but Swofford's ties to UNC and Tobacco Road influenced some of his early decisions as commissioner. Georgia Tech ('79) and FSU ('91) were good additions by former ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan. Corrigan added two large state universities with football history. Corrigan was on the right track. Swofford added too many urban and private schools. The other four Power 5 conferences know the right formula, that is … conference membership made up of mostly large state universities with large alumni bases and statewide (even nation-wide) fan bases. Adding Virginia Tech was an excellent move even though it wasn't Swofford's first choice (Miami, BC, and Syracuse). Miami is the only private school that made sense to me because of their strong football program. BC was a mistake and Pitt and Syracuse haven't lived up to my expectations even though they can still do so. Losing Maryland was a low point in Swofford's reign as commissioner. He was out of touch with that school. He was blindsided by their move to the Big 10. I doubt that Delany or Slive would've been blindsided. Adding Louisville was a mistake. I'll always believe that the addition of U of L was an act of desperation. WVU would've been a much better choice with WVU's rivalries with Pitt and Tech and even Syracuse. Academically, both schools are similar even though I believe WVU does more for its state. U of L has been an embarrassment to the ACC for the past 3-4 years. You're correct that the ACC didn't have many choices to select from but UConn over BC and WVU over U of L would've given the ACC two more large state universities. Holding on to Maryland would've given us another large state university. Rutgers over Pitt is questionable but in the long run RU has more potential just based the size of their university and alumni base. I don't know how hard Swofford try to get Penn State to join in the late 1990's and early 2000's but that would've been a great pick up despite the Sandusky scandal. I place the lack of PSU membership more on Corrigan than Swofford. Too bad the ACC lost USC-East back in 1971. With the Power 5 model the ACC could have UNC, NC State, Wake, Duke, UVA, Tech, Clemson, USC-E., Georgia Tech, FSU, Miami, Penn State, Maryland, Syracuse, Rutgers, and WVU with Notre Dame as a non-football member. That would make 12 large state universities. I realize Wake isn't going anywhere but replacing them with a UConn or Pitt would've given us a 13th large state university, making the ACC comparable to the other four Power 5 conferences in large state university memberships. I believe that the ACC is focused more on becoming football conference, but I'm not convinced that football is #1. Men's basketball is still the ACC's main identity and likely will be for a long time.