ACC Football: John Swofford Is Right Man to Handle Florida State Fiasco

Florida State is the big news out of the ACC and the Seminoles are not exactly presenting a united front. Some higher-ups are claiming the Big 12 wheels are already turning, while administration continues to tow the ACC rope. While it is still quite uncertain as to what the Seminoles are going to do, one thing in the ACC is quite clear: John Swofford is not as dumb as people want to believe he is.

Sure, people can point to the lack of money in the ACC deal being a big issue. They can complain about the league's success as a whole not being where it should be. Folks can point the finger to the conference's low standing on the national stage or even the addition of Pitt and Syracuse as paling in comparison to the moves of other leagues.

Those people would be quite right.

However, to think Swofford is as naive as his recent comments suggest is a tremendous underestimation of the longtime ACC commissioner. You may not like the way he does things. You may not always end up happy with the end results. But, Swofford has a way of picking himself up off the mat and making things work.

The former North Carolina athletic director has twice been proactive in expansion; the 2003 decision to bring Virginia Tech, Miami and Boston College and the 2011 move that will bring Pitt and Syracuse to the league. It is not Swofford's fault that Miami tanked, just as the league bottomed out as a whole or that Virginia Tech could not find another Michael Vick.

While the league has been bashed for their championship-game attendance, folks would be hard pressed to speak poorly of the game recently. It took Swofford awhile but, in Charlotte, he has found a location that has proved a success in housing the reason the conference expanded; the title game.

You see, Swofford has not been Mike Slive or Jim Delany. His efforts have not drawn the accolades of newcomer Larry Scott. However, Swofford has found a way to make it work during his tenure in the ACC.

That does not mean everything in the league is going to come up roses. It does not even mean, or guarantee, that Florida State is going to remain in the ACC. What it does mean is the conference, thanks to Swofford, is going to find a way to remain viable in the long run.