ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips goes on the offensive: ‘That, to me, is my responsibility to the league’

Almost eight months ago now, with the news of Florida State’s College Football Playoff snub only just beginning to transform from shock to reality, a nation of angry and online Seminoles supporters directed their ire toward a number of places and individuals. N.C. State athletics director Boo Corrigan received his share, as the CFP chairman.

Kirk Herbstreit became a target. So did ESPN, in general. Greg Sankey, the SEC commissioner, joined the list of an emotional fan base’s perceived enemies, given his advocacy for his conference’s inclusion in the four-team playoff and the proliferation of a theory that he was part of a vast SEC/ESPN conspiracy.

Some of the most visceral criticism, though, came in the direction of one man: Jim Phillips, the ACC’s still relatively-new commissioner. A narrative took hold, as narratives often do on social media. A perception became reality, whether based in fact or not: Phillips, in his third year in charge of the ACC, hadn’t done enough to campaign for Florida State, especially publicly.

And worse yet, according to many of the aggrieved, he’d gone into hiding when the Seminoles were left out. Where was the outrage? Where was the fight? Where, a jilted and vocal segment of FSU fans demanded to know, was Jim Phillips, a leader his critics accused of failing to lead the outcry in the hours and days after the undefeated Seminoles were left out of the playoff.

The snub propelled Florida State to file its lawsuit against the ACC in late December. And in a roundabout way, that lawsuit — and a similar one Clemson filed about two and a half months later, in March — inspired Phillips to become what some of his critics and detractors wanted him to be all along: an outspoken defender of the ACC. An advocate, in a time of need.

During the ACC’s annual preseason kickoff event last week in Charlotte, the usually-understated Phillips struck a more defiant tone. There was no talk, this year, of healthy neighborhoods or gated communities; no misplaced messaging advocating for a version of college sports that no longer exists. Phillips instead offered a plain-language defense of a conference under attack.

It was as though he’d found his voice, or at least a different one. Three days later, on the final day of ACC media days, Phillips sat alone in a conference room at the uptown Charlotte Hilton and tried to explain the how and why of his new messaging.

Without putting it so bluntly, he’d had enough.

‘Damaging lawsuits’

Enough of the lawsuits that threaten the ACC’s future. Enough of the talk of its current inferiority. Enough of the social-media-born perception that the ACC is on the brink of collapse — like the Pac-12 was a year ago — and ripe to be picked apart even by the Big 12, a league that pales in comparison despite contrary proclamations from its commissioner, Brett Yormark.

During his state-of-the-conference address early last week, Phillips described the lawsuits as “extremely damaging, disruptive and incredibly harmful” to the ACC. A few days later, in the closed-door confines of his de facto ACC Kickoff office, he reiterated how “the lawsuits have overshadowed a spectacular league.”

“And to me, it was very apparent as I have looked at the last six months,” he said.

Both FSU and Clemson have sued the conference over its Grant of Rights agreement, which was designed to give the ACC control over its members television broadcast rights – and the revenue they generate – through the duration of the conference’s contract with ESPN. Phillips has said the deal will expire in 2036, but ESPN has a “look in” that could affect the length of the contract.

If FSU and Clemson are successful in court — and the ACC has countersued both, seeking to uphold an agreement every league member signed, twice — it would undoubtedly be a destabilizing development for a conference founded in Greensboro in 1953. The court cases are in their infancy, though, and there’s nothing to indicate they will progress quickly.

Nonetheless, in some ways the damage has been done. Phillips and his conference, which were targets even before the events of last December, have only come under further assault in the months since. The torrent of criticism and angst and punchlines at the ACC’s expense has inspired Phillips to go on the offensive. Or the defensive, depending on one’s perspective.

“And that to me, is my responsibility to the league,” he said last week.

“I want people paying attention to these amazing student-athletes and coaches and teams, and our athletic success, more than I want them paying attention to what’s happening in a courtroom.”

Cases slowly wind through courts

What transpires in courtrooms from North Florida to Upstate South Carolina to Charlotte, though, will undoubtedly shape the ACC’s future and its make-up. So, too, will the increased fracturing throughout an enterprise undergoing more change than ever.

Schools will soon be able to compensate athletes directly, beyond their scholarships and other benefits, thanks to the settlement in what’s known as the House case. Further consolidation among power conferences seems inevitable. A break-off from the NCAA for leagues that survive appears well within the realm.

There are competing visions of what college athletics will become – “a reset,” as Phillips said again last week. Yormark, who has emerged as perhaps Phillips’ greatest rival, has espoused a version of college sports that is even more commercial than it already is; a version that could be fueled by private equity investment and selling advertisements wherever they can be placed – on officials’ uniforms, or even in the name of the conference, itself.

The prospect of private equity, especially, appears to be a line Phillips is reluctant to cross.

“Nothing’s for free,” he told reporters during his press conference last week.

“Yes, influx of cash allows you to do some things. But do schools want to do that individually, collectively? Do they not want to do it at all?”

In a more private setting, Phillips again countered the narrative that the ACC hasn’t been forward-thinking enough about generating new revenue, but he noted “every decision that we make has ramifications.” Yormark spent much of his address at the Big 12’s media days talking like a CEO beholden to shareholders and, in a way, that’s exactly what he is.

“Our top priority is growth and creating value for our member institutions,” he said. He spoke of “taking an innovative approach” with TV scheduling windows, and the need to “build our brand” and “build our business,” and “value creation,” and, on the question of private equity, how “having a capital resource as a partner makes a ton of sense.”

Revenue increase remains essential

Phillips, as cognizant as he has become about his need to fight for the ACC, remains committed to a different kind of vision. And yet the financial pressure isn’t going anywhere, either.

“We have been incredibly aggressive in our league on ways to look at additional revenue,” he said, referencing expansion and the ACC’s success initiatives, which go into effect this year and could allow members to generate more than $20 million in revenue.

While Yormark has been more outspoken, Phillips said “not everything and maybe most everything that the (ACC’s) board (of directors) describes, isn’t necessarily for public consumption. And so at times, it may appear that it’s trending this way, the narrative, when in actuality we’ve been way ahead in some areas.

“And then certainly (we’ve) vetted some things that may not have gotten to the public domain.”

One floor above where Phillips sat late last week, the last of the ACC’s four media days continued. Clemson was in town, along with N.C. State and North Carolina, and the ACC had placed signage all around touting the conference’s non-conference scheduling and quarterback talent and coaching acumen. The subtext was clear enough: the ACC was tired of the familiar narratives.

For Phillips, and those members hoping to keep everything together, it was time to speak up.