Sunday, September 18, 2011

ACC announces addition of Pitt, Syracuse

The Atlantic Coast Conference announced this morning that it has voted to accept the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University as new members. The invitation followed the submission of letters of application from both universities.

“The ACC is a strong united conference that is only going to get better with the addition of the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse University,” Duke University President Richard Broadhead, chair of the ACC Council of Presidents said in a statement. “Both schools are committed to competing at the highest level of academics and athletics. We welcome them as full partners in the ACC.”

The Council of Presidents voted unanimously to accept the two universities, according to an ACC news release.

“The ACC has enjoyed a rich tradition by balancing academics and athletics and the addition of Pitt and Syracuse further strengthens the ACC culture in this regard,” ACC commissioner John Swofford said in the news release. “Pittsburgh and Syracuse also serve to enhance the ACC’s reach into the states of New York and Pennsylvania and geographically bridges our footprint between Maryland and Massachusetts. With the addition of Pitt and Syracuse, the ACC will cover virtually the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States.”

The conference will hold a telephone conference with reporters at 9:30 this morning to discuss the additions, which increase the ACC's membership to 14.

Ken Tysiac

1 comments:

Michael Procton said...

I LOVE this move. It's become clear that the conferences are going to need to expand to compete on the national stage. However, I wanted the ACC to remain true to three parts of their legacy: geography, academics, and--most importantly--basketball. With these moves, they have done just that.