What needs to happen:

(1) these historically good football programs need to do whatever it takes to return to relevance. Specifically talking about F$U, Miami and VT. We need more fund raising, better recruiting, better coaching...whatever it takes.

(2) our new commish needs to do whatever it takes to increase our conference's income. With the "death" of the Big-12, maybe we can get that big bowl with a SEC school?

(3) We need to ban all ACC schools from playing "cupcakes." All OOC games should be played against P5 or G5 schools. "The hotter the fire, the harder the steel!" Lets act like we are a P5 conference.

(4) No new additions unless they move the conference payout needle. If a new member doesn't bring more cash for everyone, we don't need to add them. It really is that simple.

(5) Time to get the deadwood to raise their investment in football. They need to get off their money sucking, non-producing butts and build better football facilities. Get on board, or leave. I think every ACC stadium should seat a minimum of 50K people now, and increase that figure every few years. In 20-25 years, every stadium should seat a minimum of 75K fans. If you play in a pro stadium, you should forfeit a nominal (20%?) percent of your ACC money every year to schools who are funding on campus stadiums and expansion. That can go away once we're fielding a SEC level football product, but don't hold your breath.

(6) We need to hound ESPN whenever they show that they think the ACC is a "2nd rate" product. For example, if they do a "wheel of destiny" think to laugh at the ACC, we need to rake them over the coals. If we aren't getting our fair share of big games on the "A" network, we need to rake ESPN over the coals. I'm not talking about complaining about not showing a BC plays WF on ESPN, but if they decide to show MSU vs Kentucky in prime time over an FSU vs Clemson game, they need to hear about it! If they show UGA vs Ga Southern over a VT vs Miami game, they need to hear about it! We can no longer allow ESPN to push us further back on the bus.

Frankly I'm sure ESPN would welcome the ACC improving our product on the field. Hopefully enough to open their wallets a little wider, but I'm not holding my breath. One thing is certain, we darn well better put a better football product on the field, and that needs to happen now!