Atlantic Coast Conference

Atlantic Coast Conference
Established	May 8, 1953; 68 years ago (1953-05-08)
Association	NCAA
Division	Division I
Subdivision	FBS
Members	15
Sports fielded	28[1] men's: 14 women's: 14
Region	South South Atlantic East South Central Northeast Mid-Atlantic New England Midwest East North Central
Headquarters	Greensboro, North Carolina
Commissioner	James J. Phillips (since February 1, 2021)
Website	www.theacc.com
Locations

The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)'s Division I. ACC football teams compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision. The ACC sponsors competition in twenty-five sports with many of its member institutions held in high regard nationally. Current members of the conference are Boston College, Clemson University, Duke University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Florida State University, North Carolina State University, Syracuse University, the University of Louisville, the University of Miami, the University of North Carolina, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Virginia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Wake Forest University.

ACC teams and athletes have claimed dozens of national championships in multiple sports throughout the conference's history. Generally, the ACC's top athletes and teams in any particular sport in a given year are considered to be among the top collegiate competitors in the nation. Additionally, the conference enjoys extensive media coverage. With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, the ACC is one of the "Power Five" conferences with a contractual tie-in to a New Year's Six bowl game in the sport of football.

The ACC was founded on May 8, 1953, by seven universities located in the South Atlantic States, with the University of Virginia joining in early December 1953 to bring the membership to eight.^[2] The loss of South Carolina in 1971 dropped membership to seven, while the addition of Georgia Tech in 1979 for non-football sports and 1983 for football brought it back to eight, and Florida State's arrival in 1991 for non-football sports and 1992 for football increased the membership to nine. Since 2000, with the widespread reorganization of the NCAA, seven additional schools have joined, and one original member (Maryland) has left to bring it to the current membership of 15 schools. The additions in recent years extended the conference's footprint into the Northeast and Midwest.

ACC member universities represent a range of private and public universities of various enrollment sizes, all of which participate in the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Consortium whose purpose is to "enrich the educational missions, especially the undergraduate student experiences, of member universities".

Member universities[]

Current members[]

The ACC has 15 member institutions from 10 states. Listed in alphabetical order, these 10 states within the ACC's geographical footprint are Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. The geographic domain of the conference is predominantly within the Southern and Northeastern United States along the US Atlantic coast and stretches from Florida in the south to New York in the North and from Indiana in the west to Massachusetts farthest east.

In two sports, football and baseball, the ACC is divided into two non-geographic divisions of seven teams each, labeled the "Atlantic" and "Coastal" divisions. Notre Dame does not participate in ACC football and Syracuse does not participate in ACC baseball (the Orange dropped baseball as a varsity sport after the 1971 season), leaving 14 total ACC schools for each of those sports. For all other sports, the ACC operates as a single unified league with no divisions.

When Notre Dame joined the ACC, it chose to remain a football independent. However, its football team established a special scheduling arrangement with the ACC to play a rotating selection of five ACC football teams per season. For the 2020 season, due largely to the suspension of most non-conference games by other Power Five conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the ACC reached an agreement to allow Notre Dame to play a full, 10-game conference schedule and be eligible to play for the ACC championship.^[3]

Since July 1, 2014, the 15 members of the ACC are:

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Type	Enrollment	Endowment (millions)	Nickname	Colors
Atlantic Division
Boston College	Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts	1863	2005	Private	14,513	$2,520	Eagles
Clemson University	Clemson, South Carolina	1889	1953	Public	24,387	$774.5	Tigers
Florida State University	Tallahassee, Florida	1851	1991[a]		41,900	$699.9	Seminoles
University of Louisville	Louisville, Kentucky	1798	2014		22,640	$719.8	Cardinals
North Carolina State University	Raleigh, North Carolina	1887	1953		35,479	$1,400	Wolfpack
University of Notre Dame	Notre Dame, Indiana	1842	2013	Private	12,292	$13,800	Fighting Irish
Syracuse University	Syracuse, New York	1870			22,484	$1,390	Orange
Wake Forest University	Winston-Salem, North Carolina	1834	1953		8,116	$1,370	Demon Deacons
Coastal Division
Duke University	Durham, North Carolina	1838	1953	Private	15,892	$8,610	Blue Devils
Georgia Institute of Technology	Atlanta, Georgia	1885	1979[b]	Public	32,718	$2,170	Yellow Jackets
University of Miami	Coral Gables, Florida	1925	2004	Private	17,331	$1,050	Hurricanes
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	Chapel Hill, North Carolina	1789	1953	Public	29,847	$3,670	Tar Heels
University of Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	1787	2013	State-related	28,664[c]	$4,310	Panthers
University of Virginia	Charlottesville, Virginia	1819	1953	Public	24,360	$11,700	Cavaliers
Virginia Tech	Blacksburg, Virginia	1872	2004		33,403	$1,358	Hokies

Former members[]

On July 1, 2014, the University of Maryland departed for the Big Ten Conference and the University of Louisville joined from the American Athletic Conference (formerly, the Big East Conference). In 1971, the University of South Carolina left the ACC to become an independent, later joining the Metro Conference in 1983 and moving to its current home, the Southeastern Conference, in 1991.

Institution	Location	Founded	Joined	Left	Type	Nickname	Colors	Current Conference
University of South Carolina	Columbia, South Carolina	1801	1953	1971	Public	Gamecocks		SEC
University of Maryland	College Park, Maryland	1856	1953	2014	Public	Terrapins		Big Ten

Membership timeline[]

Full members Non-football members

History[]

Founding and early expansion[]

The ACC was established on June 14, 1953, when seven members of the Southern Conference left to form their own conference.^{[note 1][7]} These seven universities became charter members of the ACC: Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, South Carolina, and Wake Forest. They left partially due to the Southern Conference's ban on post-season football play that had been initiated in 1951. (Clemson and Maryland had both defied the Southern Conference's bowl rule following the 1951 season and were banned from playing other conference teams in the 1952 season).^[8] After drafting a set of bylaws for the creation of a new league, the seven withdrew from the Southern Conference at the spring meeting on the morning of May 8, 1953, at the Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina. The bylaws were ratified on June 14, 1953, and the new conference was created.^[9] The conference officials indicated a desire to add an eighth member, and candidates mentioned were Virginia, Virginia Tech and West Virginia.^[10] On December 4, 1953, officials convened in Greensboro, North Carolina, and admitted Virginia, a former Southern Conference charter member that had been independent since 1937, into the conference.^[11] Virginia's president Colgate Darden argued fiercely against joining the ACC or any conference, while UVA athletics director Gus Tebell argued in favor.^[12] In the end, UVA's Board of Visitors approved joining the ACC by a vote of 6–3.^[12]

In 1960, the ACC implemented a minimum SAT score for incoming student-athletes of 750, the first conference to do so. This minimum was raised to 800 in 1964, but was ultimately struck down by a federal court in 1972.^[13]

On July 1, 1971, South Carolina left the ACC to become an independent.

Racial integration[]

Racial integration of all-white collegiate sports teams was high on the regional agenda in the 1950s and 1960s. Involved were issues of equality, racism, and the alumni demand for the top players needed to win high-profile games. The ACC took the lead. First they started to schedule integrated teams from the north. Finally ACC schools—typically under pressure from boosters and civil rights groups—integrated their teams.^[14] With an alumni base that dominated local and state politics, society and business, the ACC flagship schools were successful in their endeavor—as Pamela Grundy argues, they had learned how to win:

The widespread admiration that athletic ability inspired would help transform athletic fields from grounds of symbolic play to forces for social change, places where a wide range of citizens could publicly and at times effectively challenge the assumptions that cast them as unworthy of full participation in U.S. society. While athletic successes would not rid society of prejudice or stereotype—black athletes would continue to confront racial slurs...[—minority star players demonstrated] the discipline, intelligence, and poise to contend for position or influence in every arena of national life.^[15]

1978 and 1991 expansions[]

The ACC operated with seven members until the addition of Georgia Tech from the Metro Conference, announced on April 3, 1978, and taking effect on July 1, 1979, except in football, in which Tech would remain an independent until joining ACC football in 1983. The total number of member schools reached nine with the addition of Florida State, also formerly from the Metro Conference, on July 1, 1991, in non-football sports and July 1, 1992, in football. The additions of those schools marked the first expansions of the conference footprint since 1953, though both schools were still located with the rest of the ACC schools in the South Atlantic States.

2004–2005 expansion[]

The ACC added three members from the Big East Conference during the 2005 conference realignment: Miami and Virginia Tech joined on July 1, 2004, and Boston College joined on July 1, 2005, as the league's twelfth member and the first from the Northeast. The expansion was controversial, as Connecticut, Rutgers, Pittsburgh, and West Virginia (and, initially, Virginia Tech) filed lawsuits against the ACC, Miami, and Boston College for allegedly conspiring to weaken the Big East Conference.

2010–present[]

The ACC Hall of Champions opened on March 2, 2011, next to the Greensboro Coliseum arena, making the ACC the second college sports conference to have a hall of fame after the Southern Conference.^{[16][note 2]}

On September 17, 2011, Big East Conference members Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh both applied to join the ACC.^[18] The two schools were accepted into the conference the following day, once again expanding the conference footprint like previous expansions.^[19] Because the Big East intended to hold Pitt and Syracuse to the 27-month notice period required by league bylaws, the most likely entry date into the ACC (barring negotiations) was July 1, 2014.^[20] However, in July 2012, the Big East came to an agreement with Syracuse and Pitt that allowed the two schools to leave the Big East on July 1, 2013.^[21][22]

On September 12, 2012, Notre Dame agreed to join the ACC in all conference sports except football as the conference's first member in the Midwestern United States. As part of the agreement, Notre Dame committed to play five football games each season against ACC schools beginning in 2014.^[23] On March 12, 2013, Notre Dame and the Big East announced they had reached a settlement allowing Notre Dame to join the ACC effective July 1, 2013.^[24]

On November 19, 2012, the University of Maryland's Board of Regents voted to withdraw from the ACC to join the Big Ten Conference effective in 2014.^[25] The following week, the Big East's University of Louisville accepted the ACC's invitation to become a full member, replacing Maryland effective July 1, 2014.^[26]

The ACC's presidents announced on April 22, 2013, that all 15 schools that would be members of the conference in 2014–15 had signed a grant of media rights (GOR), effective immediately and running through the 2026–27 school year, coinciding with the duration of the conference's then-current TV deal with ESPN. This move essentially prevents the ACC from being a target for other conferences seeking to expand—under the grant, if a school leaves the conference during the contract period, all revenue derived from that school's media rights for home games would belong to the ACC and not the school.^[27] The move also left the SEC as the only one of the FBS Power Five conferences without a GOR.^[28]

In July 2016, the GOR was extended through the 2035–36 school year, coinciding with the signing of a new 20-year deal with ESPN that would transform the then-current ad hoc ACC Network into a full-fledged network. The new network launched as a digital service in the 2016–17 school year and as a linear network in August 2019.^[29]

On August 24, 2021, the ACC conference forms an alliance with the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences.

Academics and ACCAC[]

Academic rankings[]

Among the major NCAA athletic conferences that sponsor NCAA Division I FBS football, including the current "Power Five conferences", the ACC has been regarded as having the highest academically ranked collection of members based on U.S. News & World Report^{[30][31][32][33][34][35]} and by the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate.^[36][37]

Academics and Research

School	Endowment[38] (in 2017 US$ billions)	Major Faculty Awards[39](total awards)	Princeton Review Rating[40](scale 60–99)	US News US Ranking[41]	Washington Monthly US Ranking[42]	ARWU US Ranking[43]	NTU US Ranking[44]	CWTS Leiden US Impact Ranking[45]	Scimago US Higher Education Ranking[46]	URAP US Ranking[47]	US News/QS World Rankings[48]
Boston College	$2.477700	6	85	37	57	100	138	155	123	145	339
Clemson	$0.741802	3	78	70	114	156	138	110	125	123	701
Duke	$7.911175	30	92	10	12	20	14	15	14	16	21
Florida State	$0.681370	9	68	57	81	70	91	81	107	75	431
Georgia Tech	$2.091110	21	86	29	31	43	47	41	32	45	70
Louisville	$0.712295	5	69	192	221	156	119	103	105	110	1001
Miami	$1.021508	7	78	57	277	61	59	58	41	54	252
North Carolina	$3.432911	19	77	29	23	23	20	23	18	21	80
North Carolina State	$1.293743	11	75	84	84	71	72	43	57	56	263
Notre Dame	$10.727653	14	80	15	22	71	101	96	93	87	216
Pittsburgh	$4.200206	13	80	57	143	35	17	13	20	19	142
Syracuse	$1.338287	11	77	54	28	156	138	145	172	129	501
Virginia	$6.953380	15	87	28	36	61	53	50	55	46	173
Virginia Tech	$1.146055	10	73	74	19	100	95	53	65	63	367
Wake Forest	$1.329255	3	94	27	75	136	86	95	85	88	411

Association of American Universities[]

Five ACC institutions are members of the prestigious Association of American Universities: Duke, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, UNC, and Virginia.^[49] Syracuse was a member until 2011 but voluntarily withdrew over a dispute on how to count non-federal grants.^[50]

ACCAC and ACC academic network[]

The members of the ACC participate in the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Consortium (ACCAC), a consortium that provides a vehicle for inter-institutional academic and administrative collaboration between member universities. Growing out of a conference-wide doctoral student-exchange program that was established in 1999, the ACCAC has expanded its scope into other domestic and international collaborations.^[51]

The stated mission of the ACCAC is to "leverage the athletic associations and identities among the 15 ACC universities in order to enrich the educational missions of member universities." To that end, the collaborative helps organize various academic initiatives, including fellowship and scholarship programs, global research initiatives, leadership conferences, and extensive study abroad programs.^[52] Funding for its operations, 90% of which is spent on direct student support, is derived from a portion of the income generated by the ACC Football Championship Game and by supplemental allocations by individual universities and various grants.^[53]

ACCAC academic programs[]

Major academic programs that have been implemented under ACCAC include:

• The annual Meeting of the Minds (MOM) undergraduate research conference.^[54]
• The annual Student Leadership Conference.^[55]
• The Creativity and Innovation Fellowship Program in which each university receives $12,500 to award between two and five undergraduate students ACCAC fellowships for research or creative projects.^[56]
• The Summer Research Scholars Program in which every ACC university will receive $5,000 to support up to two of its undergraduate students in conducting research in residence at another ACC university during a minimum 10 week period over the summer.^[57]
• The ACC Debate Championship^[58]
• The ACC Inventure Prize Competition is a Shark Tank-like innovation competition for teams of students from ACC universities.^[59]
• The Student Federal Relations Trip to Washington, D.C. is an annual trip of student delegates from ACC universities to the nation's capital.^[60]
• The Creativity Competition is planned to be an ACC-wide, team-based interdisciplinary competition emphasizing use of creative design and the arts to begin in 2017.^[60]
• The Distinguished Lecturers Program in which five ACC universities select an outstanding faculty member as The ACCAC's Distinguished Lecturer. In addition to an award stipend, the ACCAC provides financial support to enable each ACC university to sponsor a "distinguished lecture event" on their campus.^[61]
• The Executive Leadership Series is a two-day skill enhancement programs designed for Deans, Vice Provosts, and Vice Chancellors of ACC universities.^[60]
• The annual Student President Conference.^[62]
• The Coach for College Program, primarily for student-athletes and run through Duke University with support from the ACCAC, that takes 32 ACC students to Vietnam for three weeks in the summer to coach hundreds of middle school children.^[63]
• The Traveling Scholars Program which allows PhD candidates from one ACC campus to access courses, laboratories, library, or other resources at any one of the other ACC member institution campuses.^[64]
• The Clean Energy Grant Competition that helps coordinate geographically defined clusters of ACC universities in competition for United States Department of Energy Clean Energy Grants.^[64]
• The Study Abroad Program collaborative which allows cross registration in study abroad programs enroll in programs sponsored by an ACC university other than their "home" university.^[64] A Student Study Abroad Scholarship program that awarded two to five ACCAC scholarships for study abroad was discontinued in 2013, but is targeted for renewal in 2014–15.^[65]

The ACCAC also supports periodic meetings among faculty, administration, and staff who pursue similar interests and responsibilities at the member universities either by face-to-face conferences, video conferences, or telephone conferences. ACCAC affinity groups include those for International Affairs Officers, Study Abroad Directors, Teaching-Learning Center Directors, Chief Information Officers, Chief Procurement Officers, Undergraduate Research Conference Coordinators, Student Affairs Vice Presidents, Student Leadership Conference Coordinators, and Faculty Athletic Representatives To the ACC.^[66]

Spending and revenue[]

Total revenue includes ticket sales, contributions and donations, rights/licensing, student fees, school funds, and all other sources including TV income, camp income, food, and novelties. Total expenses includes coaching/staff, scholarships, buildings/grounds, maintenance, utilities and rental fees, and all other costs including recruiting, team travel, equipment and uniforms, conference dues, and insurance costs.

Conference Rank (2016–17)	National Rank (2016–17)	Institution	2016-17 Total Revenue from Athletics[67]	2016-17 Total Expenses on Athletics[67]
1	13	Florida State University	$144,514,413	$143,373,261
2	22	University of Louisville	$120,445,303	$118,383,769
3	26	Clemson University	$112,600,964	$111,126,235
4	35	University of North Carolina	$96,551,626	$96,540,823
5	39	University of Virginia	$92,865,175	$100,324,517
6	44	Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University	$87,427,526	$90,716,423
7	47	North Carolina State University	$83,741,572	$86,924,779
8	51	Georgia Institute of Technology	$81,762,024	$84,852,123
N/A	N/A	Boston College	Not reported	Not reported
N/A	N/A	Duke University	Not reported	Not reported
N/A	N/A	Syracuse University	Not reported	Not reported
N/A	N/A	University of Miami	Not reported	Not reported
N/A	N/A	University of Notre Dame	Not reported	Not reported
N/A	N/A	University of Pittsburgh	Not reported	Not reported
N/A	N/A	Wake Forest University	Not reported	Not reported

Facilities[]

School	Football stadium	Cap.	Soccer stadium	Cap.	Basketball arena	Cap.	Baseball stadium	Cap.	Softball stadium	Cap.
Boston College	Alumni Stadium	44,500	Newton Campus Soccer Field	1,100	Conte Forum	8,606	Eddie Pellagrini Diamond	2,500	Boston College Softball Field	1,000
Clemson	Memorial Stadium	81,500	Riggs Field	6,500	Littlejohn Coliseum	9,000	Doug Kingsmore Stadium	6,524	McWhorter Stadium	1,000
Duke	Wallace Wade Stadium	40,004	Koskinen Stadium	4,500	Cameron Indoor Stadium	9,314	Jack Coombs Field Durham Bulls Park	2,000 10,000	Duke Softball Stadium	1,300
Florida State	Bobby Bowden Field at Doak Campbell Stadium	79,560	Seminole Soccer Complex	2,000	Donald L. Tucker Center	11,655	Mike Martin Field at Dick Howser Stadium	6,700	JoAnne Graf Field at the Seminole Softball Complex	1,000
Georgia Tech	Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field	55,000	Non-soccer school		Hank McCamish Pavilion	8,600	Russ Chandler Stadium	4,157	Shirley Clements Mewborn Field	1,500
Louisville	Cardinal Stadium	60,800	Dr. Mark & Cindy Lynn Stadium	5,300	KFC Yum! Center	22,090	Jim Patterson Stadium	4,000	Ulmer Stadium	2,200
Miami	Hard Rock Stadium	65,326	Cobb Stadium	500	Watsco Center	7,972	Mark Light Field at Alex Rodriguez Park	5,000	Non-softball school
North Carolina	Kenan Memorial Stadium	50,500	Dorrance Field	4,200	Dean Smith Center (M) Carmichael Arena (W)	21,750 8,010	Boshamer Stadium	5,000		500
North Carolina State	Carter–Finley Stadium	57,583	Dail Soccer Field	3,000	PNC Arena (M) Reynolds Coliseum (W)	19,722 5,500[68]	Doak Field	3,000	Dail Softball Stadium	N/A
Notre Dame	Notre Dame Stadium	80,795	Alumni Stadium	2,500	Edmund P. Joyce Center	9,149	Frank Eck Stadium	2,500	Melissa Cook Stadium	850
Pittsburgh	Heinz Field	65,500	Ambrose Urbanic Field at Petersen Sports Complex	735	Petersen Events Center	12,508	Charles L. Cost Field at Petersen Sports Complex	900	Vartabedian Field at Petersen Sports Complex	600
Syracuse	Carrier Dome	49,262	SU Soccer Stadium	1,500	Carrier Dome	35,446	Non-baseball school		Softball Stadium at Skytop	650
Virginia	Scott Stadium	61,500	Klöckner Stadium	8,000	John Paul Jones Arena	14,593	Davenport Field at Disharoon Park	5,500	Palmer Park	522
Virginia Tech	Lane Stadium	65,632	Sandra D. Thompson Field	2,500	Cassell Coliseum	9,847	English Field	1,033+	Tech Softball Park	1,024
Wake Forest	Truist Field	31,500	W. Dennie Spry Soccer Stadium	3,000	Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum	14,407	David F. Couch Ballpark	3,823	Non-softball school

Sports[]

The Atlantic Coast Conference sponsors championship competition in thirteen men's and fourteen women's NCAA-sanctioned sports.^[69] The most recently added sport was fencing, added for the 2014–15 school year after having been absent from the conference since 1980; Boston College, Duke, North Carolina, and Notre Dame participate in that sport.^[70]

Since all ACC members (including non-football member Notre Dame) field FBS football teams, they are subject to the NCAA requirement that FBS schools field at least 16 teams in NCAA-recognized varsity sports. However, the ACC itself requires sponsorship of only four sports—football, men's basketball, women's basketball, and either women's soccer or women's volleyball.^[71] All ACC members sponsor all five of the named sports except Georgia Tech, which sponsors women's volleyball but not women's soccer.

Teams in ACC Conference competition

Sport	Men's	Women's
Baseball	14
Basketball	15	15
Cross country	15	15
Fencing	4	4
Field hockey		7
Football	15
Golf	12	12
Lacrosse	5	8
Rowing		9
Soccer	12	14
Softball		12
Swimming & diving	11.5	12
Tennis	13	14
Track and field (indoor)	15	15
Track and field (outdoor)	15	15
Volleyball		15
Wrestling	6

Men's sponsored sports by school[]

Member-by-member sponsorship of the 13 men's ACC sports for the 2021–22 academic year.

School	Baseball	Basket­ball	Cross country	Fencing	Football	Golf	Lacrosse	Soccer	Swimming & diving	Tennis	Track & field (indoor)	Track & field (outdoor)	Wrestling	Total ACC men's sports
Boston College			Y	Y		Y	N		Y	Y	Y	Y	N	11
Clemson			[a]	N			N		N	Y	[a]	[a]	N	9
Duke			Y	Y		Y			Y		Y	Y	Y	13
Florida State			Y	N			N	N	Y	Y			N	9
Georgia Tech				N			N	N					N	9
Louisville			Y	N		Y	N		Y	Y	Y	Y	N	10
Miami			Y	N		N	N	N	Y[b]		Y	Y	N	7.5
North Carolina			Y	Y		Y			Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	13
North Carolina State			Y	N		Y	N		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Notre Dame			Y	Y		Y			Y	Y			N	12
Pittsburgh			Y	N		N	N		Y	N	Y	Y		9
Syracuse	N		Y	N		N			N	N	Y	Y	N	7
Virginia			Y	N		Y					Y	Y	Y	12
Virginia Tech			Y	N		Y	N		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Wake Forest			Y	N		Y	N		N	Y	Y	Y	N	9
Totals	14	15	15	4	15	12	5	12	11.5	13	15	15	6	149.5

Men's varsity sports not sponsored by the Atlantic Coast Conference which are played by ACC schools:

School	Ice hockey	Rifle	Rowing[a]	Sailing[a]	Skiing	Squash[a]
Boston College	Hockey East	no	no	NEISA	EISA	no
North Carolina State	no	GARC & SEARC[b]	no	no	no	no
Notre Dame	Big Ten	no	no	no	no	no
Syracuse	no	no	EARC	no	no	no
Virginia	no	no	no	no	no	MASC[73]

Women's sponsored sports by school[]

Member-by-member sponsorship of the 14 women's ACC sports for the 2020–21 academic year. The ACC will begin sponsoring women's gymnastics in 2023–24.^{[citation needed]}

School	Basketball	Cross country	Fencing	Field hockey	Golf	Lacrosse	Rowing	Soccer	Softball	Swimming & diving	Tennis	Track & field (indoor)	Track & field (outdoor)	Volleyball	Total ACC women's sports
Boston College		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	14
Clemson		Y	N	N	Y	N[a]	Y		Y	N				Y	10
Duke		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	14
Florida State		Y	N	N	Y	N	N	Y		Y	Y			Y	10
Georgia Tech			N	N	N	N	N	N							8
Louisville		Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	13
Miami		Y	N	N	Y	N	Y	Y	N	Y		Y	Y	Y	10
North Carolina		Y	Y		Y		Y			Y		Y	Y	Y	14
North Carolina State		Y	N	N	Y	N	N	Y		Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	10
Notre Dame		Y	Y	N	Y	Y	Y			Y	Y			Y	13
Pittsburgh		Y	N	N	N	N[b]	N			Y	N	Y	Y		8
Syracuse		Y	N	Y	N	Y	Y	Y		N	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Virginia		Y	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y				Y	Y	Y	13
Virginia Tech	Y	Y	N	N	Y	Y	N			Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	11
Wake Forest	Y	Y	N	Y	Y	N	N		N	N	Y	Y	Y	Y	9
Totals	15	15	4	7	12	8	9	14	13	12	14	15	15	15	169

Women's varsity sports not currently sponsored by the Atlantic Coast Conference which are played by ACC schools:

School	Beach volleyball	Gymnastics	Ice hockey	Rifle	Sailing[a]	Skiing	Squash[a]
Boston College	no	no	Hockey East	no	NEISA	EISA	no
Florida State	CCSA	no	no	no	no	no	no
North Carolina	no	EAGL	no	no	no	no	no
North Carolina State	no	EAGL	no	GARC & SEARC[b]	no	no	no
Pittsburgh	no	EAGL	no	no	no	no	no
Syracuse	no	no	CHA	no	no	no	no
Virginia	no	no	no	no	no	no	MASC[73]

Current champions[]

* - Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, championships for several fall sports were pushed to the spring of 2021. However, the ACC did allow limited conference play during the fall of 2020. The football season was played in its entirety during the fall.

Season	Sport	Men's champion	Women's champion
Fall 2020*	Cross country[76]	Notre Dame	NC State
	Field hockey[77]	–	North Carolina
	Football[78]	Clemson	–
	Soccer	Clemson[79]	Florida State[80]
	Volleyball[81]	–	Louisville
Winter 2020–21	Basketball	Georgia Tech[82]	NC State[83]
	Fencing[84]	Duke	Duke
	Swimming & diving	Louisville[85]	Virginia[86]
	Track & field (Indoor)[87]	Virginia Tech	Florida State
	Wrestling	NC State[88]	–
Spring 2021	Baseball[89]	Duke	–
	Softball[90]	–	Duke
	Golf	Clemson[91]	Duke[92]
	Lacrosse	Duke North Carolina	North Carolina[93]
	Rowing[94]	–	Virginia[95]
	Tennis	Virginia[96]	North Carolina[97]
	Track & field (outdoor)[98]	Florida State	Duke Florida State

Football[]

The ACC is considered to be one of the Power Five conferences, all of which receive automatic placement of their football champions into one of the six major bowl games. Seven of its members claim football national championships in their history, with two having won the now-defunct Bowl Championship Series (BCS) during its existence between 1998 and 2014 and one having won under the current College Football Playoff (CFP) system. Five of its members are among the top 25 of college football's all-time winningest programs.^[99] Three ACC teams, Florida State, Miami, and Clemson, are listed in the top 10 of most successful football programs since 2000.

Divisions and scheduling[]

In 2005, the ACC began divisional play in football. The ACC is the only NCAA Division I conference whose divisions are not divided geographically (e.g., north–south, East/West),^[100] but rather into Atlantic and Coastal (as above). Division leaders compete in the ACC Championship Game to determine the official conference title, which guarantees a berth in a New Year's Six bowl game. The inaugural Championship Game was played on December 3, 2005, in Jacksonville, Florida, at the venue then known as Alltel Stadium, in which Florida State defeated Virginia Tech to capture its 12th championship since it joined the league in 1992. Notre Dame began playing several ACC teams each year in 2014, but is not considered a football member and is not eligible to play in the ACC Championship Game.^[101]

The current division structure leads to each team playing the following games:

• Six games within its division (three home, three away, one against each opponent).
• One game against a designated permanent rival from the other division (not necessarily the school's closest traditional rival, even within the conference); this is similar to the SEC setup.
  • The permanent cross-division matchups are as follows,^[102] with the Atlantic Division member listed first: Boston College–Virginia Tech; Clemson–Georgia Tech; Florida State–Miami; Louisville–Virginia; NC State–North Carolina; Syracuse–Pittsburgh; Wake Forest–Duke.
• One rotating game against a team in the other division, for a total of two cross-division games.
  • Non-permanent cross-division opponents face each other in the regular season twice in a span of twelve years.
  • Prior to the addition of Syracuse and Pittsburgh in 2013, teams played two rotating cross-division games (for a total of three cross-division games), with a total of eight conference games. The addition of one team to each division meant the loss of one cross-division game per year.^[103]
• Four non-conference games.
  • As of the 2014 season, one of the four non-conference games is against Notre Dame every two to three years, as Notre Dame plays against five ACC opponents in non-conference games each season.
  • Starting with the 2017 season, ACC members will be required to play at least one non-conference game each season against a team in the "Power 5" conferences. Games against Notre Dame also meet the requirement. In January 2015, the conference announced that games against another FBS independent, BYU, would also count toward the requirement.^[104]
  • ACC teams can also meet the requirement by scheduling one another in non-conference games; the first example of this was also announced in January 2015, when North Carolina and Wake Forest announced that they would play a home-and-home non-conference series in 2019 and 2021.^[105]

For the 2020 season, changes were made to the football schedule model due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of divisions was suspended, with conference games being scheduled on a regional basis. The top two teams by winning percentage against conference opponents will advance to the ACC Championship Game. All teams will play 10 conference games, and may play one non-conference game of their choice as long as the game is played in-state. In addition, Notre Dame will play an ACC conference schedule and also be eligible to play in the ACC Championship Game.^[3]

Bowl games[]

Within the College Football Playoff, the Orange Bowl serves as the home of the ACC champion against Notre Dame or another team from the SEC or Big Ten. If the conference's champion is selected for the CFP, another ACC team will be chosen in their place.

The other bowls pick ACC teams in the order set by agreements between the conference and the bowls.

Beginning in 2014, Notre Dame is eligible for selection as the ACC's representative to any of its contracted bowl games. The ACC's bowl selection will no longer be bound by the rigidity of a "one-win rule" but will have a general list of criteria to emphasize regionality and quality matchups on the field. A one-win rule does apply to Notre Dame's participation in the ACC Bowl structure. Notre Dame is now eligible for ACC Bowl selection beginning with the Outback Bowl and continuing through the league's bowl selections. However, Notre Dame must be within one win of the ACC available team which has the best overall record, in order to be chosen. In other words, if an ACC team was 9–3, a 7-5 Notre Dame team could not be chosen in its place. Notre Dame would have to be 8–4 to be chosen over a 9-3 league team. For the 2020 season, Notre Dame is competing for the ACC conference championship and is eligible for all games, including the Orange Bowl.

Order of selection for ACC bowl participants^[106]

Pick	Name	Location	Opposing Conference	Opposing Pick
1*	Orange Bowl	Miami Gardens, Florida	SEC, Big Ten or Notre Dame	-
Tier One All have equal selection status
2/3/4/5/6/7/8/9	Outback Bowl**	Tampa, Florida	SEC	TBD [107]
	Cheez-It Bowl	Orlando, Florida	Big 12	3[108]
	Sun Bowl	El Paso, Texas	Pac-12	5[109]
	Duke's Mayo Bowl	Charlotte, North Carolina	SEC or Big Ten	TBD[110]
	Gator Bowl	Jacksonville, Florida	SEC
	Pinstripe Bowl	The Bronx, New York	Big Ten
	Holiday Bowl	San Diego, California	Pac-12
	Military Bowl	Annapolis, Maryland	The American
	Fenway Bowl	Boston, Massachusetts	The American
Tier Two One ACC school will be selected to play in one of the following games
10
	Gasparilla Bowl	St. Petersburg, Florida	The American	TBD
	Birmingham Bowl	Birmingham, Alabama	C-USA, MAC	TBD
	First Responder Bowl	Dallas, Texas	TBD	TBD

* If the ACC Champion is not in one of the semifinal games it will appear in the Orange Bowl or, if the Orange Bowl is a semifinal site, either the Peach Bowl or the Fiesta Bowl. There is no limit on how many teams the College Football Playoff may choose from a particular conference.

** Only if the ACC opponent in the Orange Bowl, in a non-semifinal year is a team from the Big Ten, a maximum of three times in six years.

National championships[]

Although the NCAA does not determine an official national champion for Division I FBS football, several ACC members claim national championships awarded by various "major selectors" of national championships as recognized in the official NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision Records.^[111] Since 1936 and 1950 respectively, these include what are now the most pervasive and influential selectors, the Associated Press poll and Coaches Poll. In addition, from 1998 to 2013 the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) used a mathematical formula to match the top two teams at the end of the season. The winner of the BCS was contractually awarded the Coaches' Poll national championship and its AFCA National Championship Trophy as well as the MacArthur Trophy from the National Football Foundation. Maryland won one championship as a member of the ACC in 1953.

School	Claims of non-poll "major selectors"	Associated Press	Coaches Poll	Bowl Championship Series	College Football Playoff
Clemson		1981, 2016, 2018	1981, 2016, 2018		2016, 2018
Florida State		1993, 1999, 2013	1993, 1999, 2013	1999, 2013
Georgia Tech	1917, 1928, 1952		1990
Miami		1983, 1987, 1989, 1991, 2001	1983, 1987, 1989, 2001	2001
Pittsburgh	1915, 1916, 1918, 1929, 1931, 1934, 1936[a]	1937, 1976	1976
Syracuse		1959	1959

• Italics denote championships won before the school joined the ACC.
• In addition, non-football member Notre Dame claims 11 national titles. Many sources, however, credit the Fighting Irish with 13. See Notre Dame Fighting Irish football national championships for more details.

Basketball[]

History[]

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The early roots of ACC basketball began primarily thanks to two men: Everett Case and Frank McGuire. Case accepted the head coaching job at North Carolina State. Case's North Carolina State teams dominated the early years of the ACC with a modern, fast-paced style of play. He became the fastest college basketball coach to reach many "games won" milestones. Case became known as The Father of ACC Basketball. Despite his success on the court, he may have been even a better promoter off-the-court. Case realized the need to sell his program and university. State started construction on Reynolds Coliseum in 1941. Case persuaded school officials to expand the arena to 12,400 people. It opened as the new home court for his team in 1949; at the time, it was the largest on-campus arena in the South. As such, it was used as the host site for many Southern Conference Tournaments, ACC Tournaments, and the Dixie Classic. The Dixie Classic brought in large revenues for all schools involved and soon became one of the premier sporting events in the South.

Partly to counter Case's success, North Carolina convinced Frank McGuire to come to Chapel Hill in 1952. McGuire knew that, largely due to Case's influence, basketball was now the major high school athletic event of the region. He not only tapped the growing market of high school talent in North Carolina, but also brought several recruits from his home territory in New York City as well. Case and McGuire literally invented a rivalry. Both men realized the benefits created through a rivalry between them. It brought more national attention to both of their programs and increased fan support on both sides.

After State was slapped with crippling NCAA sanctions before the 1956–57 season, McGuire's North Carolina team delivered the ACC its first national championship. During the Tar Heels' championship run, Greensboro entrepreneur Castleman D. Chesley noticed the popularity that it generated. He cobbled together a five-station television network to broadcast the Final Four. That network began broadcasting regular season ACC games the following season—the ancestor of the television package from Raycom Sports. From that point on, ACC basketball gained large popularity.

The ACC has been the home of many prominent basketball coaches besides Case and McGuire, including Terry Holland and Tony Bennett of Virginia; Vic Bubas and Mike Krzyzewski of Duke; Press Maravich, Norm Sloan and Jim Valvano of North Carolina State; Dean Smith and Roy Williams of North Carolina; Bones McKinney of Wake Forest; Lefty Driesell and Gary Williams of Maryland; Bobby Cremins of Georgia Tech; Jim Boeheim of Syracuse; and Rick Pitino of Louisville.

Tournament as championship[]

Possibly Case's most lasting contribution is the ACC Tournament, which was first played in 1954 and decides the winner of the ACC title. The ACC is unique in that it is the only Division I college basketball conference that does not officially recognize a regular season champion. This started when only one school per conference made the NCAA tournament. The ACC representative was determined by conference tournament rather than the regular season result. Therefore, the league eliminated the regular season title in 1961, choosing to recognize only the winner of the ACC tournament as conference champion. Fans and media do claim a regular-season title for the team that finishes first, and the NCAA recognizes a regular-season title winner in order to maintain its system of choosing NIT and NCAA tournament berths based on regular season placement.^[117] For the ACC, the unofficial crowning of a regular season champion is insignificant as a 1975 NCAA rule change allowed more than one team per conference to earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. As a result, the team finishing atop the ACC regular-season standings has invariably been invited to the NCAA Tournament even if it did not win the ACC Tournament. Even so, any claim to a regular season "title" remains unofficial and carries no reward other than top seed in the ACC tournament.

Historically, the ACC has been dominated by the four teams from Tobacco Road in North Carolina—North Carolina, Duke, North Carolina State and Wake Forest. Between them, they have won 50 tournament titles. They have also won or shared 59 regular season titles, including all but four since 1981. The Virginia Cavaliers, however, won the regular season titles in 2014 and 2015, becoming the first ACC team besides Duke or North Carolina to solely win back-to-back regular season titles since 1974.

Present-day schedule[]

For 53 years, the ACC employed a double round-robin schedule in the regular season, in which each team played the others twice a season. With the expansion to 12 members by the 2005–2006 season, the ACC schedule could no longer accommodate this format. In the new scheduling format that was agreed to, each team was assigned two permanent partners and nine rotating partners over a three-year period.^[118] Teams played their permanent partners in a home-and-away series each year. The rotating partners were split into three groups: three teams played in a home-and-away series, three teams played at home, and three teams played on the road. The rotating partner groups were rotated so that a team would play each permanent partner six times, and each rotating partner four times, over a three-year period.

For the 2012–13 season, the 12-team in-conference schedule expanded to 18. Originally for the 2013–14 season, the expanded 14-team, 18-game schedule was to consist of a home and away game with a "primary partner" while the remaining conference opponents would have rotated in groups of three: one year both home and away, one year at home only, and one year away only.^[119] However, when Notre Dame was also added for the 2013–14 season, the now 15-team, 18-game schedule was modified so each school played two "Partners" home and away annually, two home and away, five home, and the other five away.^[120] In 2013–14, after 1 year at 18 games, women's basketball went back to a 16-game schedule where each team only plays 2 teams twice, rotating opponents each year over seven years and has no permanent partners. In 2019-2020, with the launch of the ACC Network, the men's schedule expanded to 20 games and the women's schedule expanded to 18 games.

The ACC and the Big Ten Conference have held the ACC–Big Ten Challenge each season since 1999. The competition is a series of regular-season games pitting ACC and Big Ten teams against each other. Each team typically plays one Challenge game each season, except for a few teams from the larger conference that are left out due to unequal conference sizes. The first ACC–Big Ten Women's Challenge was played in 2007, and has the same format as the men's Challenge.

National championships and Final Fours[]

Over the course of its existence, ACC schools have captured 15 NCAA men's basketball championships while members of the conference. North Carolina has won six, Duke has won five, NC State has won two, and Maryland and Virginia have each won one. Four more national titles were won by current ACC members while in other conferences—three by 2014 arrival Louisville and one by 2013 arrival Syracuse; Louisville was forced to vacate the third national title due to NCAA sanctions. Seven of the 12 pre-2013 members have advanced to the Final Four at least once while members of the ACC. Another pre-2013 member, Florida State, made the Final Four once before joining the ACC. All three schools that entered the ACC in 2013, as well as Louisville, advanced to the Final Four at least once before joining the conference.

Also notable are earlier national championships from historical eras prior to the dominance of the NCAA-administered championship. The ACC is often credited with forcing the NCAA tournament to expand to allow more than one team per conference, creating the at-large NCAA field common today.^[121] The Helms Athletic Foundation selected national champions for seasons predating the beginning of the NCAA tournament (1939), including North Carolina, Notre Dame, Pitt, and Syracuse. Prior to the at-large era (1975), the National Invitation Tournament championship had prestige comparable to the NCAA championship, and Louisville, North Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia Tech won titles during this period (later NIT titles are not considered consensus national championships).^[122]

In women's basketball, ACC members have won three national championships while in the conference, North Carolina in 1994, Maryland in 2006, and Notre Dame in 2018. Notre Dame, which joined in 2013, also previously won the national title in 2001. In 2006, Duke, Maryland, and North Carolina all advanced to the Final Four, the first time a conference placed three teams in the women's Final Four. Both finalists were from the ACC, with Maryland defeating Duke for the title.

School	Pre-NCAA Helms Champ­ionships	NCAA Men's Champ­ionships	Men's NCAA Runner-Up	Men's NCAA Final Fours	NCAA Women's Champ­ionships	Women's NCAA Runner-Up	Women's NCAA Final Fours
North Carolina	1 (1924)	6 [o 1]	5 (2016, 1981, 1977, 1968, 1946)	20 [o 2]	1 (1994)		3 (2007, 2006, 1994)
Duke		5 (2015, 2010, 2001, 1992, 1991)	6 [o 3]	16 [o 4]		2 (2006, 1999)	4 (2006, 2003, 2002, 1999)
Louisville		3 (2013*, 1986, 1980)[o 5]		10 [o 6]		2 (2013, 2009)	3 (2018, 2013, 2009)
Syracuse	2 (1926, 1918)	1 (2003)	2 (1996, 1987)	6 [o 7]		1 (2016)	1 (2016)
North Carolina State		2 (1983, 1974)		3 (1983, 1974, 1950)			1 (1998)
Virginia		1 (2019)		3 (2019, 1984, 1981)		1 (1991)	3 (1992, 1991, 1990)
Georgia Tech			1 (2004)	2 (2004, 1990)
Notre Dame	2 (1936, 1927)			1 (1978)	2 (2018, 2001)	4 (2019, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011)	7 [o 8]
Florida State			1 (1972)	1 (1972)
Wake Forest				1 (1962)
Pittsburgh	2 (1930, 1928)			1 (1941)

Italics denotes honors earned before the school joined the ACC. Women's national championship tournaments prior to 1982 were run by the AIAW.

Baseball[]

ACC Baseball is divided into the Atlantic and Coastal Divisions (as above). These divisions parallel the divisions of ACC football except with Notre Dame replacing Syracuse, the only ACC school which does not field a baseball team, within the Atlantic Division, giving both divisions seven teams. Louisville replaced Maryland in the Atlantic Division beginning with the 2015 season.

Eight ACC teams were selected to play in the 2019 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, with Florida State and Louisville advancing to the College World Series. The ACC has won the College World Series twice: by the Virginia Cavaliers in 2015 and by Wake Forest in 1955. In addition, Miami won four titles before joining the ACC,^[123] and South Carolina has won two titles since leaving the league. Current member schools have appeared in the College World Series a combined total of 93 times (including appearances before joining the conference). In 2016, the ACC was ranked as the top baseball conference by Rating Percentage Index (RPI); the conference has ranked among the top three by this measure each of the past 10 years.^[124]

College World Series / NCAA Tournament History

School	College World Series Championships	College World Series Appearances	Last CWS Appearance	NCAA Tournament Appearances	Last NCAA Appearance
Miami †	2001, 1999, 1985, 1982	25	2016	47	2021
Virginia	2015	5	2021	18	2021
Wake Forest	1955	2	1955	14	2017
Florida State †		23	2019	58	2021
Clemson		12	2010	44	2019
North Carolina		11	2018	33	2021
Boston College †		4	1967	8	2016
Georgia Tech		3	2006	33	2021
Louisville †		5	2019	13	2019
Duke		3	1961	9	2021
NC State		3	2021	32	2021
Notre Dame †		2	2002	23	2021
Virginia Tech		0	n/a	10	2013
Pittsburgh		0	n/a	3	1995

^ Syracuse does not currently field a baseball team but has one appearance in the NCAA baseball tournament prior to joining the conference.
† The count of College World Series appearances includes those made by the school prior to joining the ACC:

• Boston College: 4 appearances
• Florida State: 11 appearances
• Louisville: 3 appearances
• Miami: 21 appearances
• Notre Dame: 2 appearances
• Syracuse: 1 appearance

Field hockey[]

The ACC has won 20 of the 36 NCAA Championships in field hockey. Maryland won 8 as a member of the ACC.

National Championships

School	Total	NCAA Women's Championships
North Carolina	9	1989, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2007, 2009, 2018, 2019, 2020
Wake Forest	3	2002, 2003, 2004
Syracuse	1	2015

Golf[]

Of the current ACC members, 12 sponsor men's golf and 10 sponsor women's golf. Four team national championships in men's golf and seven national titles in women's golf have been won by ACC members while in the conference, led by the Duke women's team that has won seven national titles since 1999. In addition, two more team national titles, one in men's golf and one in women's golf, have been won by current ACC members before they joined the conference.

National Championships

School	Men's Team NCAA	Men's Individual NCAA	Women's Team NCAA	Women's Individual NCAA
Clemson	2003	Charles Warren 1997
Duke			2019, 2014, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2002, 1999	Candy Hannemann 2001, Virada Nirapathpongporn 2002, Anna Grzebian 2005, Virginia Elana Carta 2016
Georgia Tech		Watts Gunn 1927, Charles Yates 1934, Troy Matteson 2002
Miami			1984	Penny Hammel 1983
North Carolina		Harvie Ward 1949, John Inman 1984
North Carolina State		Matt Hill 2009
Virginia		Dixon Brooke 1940
Wake Forest	1986, 1975, 1974	Curtis Strange 1974, Jay Haas 1975, Gary Hallberg 1979
Notre Dame	1944

• Italics denote championships won before the school joined the ACC.

Lacrosse[]

Since 1971, when the first men's national champion was determined by the NCAA, the ACC has won 15 NCAA championships, more than any other conference in college lacrosse. Virginia has won seven NCAA Championships, North Carolina has won five, and Duke has won three. Former ACC member Maryland won two NCAA Championships as an ACC member. In addition, prior to the establishment of the NCAA tournament, Maryland had won nine national championships while Virginia won two. Syracuse, which joined the ACC in 2013, won ten NCAA-sponsored national championships, the most ever by any Division I lacrosse program, before joining the conference. Since 1987, the only years in which the national championship game did not feature a current ACC member were 2015 and 2017.

Women's lacrosse has only awarded a national championship since 1982, and the ACC has won more titles than any other conference. In all, the ACC has won 14 women's national championships: Maryland has won eleven as an ACC member, Virginia has won three and North Carolina has won two.

National Championships & Runner-Up Finishes

University	Men's NCAA Championships	Men's NCAA Runner-Up	Pre-NCAA Men's Championships	Women's NCAA Championships	Women's NCAA Runner-Up
Virginia	2021, 2019, 2011, 2006, 2003, 1999, 1972	1996, 1994, 1986, 1980	1970, 1952	2004, 1993, 1991	2007, 2005, 2003, 1999, 1998, 1996
North Carolina	2016, 1991, 1986, 1982, 1981	1993		2016, 2013	2009
Duke	2014, 2013, 2010	2018, 2007, 2005
Syracuse	2009, 2008, 2004, 2002, 2000, 1995, 1993, 1990*, 1989, 1988, 1983	2013, 2001, 1999, 1992, 1985, 1984	1925, 1924, 1922, 1920		2021, 2014, 2012
Notre Dame		2014, 2010
Boston College				2021	2019, 2018, 2017

Italics denotes championships before it was part of the ACC.
* Syracuse vacated its 1990 championship due to NCAA violations.

Soccer[]

Twelve of the fifteen ACC schools sponsor men's soccer — a higher proportion than any of the other Power Five conferences. Only the three southernmost ACC schools — Georgia Tech, Florida State, and Miami — do not sponsor soccer. Virginia has won 7 NCAA titles, and more since 1990 than any other university in the country. The ACC overall has won 16 national championships, including 16 of the 31 seasons between 1984 and 2014. Seven by Virginia and the remaining nine by Maryland (3 times), Clemson (twice), North Carolina (twice), Duke, Wake Forest, and Notre Dame.

In women's soccer, North Carolina has won 21 of the 39 NCAA titles since the NCAA crowned its first champion, as well as the only Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) soccer championship in 1981. The Tar Heels have also won 22 of the 33 ACC tournaments. They lost in the final to North Carolina State in 1988 and Virginia in 2004, both times by penalty kicks. The 2010 tournament was the first in which they failed to make the championship game, falling to eventual champion Wake Forest in the semi-finals. The 2012 ACC tournament saw North Carolina's first quarterfinal loss, to the eventual champion Virginia; however, the Tar Heels went on to win the national title that season. In 2014, Florida State became the first school other than North Carolina to win the national championship as an ACC member. Notre Dame won three NCAA titles before it joined the ACC in 2013. The 2020 NCAA tournament, in which Florida State was national runner-up, was delayed until the spring of 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, but is listed as 2020 to distinguish it from the fall of 2021 season.

National Championships & Runner-Up Finishes

School	Men's NCAA Championships	Men's NCAA Runner-Up	Women's NCAA Championships	Women's NCAA Runner-Up	AIAW
Virginia	2014, 2009, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1989	1997		2014
North Carolina	2011, 2001	2008	21 [o 1]	2001, 1998, 1985	1981
Clemson	1987, 1984	1979, 2015
Notre Dame	2013		1995, 2004, 2010	1994, 1996, 1999, 2006, 2008
Wake Forest	2007	2016
Duke	1986	1995, 1982		2011, 1992
Florida State			2014, 2018	2007, 2013, 2020
Louisville		2010
NC State				1988

• Italics denote championships before the school was part of the ACC.

Commissioners[]

Name	Term
Jim Weaver[125]	1954–1970
Bob James[126]	1971–1987
Gene Corrigan	1987–1997
John Swofford[127][128]	1997–2021
James J. Phillips[129][130]	2021–Present

NCAA team championships[]

The Virginia Cavaliers lead the ACC in NCAA men's titles with 21, while the North Carolina Tar Heels lead in women's titles with 33 and in overall NCAA titles with 46.^[131] Excluded from this list are all national championships earned outside the scope of NCAA competition, including Division I FBS football titles, women's AIAW championships, equestrian titles, and retroactive Helms Athletic Foundation titles.

School	Total	Men	Women	Co-ed	Nickname	Most successful sport (titles)
North Carolina	46	13	33	0	Tar Heels	Women's soccer (21)
Virginia	29	21	8	0	Cavaliers	Men's soccer (7), Men's lacrosse (7)
Notre Dame	19	7	6	6	Fighting Irish	Fencing (6)
Duke	17	9	8	0	Blue Devils	Women's golf (7)
Syracuse	15	14	1	0	Orange	Men's lacrosse (10)
Wake Forest	9	6	3	0	Demon Deacons	Field hockey, Men's golf (3)
Florida State	9	4	5	0	Seminoles	Men's gymnastics, Men's outdoor track (2)
Boston College	6	5	1	0	Eagles	Men's ice hockey (5)
Miami	5	4	1	0	Hurricanes	Baseball (4)
Clemson	3	3	0	0	Tigers	Men's soccer (2)
Louisville	2	2	0	0	Cardinals	Men's basketball (3)
NC State	2	2	0	0	Wolfpack	Men's basketball (2)
Georgia Tech	1	0	1	0	Yellow Jackets	Women's tennis (1)
Pittsburgh	0	0	0	0	Panthers	N/A
Virginia Tech	0	0	0	0	Hokies	N/A
Total	161	90	65	6

Capital One Cup standings[]

The Capital One Cup is an award given annually to the best men's and women's Division I college athletics programs in the United States. Points are earned throughout the year based on final standings of NCAA Championships and final coaches' poll rankings.

Virginia has twice (2015 and 2019) finished first for men's sports, and Notre Dame (2014) has once. North Carolina (2013) has once finished first on the women's side.

The following table displays ACC top 20 finishes in the Capital One Cup.

School Year	Men	Women
2010–11[132]	Virginia Cavaliers (2nd place) North Carolina Tar Heels (11th place) Florida State Seminoles (12th place) Duke Blue Devils (13th place)	Notre Dame Fighting Irish (5th place) North Carolina Tar Heels (9th place) Duke Blue Devils (16th place)
2011–12[133]	North Carolina Tar Heels (5th place)	Duke Blue Devils (5th place) Florida State Seminoles (14th place) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14th place) Virginia Cavaliers (16th place) Syracuse Orange (17th place)
2012–13[134]	Duke Blue Devils (5th place) North Carolina Tar Heels (9th place) Syracuse Orange (9th place) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (12th place)	North Carolina Tar Heels (1st place) Duke Blue Devils (11th place) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (18th place)
2013–14[135]	Notre Dame Fighting Irish (1st place) Virginia Cavaliers (4th place) Florida State Seminoles (5th place) Duke Blue Devils (8th place)	North Carolina Tar Heels (10th place) Virginia Cavaliers (12th place) Duke Blue Devils (13th place) Florida State Seminoles (14th place) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (19th place)
2014–15[136]	Virginia Cavaliers (1st place) Duke Blue Devils (6th place) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (9th place)	Florida State Seminoles (4th place) North Carolina Tar Heels (7th place) Virginia Cavaliers (11th place) Syracuse Orange (17th place) Duke Blue Devils (18th place) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (18th place)
2015–16[137]	North Carolina Tar Heels (2nd place) Clemson Tigers (5th place) Syracuse Orange (11th place) Virginia Cavaliers (15th place)	North Carolina Tar Heels (4th place) Syracuse Orange (4th place) Florida State Seminoles (10th place) Duke Blue Devils (13th place) Virginia Cavaliers (17th place)
2016-17[138]	North Carolina Tar Heels (3rd place) Clemson Tigers (6th place) Wake Forest Demon Deacons (11th place)	North Carolina Tar Heels (9th place) Boston College Eagles (12th place)
2017-18[139]	Duke Blue Devils (3rd place) North Carolina Tar Heels (13th place) Wake Forest Demon Deacons (20th place)	Florida State Seminoles (5th place) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7th place) Duke Blue Devils (10th place) North Carolina Tar Heels (15th place) Boston College Eagles (17th place)
2018–19[140]	Virginia Cavaliers (1st place) Clemson Tigers (6th place) Duke Blue Devils (14th place) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (17th place)	North Carolina Tar Heels (3rd place) Florida State Seminoles (4th place) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (10th place) Boston College Eagles (16th place) Duke Blue Devils (17th place)
2020–21[141]	Virginia Cavaliers (4th place) North Carolina Tar Heels (6th place) Notre Dame Fighting Irish (7th place) North Carolina State Wolfpack (17th place) Clemson Tigers (19th place)	Florida State Seminoles (5th place) North Carolina Tar Heels (6th place) Boston College Eagles (11th place) Virginia Cavaliers (16th place) North Carolina State Wolfpack (18th place)

Media[]

Former[]

• Raycom Sports (1982–2019)
• ACC Network (syndication package) (1982–2019)

Current[]

• ESPN
• ACC Network (Launched in 2019)^[142]
• Regional Sports Networks

See also[]

• ACC Athlete of the Year
• Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year
• List of Atlantic Coast Conference football champions
• List of Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball regular season champions
• List of Atlantic Coast Conference business schools
• ACC Women's Basketball regular season
• Atlantic Coast Rugby League

Notes[]

References[]

Further reading[]

• Walker, J. Samuel, ACC Basketball: The Story of the Rivalries, Traditions, and Scandals of the First Two Decades of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2011.

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Atlantic Coast Conference.

• Official website
• ACC Academic Consortium