COLLEGE ACC schools ready to accept moves to expand conference

Six schools have already told the league they would vote for expansion.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. -- Atlantic Coast Conference expansion has gained momentum at the league's spring meetings, with all three anti-expansion schools softening their stance.
Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, the league's most prominent critic of expansion, said his concerns have been allayed.
"I don't know which direction this will go," Krzyzewski said Monday after emerging from a series of meetings. "But I do know the best interests of basketball will be served. ... Based on the last 24 hours, I believe that will happen."
Six league schools already have told the ACC they would vote for expansion, multiple sources told the Charlotte Observer. League bylaws require seven "yes" votes before the ACC can make formal invitations to Miami and two other schools, expected to be Syracuse and Boston College.
Three schools holding out
Duke, North Carolina and N.C. State are the three schools that have not given their support, but Krzyzewski's comments Monday suggested his school would not stand in the way, and football coaches at two other schools gave similar impressions.
UNC coach John Bunting said Sunday his school isn't adamantly against expansion. "There are some facts people don't know," he said.
Monday, N.C. State coach Chuck Amato said he wouldn't characterize his school's chancellor, Marye Anne Fox, as anti-expansion. Fox has surprised ACC officials by not giving her approval, but Amato said she is being thorough before making a final decision.
"I can't speak for her, but I wouldn't say she's a 'no,' " Amato said. "She wants more meat before she makes a decision."
Several sources at the ACC meetings said Miami indicated to the league last week it would accept an invitation if given. UM president Donna Shalala denied that, and insists she has not made a decision. As of Monday, she had not made a recommendation to the Board of Trustees.
However, several sources indicate UM athletic director Paul Dee has recommended the school join the ACC for financial reasons.
A source close to the discussions said UM has indicated to the Big East that it must do what's in its best interests financially, and joining the ACC would be more favorable economically. The UM athletic department struggles consistently to break even and reportedly lost $1.7 million in 2001-02.
Expects unified decision
ACC commissioner John Swofford declined to gauge how close the league is to making a choice, but he expects a unified decision.
Expansion could be a now-or-never proposition, these five prominent ACC officials said Monday: football coaches Amato, Tommy Bowden of Clemson and Al Groh of Virginia; and athletics directors Dave Hart of Florida State and Dave Braine of Georgia Tech.
"I think we have a window of opportunity we haven't had," Braine said. "Where's the ACC going to be in 2006 if the NCAA has four or five mega-conferences, and we're not a mega-conference?"
Prominent officials inside and outside the ACC compare this off-season to the expansion wave of the early 1990s, when the SEC grew to 12 teams, the Big Ten added Penn State and the Big 8 consolidated with half the Southwest Conference to form the Big 12. Those moves spawned the Bowl Championship Series, which awards $13.5-million bowl bids to the most powerful football conferences.
"Pretty soon the options are going to be limited," Bowden said. "The climate of college football is heading toward conferences like the Big 12 and SEC."