ACC commissioner regarding Florida State and the Big 12: ‘I don’t deal in hypotheticals’
ACC commissioner John Swofford isn't going to indulge in speculation of Florida State leaving the ACC for the Big 12. Instead, he said he believes FSU and the conference have a good working relationship and he doesn't expect that to change any time soon.
"I don't deal in hypotheticals, I deal with what's tangible," Swofford told media Wednesday during the ACC spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla. "It's what we're doing as a league with the current 12, soon to be 14 membership league, and we're moving ahead on the basis of that full membership."
Rumors of Florida State's defection to the Big 12 have been rampant for the past week ever since Chip Brown of Orangebloods.com, laid out the reasons why a move would be beneficial for the Seminoles. Since then, everyone from Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher to members of the board of trustees has weighed in on the move.
[Dan Wetzel: FSU trustee may have lit the fuse on a move to the Big 12]
Wednesday, former linebacker Derrick Brooks told the Tim Brando Show that the Big 12 had reached out to Florida State and not the other way around.
"From my understanding, it is the Big 12, you know, wanting to talk to us," Brooks said. "Again that's from my understanding; that appears to be the case."
However, Texas athletics director DeLoss Dodds, a member of the Big 12's four-man expansion committee, told the Austin American-Statesman earlier this week "there's no traction" in regards to Florida State joining the Big 12.
"They're a long ways away," Dodds said of Florida State. "There've been no conversations between Florida State and the Big 12."
New Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby, who officially takes over on June 15, told USA Today he thought conference expansion would be on the agenda of future conference meetings, but declined to specifically talk Florida State.
"Conference realignment will continue to be an issue and one we all have to be vigilant about," Bowlsby told USA Today. "I think the topic of expansion will be on every agenda going forward. But it's on every other conference's agenda going forward, too."
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