Corrigan believed in expansion, but there was a lot of resistance back then

He had a very hard time convincing the Council of Presidents to add Florida State. Maryland was highly against it, and Georgia Tech was threatening to leave if the ACC didn't add Florida State. The first vote was majority No. Corrigan had to really work to get to a majority Yes.

The Florida Gators inquired about joining the ACC in the 1970s, and the ACC turned them down. Back then all travel to games had to be on a bus in the ACC for conference games. They thought Florida too far away. Florida was trying to upgrade it's academic profile to get AAU invite, and the UF President thought being in the ACC would help.

I don't know how a vote on Penn State would have gone. Michigan was very against adding Penn State to the B1G. The North vs South thing was a bigger issue in the 80s than today. Boston College really broke through that barrier and joined a Southern ACC in 2003. Many don't realize how big a deal that was.

In response to this post by reestuart

Posted: 12/04/2020 at 11:41AM

Interesting ESPN article on demise of SW Conference - Public vs Private -- Lakeridgehokie 12/02/2020 11:39AM

This quote seems particularly pertinent to our (VT's) situation... -- Culpeper Hokie 12/03/2020 4:58PM

TV destroyed them -- DarylS 12/02/2020 7:41PM

Loved the article. I miss the days of the smaller conferences -- Maroon Baboon 12/02/2020 9:23PM

Perfect model is 10 teams, 9 game round robin, IMO. -- reestuart 12/03/2020 4:56PM

Odd # of games leads to uneven home schedules -- mrcaniac 12/03/2020 6:11PM

11 team conference. 10 games, 2 OOC. ** -- Maroon Baboon 12/03/2020 8:37PM

I had read that JoPa wanted a NE football conference, but... -- EDGEMAN 12/03/2020 08:07AM

Eastern Conference -- Millpoint 12/04/2020 3:55PM

It was the 80's -- mrcaniac 12/03/2020 6:04PM

Saw an article talking about the PSU move. The commissioner of the ACC -- reestuart 12/03/2020 6:21PM

Interesting, since JoPa’s Eastern Conference would have included Maryland -- I85Hokie 12/08/2020 11:38AM

I think JoPa would have looked at the ACC like the Big East. -- HOO86 12/04/2020 11:09AM

Yeah, I tend to agree with that. Just struck me as funny the ACC didn't -- reestuart 12/04/2020 11:12AM

Corrigan believed in expansion, but there was a lot of resistance back then -- HOO86 12/04/2020 11:41AM

Yeah, he mentions that he had to stay on everyone to get FSU admitted. ** -- reestuart 12/04/2020 1:04PM

Joe wanted unequal football but equal basketball sharing, as I recall ** -- TerryD 12/03/2020 11:17AM

Bingo - Prop up PSU basketball but let football keep its money, and then so ** -- Tailgate Guru 12/04/2020 11:43PM

SWC destroyed themselves internally -- Mercury 12/02/2020 12:33PM

That is what you got out of that article? -- goldendomer 12/02/2020 11:49AM

I laughed at the part where the Texas Lt. Gov. basically threatened to -- Maroon Baboon 12/02/2020 7:11PM

Big TX could afford to become a private school, but... -- EDGEMAN 12/03/2020 08:08AM

The SEC used to be that way too. -- HOO86 12/02/2020 11:56AM

Corrigan believed in expansion, but there was a lot of resistance back then

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