For only the second time in its history, the Atlantic Coast Conference is losing a charter member.
The University of Maryland formally announced Monday that it will leave the ACC for the Big Ten Conference.
"Our best wishes are extended to all of the people associated with the University of Maryland," ACC commissioner John Swofford said. "Since our inception, they have been an outstanding member of our conference and we are sorry to see them exit.
"For the past 60 years the Atlantic Coast Conference has exhibited leadership in academics and athletics. This is our foundation and we look forward to building on it as we move forward.”
The move to the Big Ten was approved Monday in a meeting of the university system board of regents in Baltimore. Former Terps basketball star Tom McMillen, a member of the board, told the Washington Post that he voted against the move.
Maryland's move is not effective until the 2014-2015 school year. Rutgers also is expected to join the Big Ten.
N.C. State football coach Tom O'Brien said Monday that the move "caught a lot of people by surprise."
"Each school is intent on doing what's best for itself," O'Brien said. "Obviously Maryland felt that was best in moving forward."
Maryland leaving the ACC, in large part, is being made to shore up a financially struggling athletic department. Maryland eliminated seven varsity sports this year and the athletic department has a large financial deficit.
The Big Ten, bolstered by the ultra-successful Big Ten Network, has become a financial powerhouse. The conference distributed $24 million to most of its 12 shools this year.
"We will be able to insure the financial sustainability of the University of Maryland athletics," Maryland president Wallace Loh said at a news conference Monday.
The ACC, with a new 15-year, $3.6 billion contract with ESPN signed in May, should pay out roughly $15 million a year to its schools.
Maryland chancellor William (Brit) Kirwan said there was a possibility the Terps would reinstate the sports eliminated with the added resources.
"I think it's ridiculous, it's a mistake," former Maryland basketball coach Lefty Driesell said Monday. "But at Maryland it's always about the money. This was done solely for money and that's not what college athletics is all about."
The ACC has a $50 million exit fee, but Maryland could negotiate a lower fee, ESPN reported. Maryland and Florida State were the two ACC schools who opposed boosting the exit fee from $20 million to $50 million.
Loh said the "exit sum," as he put it, would be "discussed in private" with the ACC.
Maryland was one of seven charter members when the ACC was formed on May 8, 1953. Before Monday, the only school to withdraw from the conference was the University of South Carolina in 1971.
"The is a watershed moment for the University of Maryland," Loh said. "It marks a new day, a new chapter for the university. I decided to do what's best for the University of Maryland in the long haul.
"I'm aware many Terrapin fans are stunned and saddened. It's no different than leaving the Southern Conference (in 1953). We will always cherish the rivalries and memories we have of the ACC."
The ACC in September announced that Notre Dame would join the league in all sports but football and hockey. Pittsburgh and Syracuse are leaving the Big East after this year to join the ACC.
Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany said the league's 12 presidents were "giddy" about inviting Maryland. He said the move was part of the "paradigm shift" in college athletics that has "all major conferences slightly outside their footprints.
"Change kept happening. Conferences were outside their region over and over and over again."
Delany would not comment on Rutgers possible admission into the Big Ten, saying, "This is Maryland's day."
A Raleigh native, Chip has worked at the N&O since 1979 and is the Canes beat writer. He can be reached at
Comments
Had a night to sleep on it
Tue, 11/20/2012 - 12:08 — gvillegatrDidn't really want to comment specifically on what losing Maryland does to the ACC last night after work bc I didn't want to give that "sky is falling" post without really giving it time to sink in.
I have mixed feeling on the future of the ACC.
Selfishly, I'd just soon see UNC move on and go North or South. Don't really care which way to be honest. They'll compete in baskets and win in either direction. And football, as a whole, will be better off, but the outcome of football games are realistically in the air. Obviously, they'd compete better in the B1G.
Losing Maryland on the surface is really no big deal to most of us. Nobody liked them - especially their fans. Across the board, fans from the other eleven schools had nothi good to say about going to Maryland for basketball or football. If I want a Maryland crab cake, I can go to Harris Teeter and get a couple of freshly made cakes and be happy.
But if you peel back the layers, losing Maryland could be the beginning of the end for the conference as a player at the table. Don't think for a second other schools in this conference aren't going to be paying attention to see if the ACC holds Maryland to the $50 M payout. Their feet better be held to the fire on this.
UConn. If this conference goes and gets UConn, you can put a fork in us. I don't know if it is true or not, but FSU has been vehemently against adding this school and have threatened to walk if they are accepted. The ACC needs to get off this damn soap box of ACADEMICS. It is a joke and disingenuous at best. The two sports who pay all the bills have kids who would never be accepted anywhere based on their HS grades and tests. That being said, Louisville better be given first right of refusal. There are a good amount of TV sets in Kentucky and Southern Ohio (Natti). The ACC is already gonna be in New York with 'Cuse and we have Boston College just to the North. Somebody explain to me why it is paramount to add UConn? And playing partners with Cuse and BC are not good enough reasons. Another please.
The ACC's saving grace (maybe) is the ESPN deal with the Orange Bowl over the foreseeable future. That's a pretty sweet payout and it does not involve playing anyone from the Big East. So at the very least, no one can say if they win the Conference they are not going to a prestigious bowl.
But, with projected paydays for schools in other conferences dwarfing the ACC's in the very near future, the conference is in jeopardy or so it appears to this average Joe.
Puleez
Mon, 11/19/2012 - 13:48 — DrFishBe serious. ACC should feel good about having Syracuse and Pitt coming in. Great basketball schools, with improving football programs, plus they pull in viewership from two large northern states.
Might all the Syracuse hate be prompted by a fear that, basketball-wise, the school may lay some L's on the records of the cherished NC universities? Me thinx so.....
Moving on
Mon, 11/19/2012 - 13:06 — harrisekSeems like a done deal. Let's collect our $50M then kick them to the curb and move on with 13.
Got BLOWTORCH....Louie, take off MD Sneaks....
Mon, 11/19/2012 - 12:54 — ViperRetMemo to Commish Swofford.....Please call Louie and stock up on propane cylinders for meeting with MD.
DO NOT LET THEM OUT for less than $50 MILLION.
I do NOT care HOW offensive their fans are....BUT, if they agree to take Syracuse with them....then let MD and SYR pony up $25 Million each and sign the release papers and throw them OUT.
MD is NOT the OLD MD that we knew and loved (good hearted rivalry hatred) back during the 70's. They pulled a "Monteith" when Bias died of an OD and threw Lefty under the bus.
Their regents and faculty senate got giddy with power. Even Debbie Yow could not turn them around.....but she did stop the bleeding and left them solvent....something that they were NOT before she came. They then undid a lot of her fundamentals....and see where they are today.
Understand that Walt Disney will be relocating Fantasy Land section of Disney World to College Park as part of the way they raise money to pay for their escape. WHERE is this $50 Million coming from? The University or the general Funds. MD's Athletic program can not just go out and borrow it....They could not do a PRE Dodd/Franks loan...so don't even attempt such now.
I SINCERELY hope that someone can explain exactly WHERE the money is coming from....and how it will be repaid.
Debbie yow at Maryland
Tue, 11/20/2012 - 10:12 — gvillegatrDebbie Yow is the reason the Maryland athletic dept is so in debt. She gambled and loss when she expanded the football stadium at Mryland and added all the luxury boxes. They couldn't fill up their stadium before the expansion. How did she possibly think they would sell more seats after it? And the luxury boxes? More than half of them are still sitting empty bc no one wants to buy them.
And when it was time to balance the budget, she went into the coffers to come up with the difference. I believe they call that robbing Peter to pay Paul. It only appeared she knew what she was doing bc folks like me and you aren't privy to this sorta info in real time.
Solvent my ass! Priceless!!