John Swofford, the longest-tenured commissioner in the 67-year history of the Atlantic Coast Conference, announced in June that the 2020-21 athletic year will be the last of his 24 years of service.
As the fourth commissioner of the ACC, Swofford has guided the league to unprecedented stability, success and growth, expanding from nine to 15 members beginning with Miami and Virginia Tech in 2004, quickly followed by Boston College and later joined by Pitt, Syracuse, Notre Dame and Louisville.
Today’s ACC spans the entire eastern seaboard, giving it the largest geographical footprint and population among all Autonomy 5 conferences. Expansion allowed the league to secure its future through the grant of media rights, creation of the ACC Football Championship Game, an invaluable partnership with the Orange Bowl, and joining with ESPN in August 2019 to establish the ACC Network, which provides fans exceptional access to live events via a comprehensive, multi-platform network.
Swofford’s impact has been felt far beyond the ACC footprint. He played a key role in the evolution of the College Football Playoff and was a leading advocate for NCAA legislation that allows Autonomy 5 conferences to better address the needs of their institutions, athletic programs and student-athletes. He was instrumental in starting the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, now an early-season staple for both men’s and women’s college basketball. During his tenure, he hired the league’s first full-time women’s basketball administrator, started the ACC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, implemented the annual ACC Mental Health and Wellness Summit, and established C.O.R.E. (ACC’s Committee for Racial and Social Justice).
Over the last 23 years, the ACC has been at the forefront of college athletics, winning 92 national team titles in 19 of the league’s 27 sponsored sports. Beyond athletics, the league continues to set the standard academically by leading all conferences in nearly every comparison.
A native of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, where he was a three-sport most valuable player and all-state quarterback, Swofford attended the University of North Carolina on a Morehead Scholarship as part of head coach Bill Dooley’s first football recruiting class. In addition to earning a spot on the ACC 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. As athletics director, Swofford’s teams won more ACC and NCAA championships than any other athletic director in ACC history, a record that still stands. In 1994, Carolina won the Sears Director’s Cup, awarded to the top overall athletics program in the nation, the only ACC program to ever win that award.
At the time he became athletics director, North Carolina had not won a national championship in any sport since 1957. The Tar Heels won at least one national title every year of Swofford’s tenure. During his time in Chapel Hill, Carolina’s women’s sports programs soared to unprecedented heights, winning 65 ACC and 17 NCAA Championships. Swofford also hired six head coaches that went on to win national championships. In 1981, he hired the first Black head coach in the ACC.
Swofford is a member of five Halls of Fame — the NACDA Hall 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 two children, Owen and Ellie; 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, Ellie
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, quarterback and defensive back
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
- Sports Business Journal’s Top 50 Most Influential People in Sports Business, 2019
- Triad Power Player, 2018 and 2019 (recognized by the Triad Sports Business Journal)
- Wilkes County Hall of Fame, 2014
- Corbett Award, 2011 (presented annually by NACDA as the highest honor in collegiate athletics administration)
- NACDA Hall of Fame, 2011
- 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