By Joedy McCreary
Associated Press
GREENSBORO ó John Swofford already faced Congress. This time, it was the media’s turn to grill him.
The Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner who’s entering the second year of his two-year term as Bowl Championship Series coordinator defended college football’s postseason as “very successful in what its goals are” and predicted very few tweaks for the new contracts that run through the 2013 season.
“In terms of the next five years, I think what we’re going to see is the BCS, by and large, as it is today, and then we’ll go from there,” Swofford told a packed conference room of reporters Sunday at the ACC’s media day.
“It’s not perfect. We know that. It is controversial. We know that,” he added. “But like it or not, I think it has reached its goals and what it’s there for.”
Those goals, Swofford said, are to match the Nos. 1 and 2 teams while maintaining the bowl system.
The oft-criticized BCS came under fire yet again this offseason when Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, sought hearings to look into antitrust issues surrounding the system. Utah went undefeated last season, but a pair of one-loss teams ó Florida and Oklahoma ó played for the title while the Utes wound up beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl last January.
Since then, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson has been lobbying Congress, BCS administrators and college football’s 10 other conferences for a revamped playoff system.
“This spring, a number of proposals from the Mountain West Conference, quite frankly, many of (them) had already been talked about, and there was not support for” them, Swofford said. “There simply was not support for the kind of change that was being proposed, so I think what you’re seeing is, within the (Bowl Subdivision) conferences that play at this level, at least 10 of those conferences are supportive of, fundamentally, the current format.”
Swofford’s tenure as BCS coordinator ends after the national title game, set for Jan. 7 in Pasadena, Calif.
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BC’S MENTOR: Nothing is keeping Mark Herzlich from keeping himself involved with Boston College’s program. Not even cancer.
The reigning ACC defensive player of the year is sitting out this season while he undergoes treatment for Ewing’s sarcoma, but center Matt Tennant says the star linebacker instead has become something of a mentor to the Eagles’ more inexperienced players.
“He’s going to provide a lot of leadership to the younger linebackers,” Tennant said. “And it also shows some of the younger guys on the team that, ‘Listen, I’m here going through all this (treatment) right now, but I’m still dedicated to this school.’ That really speaks to his character.”
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BMOC?: T.J. Yates never has to worry too much about being recognized on North Carolina’s campus ó even after helping lead the Tar Heels back to a bowl game.
That’s because Chapel Hill is a town where basketball seemingly always will be king even after Tyler Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington and Danny Green have left town after delivering the Tar Heels another NCAA tournament title.
“Basketball players on campus are like gods. Especially Hansbrough,” Yates said with a smile. “We’ve got the helmets on. People don’t know what we look like.”