New ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips ready to confront problems of transfers, NIL, covid

In his first five months on the job, ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips has been confronted with three unprecedented challenges:

• The NCAA transfer portal, and its effect on football and basketball rosters and recruiting.

• Dealing with players seeking exposure and financial gain through name, image and likeness opportunities.

• The lingering specter of covid-19 and what it means to the 2021 football season.

Each issue presents unique problems, and he addressed all three Wednesday at the start of the ACC Football Kickoff in Charlotte, N.C.

Phillips said more than half of the ACC football teams have surpassed the 85% covid vaccination threshold. “With several others on the cusp,” he said. “We all feel that is a reasonable target across the ACC.

“I believe vaccinations are critical, but I also deeply respect that getting the vaccination is a personal choice.”

Most significant in regards to the approaching season, he added, “Increasing the number of vaccinations will create the best opportunity for our athletes to compete.”

He said cancellations “would break my heart.” But the ACC has not released a policy on a minimum number of players required to field a team or whether there will be cancellations, postponements or simply games played with smaller rosters.

“We all really want to wait a couple more weeks or so,” he said. “There is some more information we will be able to gather. We’ll understand the (delta) variant a little bit.”

The transfer portal has changed the way football and basketball coaches recruit, with some putting more emphasis on transfers than recruiting high school athletes.

Phillips compared the portal to a game of “musical chairs.”

“That’s what worries me … the music stops and there are not enough chairs, there are not enough seats, there are not enough scholarships for those in the transfer portal.”

He adds, “The freedom of movement won out in that decision, and I completely agree with that.”

There has been some speculation the portal and NIL could unintentionally work together, with players deciding not to transfer for fear of losing their endorsement deals.

With many players already negotiating deals, Phillips hopes a level playing field emerges across college football.

Alabama coach Nick Saban said his sophomore quarterback, Bryce Young, is approaching “ungodly numbers” in the area of seven figures before being named the starter.

Pitt quarterback Kenny Pickett has hopped aboard, sealing a deal for weekly meals with his offensive linemen at the Spirits & Tales restaurant inside the Oaklander Hotel on Bigelow Boulevard. He also will have his own show on Pitt’s flagship station, 93.7 FM. He’s also turned down a few, according to his coach Pat Narduzzi.

Taking his linemen out to dinner is a tradition he started at Ocean Township (N.J.) High School.

“Can only get one a season (in high school),” he said. “Now, I have the opportunity to take all six linemen. That was, obviously, very important for me to get done first.”

Phillips appreciates the need for NIL, but he said the ACC “will continue working with congressional leaders to ensure equality.”

Narduzzi was asked about NIL during his news conference Wednesday.

”Now, it’s an opportunity for our kids to earn some money, earn a meal. I don’t care what it is,” he said. “Not to have to go to a restaurant and say, ‘You can’t give me that appetizer.’ ”

But he warns, “I want them to be selective. I want them to get the right opportunities. There has to be some restrictions, some lids put on this thing.”

He said hard work and success could lead to greater gain in the future for many players, especially those looking toward the NFL.

Narduzzi said Pickett has shown “a level of maturity” in regards to his NIL opportunities. “I told him, ‘The money you’re making now is peanuts compared to what those opportunities are going to be if you do what you’re supposed to do on the football field.’

“Everybody wants to be in Kenny’s shoes. It’s not a given. He’s earned everything he’s got.”

NIL also can create a teaching moment, Narduzzi said.

“It gives some young guys an opportunity to look up at a Kenny Pickett or a Deslin Alexandre (senior defensive end) and say, ‘I want to be like him. Look what he got. How do I get where Kenny is?’ ”

Yet, Alexandre isn’t dwelling on NIL.

“I’m trying to focus on the task at hand, which is football,” he said. “If I don’t get my job done on the football field, all these opportunities won’t be.”