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December 4-5, 2018
New York, NY

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John Swofford

Commissioner, Atlantic Coast Conference

Now in his 22nd year as Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner, John Swofford continues to make a dramatic impact on the ACC and throughout college athletics. As the ACC’s longest-tenured Commissioner, Swofford has been part of the conference for nearly five decades as a student-athlete and administrator.
 
A native of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, and a two-year all-state quarterback at Wilkes Central High, Swofford remains the only player to have his number retired by the school after earning Most Valuable Player honors in football, basketball and track.
 
After being recruited by numerous schools to play football, Swofford attended the University of North Carolina on a Morehead Scholarship as part of head coach Bill Dooley’s first recruiting class. In addition to earning a spot on the Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Honor Roll as a student-athlete, he started at quarterback as a sophomore and part of his junior year, and then finished his career as a defensive back for UNC’s 1971 ACC Championship team. He played in the Peach Bowl as a junior and the Gator Bowl as a senior.
 
Swofford received his Master’s in Athletics Administration from Ohio University. His first job in college athletics came at the University of Virginia — where he worked under future ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan — before returning to North Carolina. In 1980, at the age of 31, Swofford was named the athletics director at his alma mater. He held that post for 17 years, a period in which North Carolina claimed more ACC and NCAA Championships than during any athletics director’s tenure in ACC history, and claimed the 1994 Sears Directors’ Cup, awarded to the top overall athletics program in the nation. Swofford also hired six head coaches that went on to win national championships — five at North Carolina and football coach Mack Brown at the University of Texas.
 
As Commissioner, Swofford has successfully guided the Atlantic Coast Conference through turbulent times in college athletics and has led the league’s expansion from nine to 15 schools. Under his leadership, the ACC has remained at the forefront as a leader in college athletics. During his 21 years as Commissioner, ACC teams have won 85 national titles.
 
Swofford was a leading advocate for NCAA legislation approved in January of 2015 that allows Autonomy 5 conferences to better address the needs of their institutions, athletic programs and student-athletes. In April of 2013, Swofford and the leadership of the ACC’s member institutions spearheaded a grant of rights agreement that helped stabilize the college athletic landscape and further secured the league’s position as one of the nation’s premier conferences.
 
On July 21, 2016, Swofford announced that ESPN and the Atlantic Coast Conference would launch the ACC Network (Fall 2019) and ACC Network Extra (Fall 2016). The 20-year partnership will provide ACC fans unprecedented access to live events via a comprehensive, multi-platform network while extending the conference’s existing rights agreement with ESPN as the conference’s exclusive worldwide rights holder through 2036.
 
Swofford oversaw the creation of the ACC Football Championship Game and played a key role in the evolution of the postseason structure to today’s College Football Playoff. The ACC Bowl affiliations have been tremendously enhanced under his watch.
 
He was instrumental in starting the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, now an early-season staple for both men’s and women’s college basketball. He created the ACC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee in 1999 and launched the ACC Community Outreach Program.
 
Swofford is a member of four Halls of Fame — the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame; the North Carolina High School Athletic Association Hall of Fame; the Chick-fil-A Bowl Hall of Fame; and the Wilkes County Hall of Fame. He has been awarded the Corbett Award, which is the highest administrative honor given nationally to a collegiate athletics administrator. Swofford has received the Homer Rice Award from the Division 1A Athletic Directors’ Association and is a recipient of the Ohio University Distinguished Alumnus Award. In 2011, he also received one of Greensboro’s Father of the Year Awards.
 
Swofford and his wife, Nora, reside in Greensboro, North Carolina. Together, they have three children — Autumn and her husband, Sherman Wooden, who have three children, Maya, Lyla and Lincoln; Chad and his wife, Caitlyn, who have one child, Owen; and Amie and her husband, Mike Caudle, who have two children, Emerson and Colson.
 
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Personal Information
Full Name: John Douglas Swofford
Hometown: North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
Wife: Nora Swofford
Children: Autumn (husband Sherman Wooden), Chad (wife Caitlyn), Amie (husband Mike Caudle)
Grandchildren: Maya, Lyla, Lincoln, Emerson, Owen, Colson
 
Education
High School: Wilkes Central High School, 1967, North Wilkesboro, North Carolina
College: University of North Carolina, 1971
Morehead Scholarship Recipient • BA in Industrial Relations
Graduate: Ohio University, 1973 • MEd. in Athletics Administration
 
Playing Experience
1965-67
• Two-time All-State QB and three-sport MVP at Wilkes Central High School
1969-71
• North Carolina varsity football team QB and DB
• Peach Bowl, 1970
• Gator Bowl, 1971
• ACC Champions, 1971
• ACC Academic Honor Roll, 1970-71
 
Athletic Administration Experience
1973-76
• Ticket Manager/Asst. to the Director of Athletic Facilities and Finance, University of Virginia
1976-79
• Assistant Athletics Director and Business Manager, University of North Carolina
1979-80
• Assistant Executive Vice-President of the Educational Foundation, University of North Carolina
1980-97
• Director of Athletics, University of North Carolina
1997-present
• Commissioner, Atlantic Coast Conference
 
Membership on Boards & Committees
• National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame Board, 2016-present
• National Sports Media Association Honorary Board, 2009-present
• North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame Advisory Board, 2008-present
• Wyndham Championship Board of Directors, 2002-present
• Greensboro Sports Commission Board of Directors, 1997-present
• NCAA Men’s College Basketball Officiating, LLC Board, 2010-2012
• College Football Officiating, LLC Board of Managers, 2008-2012
• National Letter of Intent Appeals Committee, 2002-2012
• Sports Business Journal’s Sports Business Awards Committee, 2011
• BCS Coordinator, 2000-01, 2008-09
• IA Collegiate Commissioners’ Association (Chair), 2005-07
• NCAA Football Board of Directors (President), 2004-05
• NCAA Executive Committee, 1995-97
• NCAA Division I Championship Committee (Chair), 1995-97
• NCAA Special Committee to Study a DI-A Football Championship, 1994-95
• President of NACDA, 1993-94
• NCAA Special Events Committee, 1987-91
• NCAA Communications Committee (Chair), 1987-89
• NCAA Football Television Committee 1982-86; (Chair), 1984-86
 
Honors & Awards
• Corbett Award, 2011 (presented annually by NACDA as the highest honor in collegiate athletics administration)
• Achievement in Business Award, 2011 (presented annually by Ohio University’s College of Business)
• Father of the Year, 2011 (recognized by the Greater Greensboro Area Father’s Day Council)
• North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, 2009
• Homer Rice Award, 2005 (presented by the Division 1A Athletic Directors’ Association)
• Horizon Award, 2004 (presented by the Atlanta Sports Council recognizing the National Sports Business Executive of the Year)
• Chick-fil-A Bowl Hall of Fame, 2003
• Fifth most influential person in U.S. sports by The Sporting News, 2003
• Outstanding American Award by the Triangle Chapter of the College Football Hall of Fame, 2002
• North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s Hall of Fame, 2002
• Ohio University’s Charles R. Higgins Distinguished Alumnus Award, 1984

Wednesday, December 05

FEATURED INTERVIEW - Commissioner's Corner

Moderator: John Ourand, Reporter, Sports Business Journal
John Swofford, Commissioner, Atlantic Coast Conference