As the ACC tournament devolves into crisis, where is new commissioner Jim Phillips?
Two teams, including the top seed, have dropped out of the ACC tournament because of positive COVID-19 tests. The tournament is descending into farce. Virginia is touch and go to meet NCAA tournament testing guidelines, Syracuse might be in a fix and Florida State’s closing in on a second straight “championship” by default.
As the tournament devolves into crisis, it’s probably underselling the point to say it might be good to hear from new ACC commissioner Jim Phillips, and not through the pablum of a prepared statement?
To get his perspective on all this as a basketball guy, a former college assistant coach?
To find out whether he thinks it’s a good idea to proceed?
To get a sense of who he actually is?
Phillips was picked for the job in December, took over in February and has apparently taken questions from people who don’t work for the league exactly once, with two Greensboro TV stations last week during the middle of the women’s tournament. His only other public appearances have come on the ACC Network’s Packer & Durham show, as favorable a venue as there is, and that only twice.
That’s by design: Phillips, coming from Northwestern, has focused on moving his family to Greensboro, getting to know the presidents who hired him and the few athletic directors he doesn’t already know, and adjusting to the new (and often insular) world of the ACC. The plan was to get through the men’s and women’s tournaments before making any public appearances.
And if this tournament had gone as smoothly as the women’s did, no big deal. The ACC had a Phillips media blitz planned for next week. By the Final Four, the ACC at large would probably know him by more than an impressive reputation.
Mike Tyson had something to say about plans and getting punched in the face.
The unfortunate and unintended consequence is that the tournament is in flux and to almost the entire ACC footprint, to almost every ACC fan, Phillips remains an enigma.
Even if he weren’t, losing a quarter of the quarterfinalists due to COVID-19 rises to a level where we need to hear from the commissioner directly. Given that almost no one has a sense of who this guy is yet, it only makes it more important.
This may not be how Phillips wanted to make his grand bow as ACC commissioner, but it hasn’t been a year where our preferences have always been honored.
On Thursday, when Duke pulled out of the tournament, an ACC spokesperson said Phillips would not take questions and had no comment. On Friday, the ACC released a prepared statement upon Virginia’s exit, the sum total of Phillips’ communication this week.
“I’m heartbroken for our student-athletes, coaches and support staff at both Duke and Virginia,” Phillips’ statement read. “Our teams have worked incredibly hard and sacrificed so much throughout this season. We continue to be led by our ACC Medical Advisory Group and the protocols put in place that have allowed our teams to safely compete during the 2020-21 season. We will follow the lead of our medical personnel to ensure the health and safety of our programs remain the top priority. Our student-athletes and schools have been remarkable this entire season while enduring incredibly challenging circumstances.”
That leaves a handful of obvious, important questions unanswered.
And maybe this is the way things are going to be from now on. The new commissioner was always going to be different from John Swofford, for better or worse. That was a given, especially given the ACC’s new relationship with ESPN. If you want to cut to the core of it, Phillips is just one of many characters on a Disney reality show called the ACC. That’s where the bread is buttered.
On this day, as the ACC’s most important event is on the verge of imploding, his unavailability has become unacceptable.
He needs to address the calculus of continuing to play this tournament.
He needs to face questions from someone who doesn’t draw a paycheck from the same place.
Swofford’s morning press conference the day the tournament was canceled last year was not exactly the best performance of his tenure, but at least he was out there, facing the music, giving the best guidance he could of where the ACC was headed. You knew he was at least trying to lead, to find the best path forward, even if Duke eventually ended up making the decision for him. His motives were never in doubt. He was willing to step forward and be held accountable.
The ACC is again in a moment of crisis. It’s fair to ask whether the rest of this tournament should even be played. The league -- collectively: schools, teams, coaches, players, fans, alumni, sponsors -- needs to hear from the person in charge, like seeing the president visit the site of a natural disaster.
Yes, the timing is awkward. It’s not how Phillips or anyone else wanted it. But here we are. That’s the job he took.
