Florida State is weighing its options as conference realignment barrels through college sports. The ACC is no stranger to realignment, as they brought on several schools in the early 2010s in a move that nearly ruined the Big East. But now, as the Big Ten, Big 12, and SEC take shape, the ACC’s standing is in question. FSU may be seeing the law of the land before making a decision, as one Board of Trustees member detailed Friday.
Drew Weatherford, a former Seminoles quarterback, and BoT member, talked with longtime radio personality Paul Finebaum on The Paul Finebaum Show. The discussion centered around the Noles’ status in the ACC as realignment sweeps nationwide. While Weatherford wouldn’t outright say the school’s plan, he did indicate specific details noted in the room.
“Ultimately, the situation is pretty clear from our standpoint,” Weatherford said via On3. The former quarterback continued, saying, “We, as a board, started really digging in and paying really close attention to the future of our conference — and frankly, the future of our ability to be competitive.”
Recently, other members of the ACC nearly voted for Stanford and Cal to join the conference in another realignment cycle. Florida State, however, was one of four programs to vote ‘No’ to the two California schools joining.
Weatherford called it a “math problem” that exists that puts FSU and other schools in this peril as things continue to take shape. He made sure to point out that they “love” the ACC, but the landscape’s difficulties are growing amid this realignment cycle.
“We ultimately would love to stay in the ACC,” Weatherford said via On3. “And I want to make that clear. It would be great if we could remain in the ACC and have a media contract that was competitive and allowed us to compete on a level playing field as the Big Ten and the SEC. But that is just not the case with the way things are structured today. We are unapologetically looking at every option that we have and are ultimately just trying to look out for the best interest of our university and our student-athletes.”
[The Paul Finebaum Show, quotes by On3]
