of the few trophy games in college basketball, for something called "The Chair," a chair painted in both State and Wake's colors. The Chair's whereabouts are unknown and the series no longer exists. NC State and Wake Forest have met 224 times in basketball, more than any other ACC schools. The two traditionally meet as the last game of the regular season for both teams.
- Virginia and Virginia Tech (See Virginia-Virginia Tech rivalry): Long-standing in-state rivals, compete in the Commonwealth Challenge across all sports and for the Commonwealth Cup trophy in football.
Other rivalries
- Boston College and Boston University (Hockey East): Hockey's "Green Line Rivalry"
- Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, and Northeastern: Hockey's "Beanpot"
- Boston College and the University of Massachusetts (Atlantic 10): Basketball's "Commonwealth Classic"
- Boston College and Providence College (Big East): Former Big East basketball and current Hockey East rivals, they are two of the prominent Catholic New England colleges.
- Boston College and Notre Dame (Independent): Football's "Holy War"
- Clemson and South Carolina (SEC): Natural arch-rivals based in the state of South Carolina. Prior to 1971, this was an intra-conference rivalry in the ACC.
- Clemson and Georgia (SEC): Born of proximity, as the schools are approximately 90 miles apart. This rivalry was intense at its peak in the 1980s.
- Duke and Kentucky (SEC): Although they have met only 19 times, five meetings have come in the NCAA tournament. One such meeting was the 1992 NCAA Tournament East Regional Final, considered by many to be the greatest college basketball game ever played.
- Florida State and Florida (SEC): an all-sports rivalry with Florida Cup implications in football.
- Georgia Tech and Georgia (SEC): "Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate" Prior to 1964, this was an intra-conference rivalry in the SEC.
- Georgia Tech and Auburn (SEC)
- Maryland and Johns Hopkins: These schools have a long-held bitter rivalry in men's lacrosse.
- Maryland and Navy (independent): An intrastate rivalry rich in history. Dating back to the late 19th century and dormant since the mid-1960s, the "Crab Bowl" was renewed and played again in 2005, with Maryland winning. The schools will meet again to begin the 2010 season.
- Maryland and Penn State (Big Ten): Dormant since the early 1990s because of expansion by the ACC and Big Ten, there have been talks to renew the series. Like the Maryland-Virginia rivalry, this also has recruiting implications.
- Maryland and West Virginia (Big East): The football series was formerly the longest current continuous non-conference series for both schools, as they played every year since 1980. The game is not scheduled for 2008 or 2009, but will resume in 2010.
- Miami and Florida (SEC): A now seldom scheduled game with Florida Cup implications. The game is seldom scheduled because teams were only allowed three non-conference games, and the Gators would have only one "true" non-conference game if they had to play both the Seminoles and Hurricanes in the same season. The rivalry is nearly non-existent nowadays due to Miami's move to the ACC and its near 23-year winning streak over Florida.
- North Carolina and Georgia: Both colleges lay claim to being the oldest state college in the United States, although most historians give the honor to UNC (Georgia was charted first but UNC opened for classes and graduated seniors before Georgia).
- North Carolina and Kentucky (SEC): The two winningest programs in men's college basketball now play against each other on a yearly basis.
- North Carolina and South Carolina (SEC): formerly a intra-conference rivalry, the "Border War" was renewed in 2007; the teams will play football again in 2010 with talk of more matchups in the future.
- North Carolina and Notre Dame (Big East): Two of the winningest women's soccer programs regularly compete for the NCAA championship in that sport.
- NC State and East Carolina (Conference USA): A rivalry that dates back to 1970 in football
- Virginia and Johns Hopkins: A rivalry between two of the nation's most historically successful men's lacrosse programs.
- Virginia and Syracuse (Big East): Another traditional lacrosse rivalry. The Cavaliers and Orange have also met on the football field in recent years.
- Virginia and West Virginia (Big East): These schools met in football on a regular basis before the rivalry ended bitterly when West Virginia officials deemed a skit by the Virginia pep band offensive. The teams met in the inaugural Continental Tire Bowl in 2002 with Virginia winning handily.
- Virginia Tech and West Virginia (Big East): The teams used to play for the Black Diamond Trophy in football.
- Virginia Tech and Virginia Military Institute formerly played each other in an annual Thanksgiving day football game known as the ""Military Classic of the South." The two schools have not played each other in football since 1984 as Tech's program has significantly outgrown that of VMI. The "Military Classic of the South" is now the game between VMI and The Citadel, which like VMI is a state-sponsored military college (for South Carolina) whose football program competes in Division I FCS (formerly Division I-AA).
Since the 1999-2000 season, ACC teams have played Big Ten teams in the annual ACC - Big Ten Challenge men's basketball tournament; the ACC has "won" this tournament every year since its inception (ACC teams have won a majority of the games played in every season).
See also
- ACC Athlete of the Year
- ACC Men's Basketball Player of the Year
- List of Atlantic Coast Conference football champions
- List of Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball regular season champions
- List of Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball tournament champions
- List of Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball regular season champions
- List of Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball tournament champions