If you read our blog’s recent article, With John Swofford retiring, who may be the next ACC commissioner?. This was a list put together by @Hokiemsash_ASD in 2015. From the NewsObservers in their article discussing Swofford’s retirement, they list these candidates…
Top candidates to replace Swofford include West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons, Atlantic 10 commissioner Bernadette McGlade and South Florida athletic director Michael Kelly — all former ACC executives — as well as Clemson athletic director Dan Radakovich and NCAA executive and former Florida State athletic director Stan Wilcox. The ACC presidents may also choose to follow the example of the Big Ten, which went outside those with connections to the league to hire Kevin Warren from the Minnesota Vikings last year.
@Hokiemsash_ASD (who was five years ahead of his time as you saw from the blog post above) and I chatted about this, we’ve agreed that Mike Kelly is our choice to replace John Swofford.
In @Hokiemsash_ASD‘s words
Michael Kelly (“The Favorite”) – Based on his broad level of experience, Michael Kelly is well-prepared to the the next ACC Commissioner. Kelly is an alumnus of Wake Forest University and, earlier in his career, served as the institution’s Director of Athletic Operations and Facilities. Kelly previously served as Senior Associate Commissioner for the ACC, overseeing broadcasting, communications and football.
Kelly has experience with huge sporting events. He served as the lead local executive for three different Super Bowls in three different communities, having been President of the Super Bowl Host Committee in Tampa Bay (Super Bowl XXXV), Jacksonville (Super Bowl XXXIX) and South Florida (Super Bowl XLI).
He also served as the Executive Director for the 1999 NCAA Men’s Final Four Local Organizing Committee.
Kelly was the Chief Operating Officer of the College Football Playoff, which probably the third largest sporting event in our country behind the Super Bowl and March Madness. Kelly, therefore, is not only familiar with the culture of the ACC, but he’s also worked at the highest levels of college sports. He is currently the AD of South Florida.
Let’s expand on this. Kelly checks all the boxes, we want to see in an future ACC commissioner. As a Wake Forest alum, he has a personal stake in the success of the conference. He knows the inner workings of the ACC as a Senior Associate Commissioner for the ACC. During the difficult expansion chaos of the early 2010s he was part of the ACC board group that helped stabilize the conference.
His experience as the COO of the College Football Playoff is invaluable. That gives him a background working with the biggest power players and conferences in College Football. As an AD at South Florida, he knows the inner workings of how to manage a school’s athletic budget.
Even at the level Kelly is clearly at, he’s never been inaccessible. @Hokiemsash_ASD and I have had him on our podcast, and he even guest hosted once. We’ve interacted with him, and can truthfully say he loves the ACC. Hopefully he throws his name in the hat for ACC commissioner, as we don’t know if that will even be the case, but we think he’d be a great choice.
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