LarryD
06-18-03, 09:48 PM
URGENT|
Source: ACC leaders agree to pursue Virginia Tech as possible 13th school|
Eds: Changes dateline and byline.|
|By HANK KURZ Jr.|
|AP Sports Writer|
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Atlantic Coast Conference presidents will invite Virginia Tech to join three other Big East schools in jumping to the ACC as part of its expansion plan, two sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday night.
The sources spoke to The AP on the condition they not be identified.
The decision to add Virginia Tech was made during a three-hour teleconference of nine league presidents on Wednesday after it appeared that the original expansion involving Miami, Boston College and Syracuse would not get the required seven votes for approval, one source with knowledge of the talks said.
The suggestion to reconsider the Hokies was made by Virginia president John T. Casteen III, who has supported including Virginia Tech in the plan throughout. After the Hokies were first rejected last month, he pledged to continue pushing for their inclusion.
Virginia Tech president Charles M. Steger was notified of the ACC’s change of heart in a meeting with Georgia Tech president T. Wayne Clough in Blacksburg, Va., on Wednesday night, the second source said.
Steger was expected to speak with members of the school’s Board of Visitors on Thursday to gauge their feelings on whether Virginia Tech should accept the offer.
Steger and others at Virginia Tech have been among the most outspoken critics of the ACC’s expansion plan, which would leave the remaining schools in a stripped down Big East with an uncertain athletic future. Virginia Tech is one of five Big East football schools that filed suit on June 6 against the ACC, Miami and Boston College trying to stop expansion.
MORE
Source: ACC leaders agree to pursue Virginia Tech as possible 13th school|
Eds: Changes dateline and byline.|
|By HANK KURZ Jr.|
|AP Sports Writer|
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Atlantic Coast Conference presidents will invite Virginia Tech to join three other Big East schools in jumping to the ACC as part of its expansion plan, two sources told The Associated Press on Wednesday night.
The sources spoke to The AP on the condition they not be identified.
The decision to add Virginia Tech was made during a three-hour teleconference of nine league presidents on Wednesday after it appeared that the original expansion involving Miami, Boston College and Syracuse would not get the required seven votes for approval, one source with knowledge of the talks said.
The suggestion to reconsider the Hokies was made by Virginia president John T. Casteen III, who has supported including Virginia Tech in the plan throughout. After the Hokies were first rejected last month, he pledged to continue pushing for their inclusion.
Virginia Tech president Charles M. Steger was notified of the ACC’s change of heart in a meeting with Georgia Tech president T. Wayne Clough in Blacksburg, Va., on Wednesday night, the second source said.
Steger was expected to speak with members of the school’s Board of Visitors on Thursday to gauge their feelings on whether Virginia Tech should accept the offer.
Steger and others at Virginia Tech have been among the most outspoken critics of the ACC’s expansion plan, which would leave the remaining schools in a stripped down Big East with an uncertain athletic future. Virginia Tech is one of five Big East football schools that filed suit on June 6 against the ACC, Miami and Boston College trying to stop expansion.
MORE