Conference has a TV network, 15 schools in the fold and expansion quiet, the 2020 ACC Tournament would be a great time for him to announce his retirement. He gets his swansong at the conference's premier event that will be covered by the new network from start to finish.

The ACC will then have a search, the new commissioner will be hired soon after, or will be named at the tournament. I'm sure they have a list of names of people that the ACC Presidents would like to interview for the job, and Swofford could inform the Presidents this fall of his plans, the Presidents could then start the hiring process behind the scenes with the new commissioner being introduced at the tournament.

Nice thing about having Wake, Duke, Miami, Syracuse, BC and ND in the conference is that they can do the behind the scenes work without any FOIA requests.