Duke, NC State Publishers on John Swofford's Final Move

ACC commissioner again takes everyone by surprise

The ACC announced its scheduling model for the 2020 season on Wednesday. Once again, commissioner John Swofford appears to have caught everyone by surprise, including his colleagues at the helm of the other power conferences.

Blue Devil Country publisher Shawn Krest and All Wolfpack publisher Brett Friedlander appeared on the Tar Heel Illustrated podcast with Rivals’ publisher Andrew Jones to discuss the new ACC schedule, and the conversation quickly moved to Swofford and the legacy of the longtime commissioner who announced he will retire next year.

Krest spoke on Swofford’s long-standing social media nickname of The Ninja, and how he had one ninja move left in him before stepping down. Rumors that the SEC was planning to unveil a conference-only schedule, which would have meant the cancellation of several traditional ACC-SEC rivalry games, including Florida-Florida State, Georgia-Georgia Tech, Clemson-South Carolina and Louisville-Kentucky.

Before the SEC could do that, Swofford unveiled the ACC’s plan, which calls for one, as yet unspecified non-conference game per team, which must take place in the state where the ACC school is located. In effect, he left the door open for the rivalry games, and put the SEC in the position of having to be the one to call them off.

Swofford’s impact on the ACC couldn’t be overstated. Friedlander called him “the man who saved the ACC” when the first round of realignment took place. Krest said that Swofford was on par with the NBA’s David Stern when discussing the most significant commissioners in all of sports.