The Countdown: 15 days until the ACC

15 days until the ACC: A brief history lesson

In just over 2 weeks, Pitt will be a part of the new, 15-member ACC. Soon, the Panthers, Syracuse, and Notre Dame will leave the Big East/American for the much more stable confines of the ACC. We've been previewing the ACC here at Cardiac Hill for the past few weeks, but we have yet to talk about the history of the league we're joining in 2 weeks. So today we're going back to school and learning like most students do - with Wikipedia.

The Atlantic Coast Conference was founded on May 8, 1953 when 7 members of the Southern Conference (Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest) decided to withdraw from their old conference and formed the ACC, becoming the second conference to be formed by a group of schools departing the SoCon, the other being the SEC. In December, the conference added Virginia, and the league remained an 8 team conference until 1971, when South Carolina left because of a continuing disagreement between the school and the ACC on recruiting. Georgia Tech joined from the Metro Conference in 1978, followed by Florida State in 1991, and the league became a 9 team conference for over a decade.

The ACC then started a wave a conference realignment in 2003, when Miami and Virginia Tech left the Big East for the ACC, followed by Boston College in 2004, to become the current 12 team league it is today. The league was stable until 2011, which you all know what happened. Pitt and Syracuse left the Big East, followed by Notre Dame and later Louisville. Maryland (LOLTerps) decided they needed more money, so they decided to join the Big Ten, which B1G fans hate. The ACC then signed a grant of rights, effectively stabilizing the conference and keeping the conference as is. At least until the deal ends in 2027. Those West Virginia bloggers can hardly wait...

In the end, we are left with these 15 schools - Boston College, Clemson, Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Pitt, Syracuse, Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest. And that is your history lesson for today.