at the time talked to the PSU AD afterward and told him PSU would have gotten an invitation had the ACC known PSU was looking. It did get the ball rolling to get FSU, though. So that part turned out OK.

Corrigan remembers being just as flabbergasted as everyone else, then remorseful that the ACC hadn't thought of inviting Penn State first. Tarman told me Corrigan called him the next day and lamented: “Why didn't you tell us you wanted in a major conference? We would've taken you in a heartbeat.”

“It's true,” said Corrigan, now 85 but as spry and sharp as when he was Notre Dame athletics director in the 1980s. His first reaction upon hearing the news?


“Aww, s---!,” replied Corrigan, using the barnyard expletive with a laugh. “What were we thinking of? What were we not thinking of?

“I remember having a meeting with [associate commissioner] Tom Mickle and some of our people and I said, 'We have been sitting here sound asleep while this thing happened.' And that's when we started thinking about getting Florida State.