Jim Phillips named ACC Commissioner and loyal to?

Kevin White, Duke’s Athletic Director. I guess Coach K will control the ACC office now as he sees fit. This makes me nauseous.

2 Likes

I don’t know much about this, and this situation is very interesting, and I’d love to know more

This is way off base from everything I’ve read. If you have to fear him being under the thumb of one school it’s Notre Dame. Much more extensive history between Phillips and Swarbrick.

4 Likes

I’ve seen a lot of praise for him, and Northwestern folk seem to hold him in very high regard. Have seen people on some forums saying they’re bummed the BIG didn’t make him their commissioner before we snagged him.

2 Likes

Can this be the Carla Williams watch thread too?

Is Carla on the move? Hadn’t heard of this

Not that it is worth a whole lot, but a friend of mine who is an ACC track and field coach strongly feels she’ll try to bounce to UGA if/when the position opens

The Georgia AD is retiring after 18 years. Carla was groomed for his slot.

Is Val Ackerman willing to take on a lower level position to be our AD? Currently Big East commish (i didnt even realize. Last I checked she was with USA basketball. I know her name gets brought up often for ACC comish as well).

Val Ackerman - Wikipedia She’s been everywhere.

Looks like Carla is trying to put to rest any speculation that might be going around:

5 Likes

I hope that’s not how they say please drive a dump truck full of money up to my house in Georgia.

I would guess UVa athletics is in better shape just due to total financial exposure. Carla would know much better than me. Her statement does make me feel better.

Great news

Syracuse athletic director Kent Syverud is the chairman of the ACC Board of Governors. Why would the ACC Board of Governors have hired Phillips if they felt there was even the slightest chance that he was going to favor Coach K?

We (UVa) once employed ACC commissioner John Swofford as our ticket manager, but I don’t think that’s made him do Tony Bennett any favors. :crazy_face:

That is good news Carla is a very very vuable asset to UVa and her knowledge and experience is what will help keep the Hoos in the national story. The athletics office was a mess before she arrived

5 Likes

I’d say that with that kind of money, Georgia could lure anyone they wanted to their athletic department. Carla and her husband both have PhD’s, and UVa is special to them. Cool!

1 Like

I’m not as high on Carla as some of you are. The way I see it, she’s done three big things since she got here, none of which are good.

  1. Tina Thompson Hire

The WBB program is a mess, we lost to JMU a few weeks ago and are poised to finish as a bottom three ACC team. This has been Carla’s only HC hire, and it looks like a big miss.

  1. The Master Plan

I was thrilled when I heard that we were going to be building a new football and Olympic sports facility. From what I’ve heard, the big donors were not. It seems like they weren’t even consulted about the 150 million dollar plan that Carla pushed out. All in all, I supported the plan, but it seems like Carla angered some of the donor base by asking for so much just a few years after she got here.

  1. Logo Change

I know many people are split on the logo change, and there has been extensive conversation about it. Personally, I wasn’t a fan. I just don’t see why the iconic logo needed to be changed, and I don’t buy the excuse that it looked washed out on television. I think we can call it what it was: a blatant money grab to support the struggling Master Plan. The one positive that came out of this was how she handled the serpentine handle fiasco.

Carla isn’t perfect but when i look at ehat was going on under Littlepage is inexcusable. Plenty of alumni were alienated during that time. Al Groh Mike London Dave Laito and I believe Gillen all came from that time as well. Not to mention the firing of a lacrosse legend.

6 Likes

Agree with u Dragon but also worth noting that Littlepage hired Bennett, Tiffany, and Brian O’Connor, all hires that have led to national championships.

I’m very happy Carla is staying. WBB is tough though, nobody has got that right in a while but I think we all know, including the AD, who we need to take that program over.

7 Likes

I don’t have a ton to say on the general AD convo that hasn’t been said (I think she’s had some miscues, but has done well enough and definitely deserves some more time) but the state of the women’s basketball program is just sad. While the odds of it happening are pretty low, it’s definitely possible we go winless this year. We had to cancel a game because we didn’t have enough players to play - and it wasn’t because we had COVID! That’s… I don’t remember that ever happening to any basketball team I’ve ever followed. It’s just a dumpster fire.

I know we can’t afford to get rid of Tina Thompson this season, but I hope we might be able to after next year. I just don’t see anyway the program recovers under her.

2 Likes

Tina Thompson makes a maximum of $650K a year, I believe. Her original contract was for 5 years and unless she has received extensions (I have no idea if she has), then paying a buy out of $1.3M (her salary for the next two years) is not going to keep UVa from firing her and hiring a new coach. UVa at one time had significant crowds for WBB games, but they sure haven’t recently.
Thompson only did as well in her first two years because of players already on the roster when she arrived. Now with those players either graduating or transferring, she is left with only the players she has recruited and they aren’t very talented. Unless the team starts doing much better, I’ll bet this is her last season at UVa.
I’ve heard Carla has a good relationship with Dawn Staley. If there is any chance of bringing Dawn to UVa, nothing should stand in the way of that happening, no matter how much it will cost.

3 Likes