Atlantic Coast Conference Totally Explained

Everything about The Atlantic Coast Conference totally explained

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. Football teams participate in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), 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 wasn't 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

Name	Term
James H. Weaver	1954-1970
Robert James	1971-1987
Eugene F. Corrigan	1987-1997
John Swofford	1997-present

Members

School	Nickname	Location	Founded	Joined ACC	School Type	Undergraduate Enrollment	Varsity Sports	NCAA Championships
Boston College	Eagles	Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts	1863	2005	Private/Jesuit	9,019	31	3
Clemson University	Tigers	Clemson, South Carolina	1889	1953	Public	13,959	19	3
Duke University	Blue Devils	Durham, North Carolina	1838	1953	Private/Non-Sectarian	6,259	26	9
Florida State University	Seminoles	Tallahassee, Florida	1851	1991	Public	31,058	17	9
Georgia Tech	Yellow Jackets	Atlanta, Georgia	1885	1979	Public	12,360	17	1
University of Maryland	Terrapins	College Park, Maryland	1856	1953	Public	24,876	27	21
University of Miami	Hurricanes	Coral Gables, Florida	1925	2004	Private/Non-Sectarian	10,132	17	5
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Tar Heels	Chapel Hill, North Carolina	1789	1953	Public	16,278	28	33
North Carolina State University	Wolfpack	Raleigh, North Carolina	1887	1953	Public	22,879	25	2
University of Virginia	Cavaliers	Charlottesville, Virginia	1819	1953	Public	13,387	25	14
Virginia Tech	Hokies	Blacksburg, Virginia	1872	2004	Public	21,937	21	0
Wake Forest University	Demon Deacons	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	1834	1953	Private/Non-Sectarian	4,231	18	8

In Division I FBS, football is the only sport for which the NCAA doesn't sponsor a championship. Championships sponsored by various third parties, such as the Bowl Championship Series and Associated Press are not included in the table.

Facilities

School	Baseball Stadium	Capacity	Basketball Arena	Capacity	Football Stadium	Capacity	Soccer/Lacrosse Stadium	Capacity
Boston College	Shea Field	1,000	Conte Forum	8,606	Alumni Stadium	44,500	Newton Campus Soccer Field	1,000
Clemson	Doug Kingsmore Stadium	6,500	Littlejohn Coliseum	10,000	Memorial Stadium	80,301	Riggs Field	8,332
Duke	Jack Coombs Field	2,000	Cameron Indoor Stadium	9,314	Wallace Wade Stadium	33,941	Koskinen Stadium	7,000
Florida State	Dick Howser Stadium	6,700	Donald L. Tucker Center	12,200	Doak Campbell Stadium	84,300	Seminole Soccer Complex	1,600
Georgia Tech	Russ Chandler Stadium	4,157	Alexander Memorial Coliseum	9,191	Bobby Dodd Stadium	55,000	None	-
Maryland	Shipley Field	2,500	Comcast Center	17,950	Byrd Stadium	51,500	Ludwig Field	4,000
Miami	Mark Light Field	5,000	BankUnited Center	7,900	Dolphin Stadium	76,500	Cobb Stadium	500
North Carolina	USA Baseball National Training Complex	1,754	Dean Smith Center	21,750	Kenan Memorial Stadium	60,000	Fetzer Field	5,025
North Carolina State	Doak Field	2,500	RBC Center Reynolds Coliseum	19,722 8,400	Carter-Finley Stadium	60,000	Method Road Soccer Stadium	3,000
Virginia	Davenport Field	2,924	John Paul Jones Arena	15,219	Scott Stadium	61,500	Klöckner Stadium	8,000
Virginia Tech	English Field	1,033	Cassell Coliseum	10,052	Lane Stadium	66,233	Virginia Tech Lacrosse and Soccer Stadium	2,500
Wake Forest	Gene Hooks Stadium	1,500	Joel Coliseum	14,407	BB&T Field	31,500	Spry Stadium	3,000

Sports

Member universities compete in the following sports:

Women's Cross Country

Rowing

Men's Swimming & Diving

Women's Swimming & Diving

Men's Tennis

Women's Tennis

Men's Track & Field

Women's Track & Field

Volleyball

Wrestling Boston College plays ice hockey as a member of Hockey East.
Current Champions
Spring 2007

Sport School
Baseball North Carolina

Golf (M) Georgia Tech
Virginia Tech

Golf (W) Duke

Lacrosse (M) Duke

Lacrosse (W) Virginia

Rowing Virginia

Softball Virginia Tech

Tennis (M) Virginia

Tennis (W) Georgia Tech

Track & Field (M) Florida State

Track & Field (W) Virginia Tech

Fall 2007

Sport School
Cross Country (M) Virginia

Cross Country (W) Florida State

Field Hockey North Carolina

Football Virginia Tech

Soccer (M) Boston College

Soccer (W) North Carolina

Volleyball Clemson

Winter 2008

Sport School
Basketball (M) North Carolina

Basketball (W) North Carolina

Swimming & Diving (M) Virginia

Swimming & Diving (W) Virginia

Indoor Track & Field (M) Florida State

Indoor Track & Field (W) Virginia Tech

Wrestling Maryland

Baseball

National Championships
Wake Forest won the ACC's only national championship in 1955.

School NCAA Championships CWS Appearances
Clemson 1958, 1959, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1991,
1995, 1996, 2000, 2002, 2006

Duke 1952, 1953, 1961

Florida State 1957, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1970, 1975,
1980, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992,
1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000

Georgia Tech 1994, 2002, 2006

Miami 1982, 1985, 1999, 2001 1974, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982,
1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1992,
1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2001, 2003, 2004, 2006

North Carolina 1960, 1966, 1978, 1989, 2006, 2007

North Carolina State 1968

Wake Forest 1955 1949, 1955

Italics denote championships won and appearances made before the school joined the ACC.
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 North Carolina 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 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.
   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.
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.

School Partner 1 Partner 2

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 North Carolina State

North Carolina State North Carolina Wake Forest

Virginia Virginia Tech Maryland

Virginia Tech Virginia Boston College

Wake Forest North Carolina State Georgia Tech

National Championships
Over the course of its existence, ACC schools have captured 10 NCAA championships. North Carolina has won four, Duke has won three, North Carolina State has won two, and Maryland has won one. In addition, 8 of the 12 members have advanced to the Final Four at least once.
   In women's basketball, the ACC has won two national championships, with North Carolina and Maryland. 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.

School Helms Athletic Foundation Men's NCAA Women's NCAA
Duke 1991, 1992, 2001

Maryland 2002 2006

North Carolina 1924 1957, 1982, 1993, 2005 1994

North Carolina State 1974, 1983

Italics denote championships won before the school joined the ACC.
Field Hockey

National Championships
The ACC have won 13 of the 27 NCAA Championships in field hockey.

School NCAA
Maryland 1987, 1993, 1999,
2005, 2006

North Carolina 1989, 1995, 1996,
1997, 2007

Wake Forest 2002, 2003, 2004

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 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 may not necessarily the school's closest traditional rival, even within the ACC.

Atlantic Division Coastal Division

Boston College Virginia Tech

Clemson Georgia Tech

Florida State Miami

Maryland Virginia

North Carolina State North Carolina

Wake Forest Duke

Bowl Games
Within the Bowl Championship Series, the 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. As of the 2006 season, the ACC championship game loser can't fall below the Music City Bowl. Moreover, 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 bowl season, in which Atlantic Division co-champion Boston College fell to the last-pick MPC Computers Bowl (now Humanitarian Bowl).

Pick Name Location Opposing Conference Opposing Pick

1 FedEx Orange Bowl Miami Gardens, Florida BCS

2 Chick-fil-A Bowl Atlanta, Georgia SEC 3/4/5

3 Konica Minolta Gator Bowl Jacksonville, Florida Big 12 3

Big East 1

Notre Dame

4 Champs Sports Bowl Orlando, Florida Big Ten 4/5

5 Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl Nashville, Tennessee SEC 6/7/8

Navy

6 Meineke Car Care Bowl Charlotte, North Carolina Big East

7 Emerald Bowl San Francisco, California Pac-10 4/5

8 Roady's Humanitarian Bowl Boise, Idaho WAC 1

9 Congressional Bowl Washington, DC Navy

National Championships
Though the NCAA doesn't 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.

School Helms Athletic Foundation Associated Press Coaches Poll Bowl Championship Series
Clemson 1981 1981

Florida State 1993, 1999 1993, 1999 1999

Georgia Tech 1917, 1928 1990

Maryland 1953 1953

Miami 1983, 1987, 1989,
1991, 2001 1983, 1987, 1989,
2001 2001

Italics denote championships won before the school joined the ACC.
Golf

National Championships

School Men's Team NCAA Men's Individual NCAA Women's Team NCAA Women's Individual NCAA
Clemson 2003 Charles Warren 1997

Duke 1999, 2002, 2005,
2006, 2007 Candy Hannemann 2001,
Virada Nirapathpongporn 2002,
Anna Grzebian 2005

Georgia Tech Watts Gunn 1927,
Charles Yates 1934,
Troy Matteson 2002

Miami 1984 Penny Hammel 1983

North Carolina Harvie Ward 1949,
John Inman 1984

Virginia Dixon Brooke 1940

Wake Forest 1974, 1975, 1986 Curtis Strange 1974,
Jay Haas 1975,
Gary Hallberg 1979

Italics denote championships won before the school joined the ACC.
Lacrosse

National Championships
Since 1971, when the first men's national champion was determined by the NCAA, the ACC has won 10 national championships. Virginia and North Carolina have won four national championships, and Maryland has won two. 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 and Virginia has won three.

School Men's NCAA Women's NCAA AIAW
Maryland 1973, 1975 1986, 1992, 1995,
1996, 1997, 1998,
1999, 2000, 2001 1981

North Carolina 1981, 1982, 1986,
1991

Virginia 1972, 1999, 2003,
2006 1991, 1993, 2004

Italics denote championships before the sport was part of the ACC.
Soccer

National Championships
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. The remaining six have been won by Maryland (twice), Clemson (twice), Duke, North Carolina, and Wake Forest. 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, as well as the only Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) soccer championship in 1981. The Tar Heels have also won 18 of the 20 ACC tournaments, losing only to North Carolina State in 1988 and Virginia in 2004, both times by penalty kicks.

School Men's NCAA Women's NCAA AIAW
Clemson 1984, 1987

Duke 1986

Maryland 1968, 2005

North Carolina 2001 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1987, 1988,
1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994,
1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2003, 2006 1981

Virginia 1989, 1991, 1992,
1993, 1994

Wake Forest 2007

Italics denote championships before the sport was part of the ACC.Further Information
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