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Times WiresA surprising compromise would push the league's membership to 11. An announcement is expected today.
GREENSBORO, N.C. - The presidents of Atlantic Coast Conference universities voted to invite Miami and Virginia Tech to join, several newspapers reported late Tuesday. In a surprising last-minute compromise, the presidents excluded Syracuse and Boston College from the expansion plan, the New York Times, Washington Post and South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
The vote, by 7-2, capped more than a month of acrimony that pitted the ACC against the Big East. The presidents at Miami and Virginia Tech still must formally accept the invitations.
Mark Pray, a spokesman for Miami, said the university would not comment until an official ACC announcement, expected at a news conference today.
ACC commissioner John Swofford declined to address specifics.
"We're very close to bringing this to a conclusion. I would expect us to have an announcement in the next couple of days," Swofford said.
The expansion would increase the ACC to 11 members from nine. Miami sought to join with Boston College and Syracuse to form a 12-team conference, which would allow it to hold a title game in football. Six ACC members supported that plan, one short of the seven votes needed.
Instead, the presidents ended a 31/2-hour conference call, the fifth meeting of the presidents on the issue, by choosing Virginia Tech.
The Hokies were not seriously considered until last week when Virginia said it would not support expansion without them.
A majority of the members reportedly opposed adding all four universities.
Left at the altar were Boston College and Syracuse, both of whom had indicated they would jump and whose campuses were recently visited by ACC officials.
The ACC presidents voted to expand on May 13, and conference officials visited Miami, Boston College and Syracuse to assess their facilities. Virginia Tech came into the picture later and was one of five Big East football schools who filed a lawsuit June 6 to try to stop BC, Miami and Syracuse from leaving the conference.
Before the meeting Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski made his first comments on the topic, supporting the addition of one new university - Miami - and criticizing the way his conference has handled the issue.
"What I would like to see and what I think Duke would like to see is vote in favor of adding Miami and going with 10 teams," Krzyzewski told reporters in Durham, N.C. "If that's what happens, I'm all for it."
Krzyzewski said a 10-team conference still would allow basketball teams to play conference opponents twice.
The Duke coach has not been a proponent of expansion efforts, comparing them to the United States "taking a state in France or Venezuela," saying that it doesn't happen because "we don't belong there."
Meanwhile, Florida attorney general Charlie Crist said he's prepared to intervene on behalf of Miami in the lawsuit aimed at blocking the school from moving.
Crist said Miami has the right to choose its conference and that he was prepared to oppose the suit filed by representatives of the Big East, including the attorneys general of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia.
A Connecticut judge was expected to hear preliminary arguments Thursday.
Hours after the ACC voted, the attorney general of Connecticut said that he would continue to pursue the legal action.
"Our legal cause is alive and well and indeed stronger than ever after these weeks of secret backroom dealings and continuing illegal conspiracy by the ACC," Richard Blumenthal said upon hearing the outcome of the vote.
McPherson trial onTALLAHASSEE - Former Florida State quarterback Adrian McPherson will stand trial July 14 on felony charges that he stole a blank check, filled it out and cashed it, an assistant state attorney said Tuesday.
Prosecutor Paul Driver said he withdrew an offer of a "global" plea to settle three separate cases after McPherson's attorney filed for dismissal of all charges. The other cases are a separate felony involving bad checks and a misdemeanor charge of gambling, including placing bets on games in which he played.
Defense attorney Grady Irvin Jr. of St. Petersburg sent a two-page letter to State Attorney Willie Meggs asking that Driver be pulled off the case. Irvin said he was troubled by previous public comments made by Driver.
PITTSBURGH: Wide receiver Billy Gaines had consumed enough alcohol that the 19-year-old was more than 11/2 times over the legal limit for an adult to drive before he fell from a catwalk in a church last week and died, authorities said. Gaines, a sophomore, fell 25 feet through rafters and struck the back of his head on a pew Wednesday at a church outside Pittsburgh. He died that day of a fractured skull and spinal injuries.
HONORS: Two former Florida running backs, Errict Rhett (who played there from 1990-93) and Buford Long (1950-52), were named to the Florida-Georgia Hall of Fame along with two former Bulldogs, kicker Kevin Butler (1981-84) and defensive tackle George Patton (1964-66). They will be inducted Oct.31 outside Alltell Stadium in Jacksonville.
OBITUARY: Fred Small, a police motorcycle officer who played linebacker at Washington in the early 1980s, died Tuesday of injuries from a three-vehicle crash in Diamond Bar, Calif. He was 39. He played one season with the Steelers.
- Times staff writer Greg Auman contributed to this report.