COLLEGES Miami's ACC decision could come by week's end

Big East presidents are still campaigning to convince Miami to stay.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
WASHINGTON -- After spending Wednesday morning at a prestigious think tank discussing a report about what could happen in the aftermath of a catastrophic terrorist attack on Congress, then taking nearly two hours at the White House presenting the report to Vice President Dick Cheney, University of Miami president Donna Shalala addressed the issue capturing the attention of thousands across the nation -- conference realignment in college sports.
Shalala met with the presidents of the five football-playing universities in the Big East at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, site of her morning meeting. She spent roughly an hour listening and sharing information. According to at least one of the presidents, Shalala didn't reveal a decision about whether or not Miami will move to the Atlantic Coast Conference, but a source close to the discussions said Wednesday night an announcement to leave the Big East could come by this weekend or early next week.
Doesn't need board vote
Also, two sources said they believe Shalala will not need to have a vote by the 20-person executive committee of the Miami Board of Trustees, but instead could just relay her decision to them by phone. The executive committee met last week and asked her to negotiate three issues with ACC commissioner John Swofford, but a source said they were not "earth-shattering" issues that would prevent Miami from leaving.
The ACC, upon quietly learning Miami's intention to defect, if, indeed, that were Shalala's decision, would then vote to formally invite the Hurricanes, Boston College and Syracuse. The celebratory announcement would be made in Greensboro, N.C., home of the ACC.
While the Washington meeting was ending, Swofford and ACC representatives were concluding their final site inspection, this one at Syracuse University. Swofford and Syracuse athletic director Jake Crouthamel said the next step would involve a conference call with the nine ACC presidents and the three targeted Big East presidents.
"After that," Crouthamel said, "I guess the nine presidents vote formally."
Legal action by the Big East presidents, a topic addressed by Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese in private with his athletic directors, according to sources, is another looming possibility.
After the administrators ended their meeting at about 3 p.m., University of Connecticut president Philip Austin was asked about any possible legal actions, based on a long-term commitment to the Big East that Shalala allegedly made to the presidents during a November 2001 meeting. Since the alleged commitment, Connecticut proceeded with the building of a $90 million football stadium that opens this fall, and Pittsburgh built a $100 million basketball arena that opened last season.
"Of course if I talked about actions," Austin said, "then it would be certain they wouldn't happen. We're going to continue to evaluate our options and we'll pursue them depending on what all of us do. It's a very fluid situation.
Many options available
"Our strongly preferred option is to keep the Big East together, but I'm also aware there are many different options." Austin, who insisted Shalala was "evaluating alternatives and I take her at her word," said "she said she hadn't decided" and "she is going to reflect on it." But he still sounded like a man who was bracing for the worst.
"We have a lot to think about and we're going to probably assemble in the next day or so and see what we're going to do," Austin said of his fellow presidents from Pittsburgh (Mark Nordenberg), Rutgers (Richard McCormick), Virginia Tech (Charles Steger) and West Virginia (David Hardesty, Jr.).
"My assumption is we're going to be playing a Big East schedule for the next two years.
"This is a development in the realignment of the major conferences that has been underway for some time and it's now happening and we're going to have to confront it."