On the road again: AP joins ACC commissioner Jim Phillips as he racks up miles hitting league events

By Canadian Press on November 17, 2025.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jim Phillips stood near the ACC Network’s pregame set outside Acrisure Stadium, his dark suit standing out amid droves of Pittsburgh fans decked out in gameday gear ahead of the Panthers’ spotlight-grabbing visit from Notre Dame.

One recognized the Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner as she walked by.

“It’s great to see you here,” she said.

“No question,” Phillips replied, reflecting his belief that it is important for him to be everywhere he can.

As he closes in on five years leading the ACC, the Chicago native and former Northwestern athletic director has made a habit out of bouncing throughout the league’s new coast-to-coast footprint. He is constantly on the road for sporting events ranging from football with its unquestioned role as the financial driver in college athletics to the nonrevenue programs away from the spotlight.

The Associated Press shadowed him on one such trip over the weekend. That meant a daybreak flight from North Carolina to Pittsburgh, a return flight afterward, then driving two-plus hours the following day to attend the league’s men’s soccer championship match.

“It’s not a job, it’s never been a job,” Phillips told the AP after Sunday’s soccer finale. “It’s a lifestyle. It’s a commitment to a passion that I’ve always had. This is about helping young people in a really important time in their life. … The job will take every minute that you can give it.”

Starting early

Phillips has hit more than 30 football games this season and visited every campus of the league’s 17 football-playing members, with some trips including stops at multiple games in different cities on the same day.

This trip started at 5:45 a.m. Saturday when Phillips arrived at the regional airport in Concord, North Carolina, roughly 20 miles from league headquarters in Charlotte. He boarded a small private plane for a flight of slightly more than an hour, with homework to do before arriving in the Steel City.

He pulled a blue folder from his backpack and flipped through pages of printed-out notes. It was time to prepare for any number of conversations that could arise in the hours ahead. Among them: the pressing topic of the league’s uncertain footing to earn multiple College Football Playoff bids for a second straight year.

Phillips was set to appear live on the ACC Network’s “ACC Huddle” pregame show to help make the case. So he studied résumés for teams like Georgia Tech, Miami and Pitt as they entered the weekend jockeying for CFP consideration, as well as comparative data for teams in other leagues.

Could he really remember all the metrics in that folder?

“Verbatim,” he said with a grin.

TV ties

The plane landed a little after 7 a.m., and Phillips immediately hopped in a waiting SUV for the roughly 20-minute ride into Pittsburgh. That would give him one more chance to charge his cell phone for a busy afternoon of calls, text messages and tracking scores nationally.

With “College GameDay” from ACC TV partner ESPN also on site, Phillips headed first into the production office. He talked a few minutes with former Alabama coach Nick Saban, Desmond Howard and host Rece Davis while colleague Kirk Herbstreit’s golden retriever, Peter, ambled about the room.

He headed over to the GameDay set where Pitt fans had gathered with the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers meeting to form the Ohio River a striking background setting. He shared a quick greeting with Pat McAfee before yet another opportunity arose.

Phillips soon began a lengthy backstage chat with a staff member for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about the SCORE Act in the House, a bill seeking to reform college athletics and one being monitored by sports officials across the country.

Later, he finished his own appearance on “ACC Huddle,” then hopped down the set’s stairs to head into the stadium.

Things were about to get much busier.

Stadium connections

Keeping up with Phillips isn’t easy. He gets up around 4:45 a.m. daily and starts working out by 5, with running on a treadmill as his go-to choice. He briskly slalomed through the gameday crowd, focused on connecting with as many people as possible. Coaches, athletes, political figures, venue workers and security staff, they’re all fair game.

With the noon kickoff looming, he headed to Pitt’s locker room to share a hug and chat with Panthers coach Pat Narduzzi, then went to midfield to find the ABC broadcasting crew for a quick hello.

He migrated to his gamelong residence on the Pitt sideline, wearing a gold-and-blue tie honoring Pitt’s colors as a full-time ACC member against the Fighting Irish, a football independent but an ACC member in all other league sports.

The sideline conversations included the likes of former NFL coach Jon Gruden, former Pitt and NFL star Tony Dorsett, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and two more former Pitt and NFL stars in defensive back Darrelle Revis, and defensive lineman Aaron Donald.

Also on hand was Pitt chancellor Joan Gabel, who sported Pitt-blue colored glasses and black shoes bearing Pitt’s script logo.

“College sports has changed a lot and the change is happening at a pace that is literally dizzying,” Gabel said. “So the way you navigate through that and succeed through that is by having a foundation, and you build a foundation face to face. And no one models that better than our commissioner. He’s been in this industry, if you will, his whole professional life. And it shows. He knows everybody. He nurtures those relationships.”

To listen to Phillips, this skill is rooted in his upbringing as the youngest of 10 children, with his father teaching him to “know people’s names” and “make sure you’re sincere and warm” in greeting them.

It’s a core approach now in leading one of the country’s Power Four football conferences.

“The world’s about people and relationships,” Phillips said at kickoff of Notre Dame’s 37-15 win. ”That’s one of the great things about the job, is all the interesting individuals that you get a chance to come across. And at the end, you’re trying to represent the conference in the very best possible way.”

‘Blessed to be a part of it’

Things were calmer Sunday back in North Carolina, yet still busy.

Phillips made sure to attend Catholic Mass — another daily routine — at his home parish in Huntersville, then quickly headed to his car. The soccer championship between SMU and Virginia was set to begin at 1 p.m., leaving him roughly three hours to drive the 160 miles to Cary, near Raleigh.

He got there with time to spare, then took a seat at a midfield table wearing a dark hat and white striped golf shirt with each bearing the ACC logo.

That gave him the chance to observe everything from the game action, the benches, the officials’ work using replay and even smaller details.

“Nice job,” Phillips at one point told a young ballboy. “You’re doing good work.”

When Virginia player Stephen Hurlock suffered a serious leg injury late in the match, Phillips walked to the far end of the field to join tournament director Brandon Meff in monitoring medical workers treating Hurlock from a few feet away. He also stopped to speak briefly with Hurlock shortly before the freshman was taken to a hospital.

When the game was over, Phillips quickly walked the ACC trophy across the field to the celebrating Mustangs, handed it into the chaos and then cleared out of the way.

He stayed for the official postgame trophy presentation, handing out all-tournament honors as well as smaller versions of the ACC trophy to each of SMU’s players, coaches and support staffers before posing for a final photo with the celebrating team.

“I’ve been blessed to be a part of it, certainly my family’s been blessed to be a part of it,” Phillips said of the weekend. “I wouldn’t want to do anything else. I’m grateful to be the commissioner of the ACC — and just thankful for what I get to do on a daily basis.”

With that, it was time to head to the car and start the drive back home.

And next week, hit the road all over again.

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Aaron Beard, The Associated Press

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