This is in response to the thread on our years in the SEC. I feel I may be older than some of you so I have a perspective on our time in the ACC. In the early 70’s we were a national power in men’s basketball. The coach, McGuire, got tired of the Tobacco Road president’s slapping recruiting restrictions on us. They hated us, especially after we beat UNC in the tournament and knocked them out. Only conference champs went to the tournament back then. McGuire got our board to get us out of ACC. Paul Dietzel, who had coached LSU to a national championship, over Clemson no less, had led us to an ACC football championship in 69’. Had we stayed in the ACC , we would likely be a blue blood basketball program. When McGuire retired in the mid 70’s, we snatched the Duke coach, the guy who was there before Coach K. Duke was a power then. But not being in a conference pretty much shut our recruiting down. Would we be better off had we stayed in the ACC, likely for basketball but who knows for football. My thoughts are that leaving the independent ranks to join the SEC was a game changer. Yes, we are still a “middling” program but think about were we came from. Being an independent now would be a death wish. What other conference should we have joined? We weren’t going back to the ACC. What conference would you rather be in if not the SEC?
