25 Years in the ACC

By Charlie Barnes

Seminoles to the SEC was assumed to be a sure thing in the spring of 1991. Lusty cheers rang from every crowd on the Bobby Bowden Tour at every mention of the coming marriage. The SEC was a football fan's paradise, and we were football people. Not everyone felt that way of course. There was much controversy among Seminole fans about whether the right fit for FSU was the ACC or the SEC, or whether we should join any conference at all. Many fans wanted to remain independent, admiring the success of independents like Notre Dame, Penn State, South Carolina, Pittsburg, Virginia Tech, Miami (in their glory days) and so on. But independence was not a practical choice. And all are affiliated with conferences now, following the league upheavals of the 1990s.

There are some who want to claim for whatever reason that FSU was never really given the option of joining the SEC in 1991. The truth is a long story and for another day, but for now be assured that Florida State did have the option to join the SEC. In fact, our acceptance of the invitation was expected, and the fit pitched by some associated with UF seemed to lend credibility to a suspicion that FSU may have informally agreed to join in previous negotiations and was now backing out.

The SEC had solicited Texas, Texas A&M, Florida State and Arkansas. Arkansas jumped from the Southwest Conference to the SEC, but the Texas Legislature stopped planned departures of the Longhorns and Aggies. And when it seemed as if the ACC might be winning over the Seminoles, someone associated with what was then the State Board of Regents tried to force President Bernie Sliger's hand.

Sliger, a beer-drinking, pool-shooting, poker playing former Army sergeant responded pretty much the way you'd expect.

The SEC offer was on the table but they were growing impatient. Neither was the ACC a sure thing. The blue-blood basketball schools had not yet agreed to expand. They were reluctant to allow football heathens into their basketball utopia. For a brief time there was a very real chance that Florida State might be abandoned at the altar by both grooms.

There were reasons Florida State chose to go one way and not the other. The issue was argued vigorously and at length. Most Seminole fans would have been happy to stay Independent. The SEC vs. ACC conference money distribution was about the same. In those days ACC conference income from basketball was actually greater than from football, and the ACC per-team payout was just slightly higher than the SEC.

There has been more than a little rhubarb lately about a comment Coach Bowden made on an Alabama radio talk show. Some translate what Bowden said as confirmation we joined a weak ACC because he believed FSU would never win a national championship as a member of the tough SEC.

I was with Coach all that spring, travelling the back roads late at night on the Bowden Tour and I can share the substance of Bobby Bowden's thinking. I don't know why he said what he said on the radio show. Maybe he misspoke; maybe he was misinterpreted; maybe he was just being kind to the host and the local Alabama radio audience. But I can promise you that 'if-we-join-the-SEC-we'll-never-win-a-national-title' was never a train of thought that guided him in 1991 or at any other time.

In the four years prior to the 1991 season, Bowden's teams registered nine wins over SEC heavyweights Florida, Auburn and LSU vs. only a single loss (Auburn in '90). Add three more SEC wins if you want to count South Carolina.

And from 1990 through 1999, the decade of two national championships, Bowden's teams played the SEC's showcase Gators 12 times including two bowl game rematches. The Seminoles recorded seven wins plus one tie that we counted as a win. Florida and their greatest coach in history could only manage 4 wins, and none of those in Tallahassee.

So, no. No, Bobby Bowden was never concerned about a schedule that included SEC teams. He was well aware of the wealth of talent he had assembled and the increasing power of Florida State's brand on the national stage.

True, the SEC of 1991 had not yet become the glittering darling of ESPN, and the ACC was viewed in some quarters as a league not entirely serious about football. The ACC was a conference of big basketball arenas and small football stadiums. ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan was the dynamic salesman in 1991, convincing League members to upgrade the product by hiring a football ringer, and courting Florida State to accept that role.

Within the ACC, expansion alone was the issue, not Florida State. Once the decision was made to add a team FSU was immediately accepted. It is not disrespectful to Coach Bowden to reveal he chose not to play a determining role in the final decision. He had played football his freshman year at Alabama. He was intimate with the inside details of the SEC comings and goings, the personalities, the controversies, the unwritten rules and agreements, their accepted ways of doing business.

Bowden had a realistic assessment of both conferences, the quality of the teams and the integrity of the athletic administrations. More than that, Bowden knew what we all knew: Florida State's emerging national popularity gave us a chance to go our own way on our own terms, to move away from Florida's looming shadow.

I'm sure Bowden was asked for his opinion and it was given. But he did not try to influence the decision. There were advantages to joining the SEC, and financial advantages unforeseen at the moment that would become even more compelling over time.

But the ACC had its attractions as well. It is certainly a collegial league and the academic credentials are sterling. The ACC is a unique league in that unlike any other Power Five conference it is composed largely of private colleges and universities.

Counting Notre Dame, six of the member schools are private. That is more than all the other major conferences combined. In addition to those six, the University of Pittsburg defines itself as private along with the designation "state-related." The University of Louisville, founded in 1798 was the first city-owned university in America. It was not until 1970 that they joined the State of Kentucky system.

In 1991 we said that in ten years we'd know if we had made the right decision. It's been 25 years now and we still have not found consensus. A quarter-century ago the theory was that Florida State's football prowess would spark a football Renaissance in the ACC. And for their part, the ACC's elite genes would be absorbed by our ambitious basketball program.

What was supposed to have happened has not; at least it has not happened yet. The addition of more schools has certainly helped but the ACC has not yet developed a strong football signature comparable to the other Power Five conferences. It is true that hundreds of millions in upgrades and improvements have poured into ACC football facilities, and our expanded inventory of teams is better. Clemson has returned to national prominence to be sure. Notre Dame's agreement to join as full partners would have enormous impact but so far they have not done so. And in Miami, the life force that once held so much promise for the League seems to have ebbed from the Hurricanes. Too many of the other football programs are comparatively more or less where they were 25 years ago. Our basketball program has perhaps not yet fully benefited from our ACC affiliation.

On the other hand you could, and you should make a strong case that the ACC is the best basketball league in the country. An equally strong case could also be made that the ACC is the best college baseball league and the best in several signature women's sports. This is all to the good and a source of righteous pride among all our members.

But in the world of 2016, college football is the moneymaker and the most popular sport by a wide margin. I still get the feeling there are some quiet corners in the ACC where they indulge a fantasy that someday we will all go away and leave them alone to enjoy their basketball in peace.

There has been no mention in this essay of the disparity in conference income and financial distribution. Florida State is one of the few college athletic programs nationally able to pay our annual bills without going into debt. That advantage is due almost entirely to you and your loyal support as fans and Boosters.

In 1981 Seminole Boosters, Inc. was cited in a national survey commissioned by the Omaha World Herald as one of the four most successful athletic booster organizations in America. Nearly four decades later that standing has maintained and even increased its strength.

This is for certain: We have no idea what the college football landscape will be like in another five years or ten. Considering everything, Florida State has been blessed with extraordinary good fortune from the beginning. Among all the schools that began playing football after World War II, we are the only one to win a National Championship. We have won three and we are looking for more.

Coach Bowden said sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. We're already good. Let's hope the future will confirm we were also lucky to join the ACC 25 years ago.

Charlie Barnes is the former executive director and senior vice president of Seminole Boosters. Contact him at cbarnes161@comcast.net.