For as much as the ACC’s membership has changed a ton over the last couple decades, one constant has been conference commissioner John Swofford. On Thursday, we learned that the long-time leader of the ACC will retire following the 2020-21 season (first via a News & Observer report, then an official announcement by the league itself).
Swofford was first named commish back in 1997, taking over a nine-team league that was decidedly basketball-first and largely lorded over by Florida State in football. In the years since, Swofford has led the ACC through two tectonic shifts in college sports and arguably no conference has improved itself more in that time.