Commissioner Jim Phillips Commissioner Press Conference Coaches, Administrators, League Partners and with Each of You
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Atlantic Coast Conference Football Kickoff Wednesday, July 21, 2021 Charlotte, North Carolina, USA Commissioner Jim Phillips Commissioner Press Conference coaches, administrators, league partners and with each of you. JIM PHILLIPS: Good morning, and welcome to the 2021 Speaking of relationships, last night we were able to enjoy ACC football kickoff. If you're anything like me, you've a wonderful evening celebrating our former commissioner. been looking forward to this event for many months. This John Swofford has been invaluable to me since my is a wonderful opportunity to gather together as we look appointment and is a true gentleman and a giant in college ahead to the upcoming fall seasons with great anticipation athletics. For more than five decades he served the ACC in a hopefully more normal year. in many different roles, including the last 24 as commissioner. His transformational leadership has meant Thanks to each of you for making the effort and taking the so much to this league, and he really is the gold standard time to be with us here in Charlotte. On behalf of our of commissioners. coaches, student-athletes, schools and conference office staff, we sincerely appreciate your interest and your Over 225 current and former administrators, staff, bowl and coverage of the ACC. television partners and friends were in attendance as we honored John and his beautiful wife Nora. In addition to Each of you are an important thread in the fabric of college our previous announcement that the Swofford name would athletics, and I want you to know how much I personally be added to the league's annual postgraduate scholarship, appreciate what you mean to this league and how you and we shared the news that beginning this year, the ACC the entire ACC family have welcomed me, Laura and our Football Championship Game Most Valuable Player will five kids since becoming commissioner. annually receive the John Swofford Award. It's been an honor and privilege to serve as ACC There is a tremendous appreciation in this league and commissioner over the last five months. It is truly my belief nationally for what John Swofford has meant to college that there is no better conference in the country, when you athletics and as a friend to so many of us. Laura and I are look at the incredible student-athletes, our 15 world-class so appreciative of our friendship with John and Nora. They institutions, our broad-based sports offerings and our represent everything that's right in college athletics and in commitment to maximizing the educational and athletic this world. opportunities for student-athletes. John knows that I'll never let him get too far away from the I'm so proud to work with the tremendous chancellors and ACC, and he's just a phone call away for me. presidents that collectively serve as the ACC board of directors. I'd like to specifically thank Syracuse University I'm looking forward to answering your questions a little bit chancellor Kent Syverud for his incredible leadership and later, but first I'd like to express some sincere gratitude, counsel as the outgoing chair of the board of directors. share some thoughts on my first five months, and address some of the timely topics affecting college athletics in our On July 1, Duke University president Vincent Price and country. University of Louisville president Neeli Bendapudi began their tenures as chair and vice chair respectively. Each will As all of you are well aware, the pandemic created be outstanding leaders as we navigate the 2021-22 unprecedented challenges over the last 15 months. To say academic year. last year was unique was certainly an understatement, and we continue to owe a debt of gratitude to the countless Since I began my tenure in February, I've appreciated the front-line workers who have unselfishly sacrificed and put chance to spend time with and engage with so many themselves in harm's way to serve others. My sincere people. I'm looking forward to continuing to build upon thanks to all of our heroes. those relationships with our countless student-athletes, 110505-2-1001 2021-07-22 21:55:00 GMT Page 1 of 9 able to accomplish during such a difficult year for all of us. Led by the extraordinarily and tireless efforts by the ACC medical advisory group, whose work continues, our Over a period of four weeks in April and May, I had a schools safely and successfully managed athletics in a chance to visit our 15 incredible institutions, spending time pandemic. Watching the resiliency, commitment and with each president or chancellor, athletics director, faculty sacrifices of our student-athletes was inspiring, and the athletics rep, senior women's administrator, coaches, adaptability and communication by our coaches and administrators and support staff, and most importantly, the administrators created a successful blueprint of effectively student-athletes was an amazing and energizing working together. experience. While on each campus I was able to gain institutional knowledge and familiarity, both from an There's not enough credit given to our student-athletes, academic and athletic perspective. The visits also coaches and administrators for what they were able to provided me with firsthand knowledge of how schools feel accomplish this past year, so on behalf of the entire about the conference, what's working, where do we need conference, let me say thank you. to improve, forecasting our future, and how to serve the membership. What makes this past year's achievements even more incredible is that our student-athletes and programs shined Overall, the feedback was very positive. Not surprisingly, while facing so many challenges. As we just witnessed there are a lot of wonderful accomplishments and initiatives here on the screen, the league crowned a champion in all that continue to be successful year in and year out with our 27 of our sponsored sports, and 10 different institutions conference, yet it's important that we never stand still, won ACC Championships. ACC teams also won five remain focused on the future, and work to see around the NCAA team championships. corner. Virginia won the league's first-ever national title in women's One area we all have more work to do across our country swimming. Notre Dame won fencing, making it three of the is in our social justice and diversity and inclusion efforts. last four national titles for the Fighting Irish. North Carolina The leadership of our student-athletes and schools in took home its third straight field hockey title and the 21st embracing the ongoing commitment to racial and social for the ACC, including 14 of the last 20. It was an All-ACC justice has been and continues to be awe inspiring. final when Boston College defeated Syracuse to win the NCAA women's lacrosse championship for its first title in More than a year ago, the ACC formed CORE, which program history. The ACC now owns 16 NCAA women's stands for Champions of Racial Equity, and includes lacrosse championships and has had a team in the representatives from both the conference office and our 15 national title game 11 times in the last 12 seasons. Finally, member institutions. As part of the ACC's continued Virginia won its second straight NCAA championship in commitment to social justice and racial equality, our men's lacrosse, marking the 25th title for current league schools and conference office implemented a number of programs, including nine of the last 13 and 14 titles since initiatives and programming over the past year based on 2000. In addition, the league recorded 24 individual the work by CORE. national titles, a conference record. Overall, seven ACC schools won a team or individual national title this year. ACC Unity Week took place during the fall, winter and Simply amazing. spring and will continue into the future. Throughout each of these designated periods, our campuses and As outstanding as the athletic successes were, the league conference office further elevated the discussions and continued to lead its peers with an average graduation programming to unite around social justice conversations success rate of 92 percent. This matched the ACC's GSR and actions. average the previous year and was two points higher than the national average. In the sport of football the ACC Programming in the fall included a virtual webinar where remains the only conference to have multiple teams student-athletes on activism and allyship. register GSR scores 90 or higher every year since 2005. During the winter a digital focus was in play throughout In the most recent report, four ACC football programs were February to celebrate Black History Month, which above 90 percent: Duke, Louisville, Boston College and culminated in a league-wide celebration of the diversity Virginia. among all member institutions. As you can tell, I'm so inspired by what our In addition, as part of the digital play, ACC student-athletes student-athletes, programs, schools and conference were shared their stories on the importance of Black History 110505-2-1001 2021-07-22 21:55:00 GMT Page 2 of 9 Month and their perspective on why leadership matters. motivating force behind the ACC's decision to fully support their opportunity to benefit from their name, image and The theme for the spring was activism through sports, likeness. While we appreciate the interim policy now in which was highlighted by notable guests highlighting three place, we will continue to work with Congressional leaders webinars and virtual walks across the league's 15 to enact federal legislation that will protect and benefit all campuses and our own conference office in Greensboro.