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ACC Football: How did the ACC become the nation’s premier conference?

By Justin Dottavio

TAMPA, FL - JANUARY 09: (EDITORS NOTE: Retransmission with alternate crop.) Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers reacts during the first half against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Raymond James Stadium on January 9, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FL - JANUARY 09: (EDITORS NOTE: Retransmission with alternate crop.) Head coach Dabo Swinney of the Clemson Tigers reacts during the first half against the Alabama Crimson Tide in the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Game at Raymond James Stadium on January 9, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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At one point the ACC was just a basketball conference. Now ACC football boasts some of the best coaching and talent in the nation. How did that happen?

Let’s set the stage. It’s December of 2000. I’m in high school as a senior in middle of nowhere Florida enjoying the good life. I’m cruising in my Plymouth (yes, Plymouth) Neon with Jimi Hendrix in my Discman that’s plugged into my tape deck via an adapter. Cruising the mean streets of rural-transitioning-to-suburbia pausing only for a second at the flashing light as I make my way through town. Decembers in the Jacksonville area get pretty cold, and I remember heading to Subway for a footlong and being able to see my breath in the cold night air which still mesmerizes me being a Miami boy.

Since moving from Miami in the summer of 1998; the #Canes had risen from 5-7 in 1997, my final year attending games regularly at the Orange Bowl, to 11-1 and really should’ve been playing the Oklahoma Sooners for the BCS title in their home stadium for the Orange Bowl game on January 3, 2001. I came in as a laughing stock amongst the Gator and Nole fans and left on the cusp of the national title.

But I digress, in December a grown man named Chris Weinke all of a young and budding 28 years old took the kids to school. He won a Heisman Trophy with now-Cane head coach Mark Richt as his Offensive Coordinator. Since Mr. Weinke took home the big trophy in 2000, an ACC player hadn’t won the award until 2013 with Jameis Winston. But now, in 2017, two of the last four Heisman winners are from the ACC in a conference growing in talent, titles, and coaching credibility.

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