CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jim Phillips took the stage on Tuesday at a difficult time for the ACC and himself.

The league is staring down a $30 million annual per-school deficit compared to the SEC and Big Ten. And Phillips is facing a pending lawsuit stemming from Northwestern’s hazing scandal, with allegations that occurred during his time as the school’s athletics director.

Phillips offered up his thoughts in a wide-ranging and lengthy “state of the ACC” address. Here’s a look at five takeaways from what Phillips said.

Phillips worked at Notre Dame as a senior associate director of athletics from 2000-04 before later moving into jobs as the athletics director at Northern Illinois and Northwestern. His ties at Notre Dame were originally perceived as a potential positive as far as continuing the relationship between the ACC and the school.

Notre Dame is an independent in football, playing a few ACC teams each fall, but plays a full ACC schedule in all other sports. Phillips’ tone has often remained positive in the last two years about Notre Dame joining the ACC, but his tone has evolved.

“We've had a lot of conversations, let me put it bluntly, with Notre Dame, and they've been very clear: They value their independence, and I think they feel strongly that that will continue well into the future,” Phillips said. “If they ever have the desire of joining the conference, they know that we would welcome them with open arms. …

“Their sports, other than football, I think have thrived in the ACC. I think they really enjoy the academic prowess that the ACC brings as well, but they've been pretty clear about their desire to stay independent. So I don't see that changing any time soon.

He said the ACC-Notre Dame relationship is a "healthy" one, which is accurate but not precise. The relationship has been beneficial to both, but Notre Dame has leverage as far as its separate TV contract with NBC. The Fighting Irish also should see significantly more revenue from NBC in its next contract.

And in remaining an independent in football, Notre Dame prevents an opening for the ACC — to bust open the league’s contract with ESPN via expansion and renegotiate for more money. Notre Dame has long represented the best chance to bring in more revenue on a school-by-school basis and that door appears to be closed.

Success initiatives were the hot topic at the ACC’s spring meetings in May. A few weeks later, on May 24, the ACC announced “it has endorsed a success initiative that will begin during the 2024-25 academic year.” The goal is to reward football and men’s basketball teams for their performance in “revenue generating postseason competition.”

Two months after that announcement, Phillips would only offer that a decision is to come in the “future” from the ACC’s presidents and chancellors, who will need to reach a consensus and vote on the proposals. But there are a number of questions from when the specifics will be announced to how much money can be earned by each school.

FSU athletics director Michael Alford told the Osceola there are some proposals on the table, ones he and president Richard McCullough prefer and others they don’t, but little else has been shared about what is on the table.

“The working group of presidents and chancellors continue to make progress, and following a full board decision in the future, we'll certainly share more details,” Phillips said. “… Conference presidents and chancellors have initiated the success incentive initiative, which is going to distribute dollars in a disproportionate way. We've never gone down that road before in the ACC, and I'm not sure many conferences have.”

Phillips reiterated the ACC’s third-place standing among the Power 5 schools in terms of per-school financial distribution — well behind the SEC and Big Ten, slightly ahead of the expanding Big 12 and the eventually shrinking in prestige Pac-12. He emphasized the need to bridge the massive revenue gap “as far as you can.”

One interesting distinction in Phillips’ view is the process of how a school goes about pursuing success in football and men’s basketball.

“One of the presidents said it best: Are we chasing a dollar amount, or are we chasing success?” Phillips said. “I think there's a difference there. If you are chasing a number, it takes you down a different path. If you are chasing success competitively in football and basketball and all of our sports, then I think every institution has an idea of what they need.”

ACC Kickoff Day 1 Updates

FSU will open with LSU in Orlando and close with Florida in Gainesville, two of the ACC’s 25 non-conference games against Power 5 opponents. Phillips says the ACC's non-conference schedule is "arguably the toughest in the country."

Phillips feels there can be a cannibalization of ACC schools going head to head, but that premium non-conference games can elevate FSU, Clemson or another school.

“We have to get off to a really good start,” Phillips said when referencing ACC vs. non-conference Power 5 games.

Among other prominent non-conference games are North Carolina-South Carolina, Miami-Texas A&M, Virginia-Tennessee and Pittsburgh-Cincinnati. There are also rivalry games, beyond FSU-Florida, like Clemson-South Carolina, Louisville-Kentucky and Pitt-West Virginia.

Phillips and Alford have been frequent visitors to Washington, D.C., to speak to elected officials about the need for uniform, federal legislation on name, image and likeness.

“Having something, some kind of federal legislation, that allows some opportunity for there to be consistency across competition,” Phillips said. “I say this, when you have inter’ and intra-state competition, you want fairness in everybody playing with the same types of rules. So that's why Washington D.C. Congress has been really important, and we've made some strides, but I would also say that it's not probably ready for public consumption now.”

There are a few bills that have been written in recent weeks, but the unfortunate reality is more than two years into the NIL era there is a lack of consistency as states have various NIL language. Florida’s law was amended earlier this year, which Alford says has helped to level the playing field.

Phillips raised some curious eyebrows when he said “We are thinking about a plan B if we can't get help from Washington D.C., because that's I think the biggest difficulty that our coaches are faced with.”

Phillips was Northwestern’s athletics director from 2008-21 before he was hired by the ACC. In recent weeks, the Northwestern hazing scandal has taken prominence in the spotlight with current or former athletes in football, baseball and volleyball among those describing what they faced. Phillips has been named as a defendant in two of the first three lawsuits which emerged from former Northwestern athletes.

Phillips previously defended himself and his reputation for what allegedly happened during his time at Northwestern. On Tuesday, he asked for no questions on the topic.

“This is a very difficult time for the Northwestern community, and my heart goes out to any person who carries the burden of mistreatment or who has been harmed in any way,” Phillips said. “During my 30-year career in college athletics, my highest priority has always been the health and safety of all student-athletes. As you know, with this matter in litigation, I'm unable to share anything more at this time.”

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