ACC Commissioner John Swofford

Now in his 14th year as commissioner, John Swofford has made a dramatic impact on the Atlantic Coast Conference and college athletics. Swofford has built his career on the appropriate balance of academics, athletic achievement and integrity and is regarded as one of the top administrators in the NCAA.

Now in his 14th year as Commissioner, John Swofford has made a dramatic impact on the Atlantic Coast Conference and college athletics. Swofford has built his career on the appropriate balance of academics, athletic achievement and integrity and is regarded as one of the top administrators in the NCAA.

Swofford assumed his role as the fourth full-time commissioner of the Atlantic Coast Conference in July of 1997. He follows James H. (Jim) Weaver, the league's first Commissioner from 1954-1970, Robert (Bob) James, who served from 1971-1987 and Eugene F. (Gene) Corrigan, who held the position from 1987 to 1997.

In addition to overseeing one of the nation's largest athletic conferences, Swofford has been pivotal in positioning the Atlantic Coast Conference for the future.

In July of 2010, Swofford's leadership and negotiating skills helped the conference secure a new 12 year multi-media rights agreement with ESPN. The extensive television package begins with the 2011-12 academic year and will more than double television revenue to the 12 member institutions. In addition to reaching new heights financially, ACC content will now be televised more, both regionally and nationally, than at any point in league history, while also best positioning the conference within the continuous, ever-changing world of technology.

Equally as historic, in 2003, on behalf of the nine league institutions and the ACC Council of Presidents, Swofford introduced Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College as the newest members of the ACC. With the expansion, Swofford helped bring the conference extended and enhanced television contracts in both football and basketball. Highlights included the rights to the inaugural ACC Football Championship Game and significant increases in the number of televised games as well as negotiating an agreement with XM Satellite Radio, to broadcast the league's football, men's and women's basketball games nationally.

In the sport of basketball, Swofford was instrumental in creating the ACC/Big Ten Challenge that began in men's basketball in 1999. Then in 2007, the two conferences hosted the inaugural ACC/Big Ten Women's Basketball Challenge.

Highly respected by his peers, Swofford was a force in the development and growth of the Bowl Championship Series and is the only person to serve two terms as its Coordinator.

Since becoming Commissioner, Swofford has been responsible for securing increased bowl opportunities for the ACC. The past five seasons, at least seven ACC teams have earned bowl bids and, in 2008, the conference set an NCAA record when 10 of its 12 teams (83%) participated in bowl play. This year, the ACC has agreements in place with nine bowls including the Orange Bowl, home to the ACC Champion since 2006.

During Swofford's first 13 years as Commissioner, ACC teams have won 50 national team titles and 1,337 ACC teams have participated in various NCAA championships - an average of over 100 NCAA teams per year.

A long-time advocate of the importance of academics and student-athlete welfare, Swofford stimulated the formation of the league's first-ever ACC Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. This group of current ACC student-athletes gives the conference direct feedback on their experiences participating at the highest level of college athletics.

In 2006, the prestigious ACC Men's Basketball Tournament was awarded out to 2015. Throughout Swofford's tenure, the iconic event will have traveled to many dynamic cities within the footprint of the league including Atlanta, Ga., Washington D.C. and Tampa, Fla., in addition to the traditional stops in Greensboro and Charlotte. The 2001 ACC Tournament in Atlanta set NCAA attendance records for single session (40,083), per session average (36,505) and total attendance (182,525).

Swofford placed an added emphasis on the development of women's basketball in the ACC with the hiring of an Associate Commissioner for Women's Basketball to oversee all aspects of the sport on both a conference and national level.

The Director of Athletics at the University of North Carolina from 1980 to 1997, Swofford was instrumental in building North Carolina's athletics department into one of the country's most respected programs. He became the school's athletic director on May 1, 1980 and at the age of 31, he was the youngest major college Athletics Director in the nation at the time.

During his tenure, Tar Heel athletic teams claimed 123 ACC championships and 24 national collegiate titles, including two in men's basketball and one in women's basketball. During the 1993-94 year, the Tar Heels captured the inaugural Sears Directors' Cup, emblematic of the collegiate all-sports champion and finished in the Top Six of the Sears Cup standings in each year of Swofford's tenure that the award was given.

Under his leadership, North Carolina enjoyed tremendous growth in its athletic facilities, including the construction of the Smith Center, a complex which includes a 21,572-seat basketball arena, the Koury Natatorium and the Frank H. Kenan Football Center. He initiated the idea and provided the impetus for the founding of North Carolina's trademark licensing program.

The University chose to recognize his many accomplishments by establishing the John D. Swofford women's athletics scholarship and naming an auditorium in the school's football complex in his honor.

John and his wife Nora reside in Greensboro, N.C. and together they have three children, Amie, Chad and Autumn, who is married to Sherman Wooden. Autumn and Sherman welcomed Maya, their first child, to the family in April of 2010.