Tag: Jim Phillips

Oct 12, 2022; Charlotte, North Carolina, US; ACC commissioner James Phillips addresses the media during the ACC Men s Basketball Tip-Off in Charlotte, NC. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

ACC commish: Never condoned hazing as Northwestern AD

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner Jim Phillips denied that he tolerated hazing while serving as athletic director at Northwestern from 2008 to 2021.

Northwestern is reeling from the termination of head football coach Pat Fitzgerald and the firing of head baseball coach Jim Foster earlier this month. Fitzgerald was let go after an internal investigation found hazing to be widespread in the football program, and an anonymous former player told the student newspaper that Fitzgerald may have known it was taking place.

Since Fitzgerald’s firing, three lawsuits have been levied against the school alleging Fitzgerald and other leaders were negligent in their duty to protect student-athletes. Two of the three John Doe complaints name Phillips as a defendant.

“This has been a difficult time for the Northwestern University community, a place that my entire family called home,” Phillips said in a statement Thursday. “Over my thirty-year career in intercollegiate athletics, my highest priority has always been the health and safety of all student-athletes. Hazing is completely unacceptable anywhere, and my heart goes out to anyone who carries the burden of having been mistreated.

“Any allegation that I ever condoned or tolerated inappropriate conduct against student-athletes is absolutely false. I will vigorously defend myself against any suggestion to the contrary.”

Phillips became the commissioner of the ACC in 2021 after 13 years at Northwestern, overlapping with most of Fitzgerald’s tenure as head coach. A former star player at the school, Fitzgerald had been head coach since 2006.

–Field Level Media

Jul 20, 2022; Charlotte, NC, USA; ACC commissioner Jim Phillips speaks to the media during ACC Media Days at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

ACC commissioner named defendant in lawsuit by ex-Northwestern player

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner Jim Phillips has been named as a defendant in a lawsuit against Northwestern in connection with a hazing scandal that has rocked the football program, ESPN reported Wednesday.

Phillips was the Wildcats’ athletic director from 2008-21, which covers part of the time when the alleged hazing occurred.

A second former Northwestern football player filed a lawsuit against the university, school officials and former head coach Pat Fitzgerald. Per ESPN, the player — identified as John Doe 2 — played for the Wildcats from 2018-22.

That lawsuit comes on the heels of another one that had been filed against the university, Northwestern president Michael Schill, Fitzgerald and other university trustees alleging they were negligent in allowing a culture of hazing in the football program.

A growing group of 12 former players — including former quarterback Lloyd Yates — have retained attorney Ben Crump to pursue legal action. Yates became the first Northwestern player to publicly speak up about alleged sexualized hazing, telling the Chicago Tribune that he experienced a “very degrading, dehumanizing, embarrassing act.”

“This is a civil rights issue for me,” Crump said at a news conference Wednesday. “Because I think these players have the right to be respected and valued and not hazed, intimidated and retaliated.”

Fitzgerald was fired for cause July 10 after initially being suspended for two weeks without pay. Fitzgerald is also mulling legal action against the school for breach of contract.

In announcing Fitzgerald’s termination, Schill said players were exposed to “forced participation, nudity and sexualized acts of a degrading nature, in clear violation of Northwestern policies and values.”

–Field Level Media

Jul 20, 2022; Charlotte, NC, USA; ACC commissioner Jim Phillips speaks to the media during ACC Media Days at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Commissioner Jim Phillips: ACC still place to be

Posted on | by Field Level Media

Commissioner Jim Phillips understands the college sports landscape will experience seismic shifts with the likes of UCLA, Oklahoma, Texas and Southern California changing conferences in the near future.

Phillips said he still believes the Atlantic Coast Conference is the place to be, but implored his peers to act with the greater good in mind instead of tending to their own “gated communities.”

“I will continue to do what’s in the best interest of the ACC,” Phillips said at the conference’s media day kickoff on Wednesday. “But will also strongly advocate for college athletics to be a healthy neighborhood, not two or three gated communities.”

Florida State and Clemson have reportedly been active in searching for a new conference, although Southeastern Conference commissioner Greg Sankey wouldn’t confirm he spoke with other schools about joining college football’s most dominant league. Sankey also said this week he’s in opposition to expansion of the College Football Playoff — also dominated by SEC powers the likes of Alabama and Georgia — while Phillips said in a rebuttal it’s time to push the playoff to include at-large bids.

“The ACC continues to be supportive of an expanded College Football Playoff. I’m confident our concerns will be addressed and a new model with greater access will ultimately come to pass,” said Phillips, the former Northwestern athletic director.

FOX and ESPN are heavily involved in monetary gains for major conferences and SEC schools could be clearing more than $40 million or $50 million more than ACC schools as soon as the upcoming academic year, Yahoo Sports reported. Phillips acknowledged there is a gap — though he stopped well short of defining the delta — and said “all options are on the table” with regard to ways he’ll consider enticing current ACC members to stick around.

“Any new structure of the NCAA must serve the many, not a collective few,” Phillips said. “We are not the professional ranks. This isn’t the NFL or NBA Lite. This shouldn’t be a winner-take-all or zero-sum structure. College sports have never been elitist or singularly commercial.”

The Big Ten, with widening digital and broadcast markets to include Los Angeles schools UCLA and USC by 2024, could be set to pay as much as $100 million per school by that time, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Current agreements paid ACC schools $35 million to $40 million each in 2021.

“I love our 15 schools and I’m confident in us staying together,” Phillips said. “We continue to remain close in Notre Dame, they know how we feel, they know we’d love to have them as a football member in our conference but I also respect their independence.”

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said Wednesday he is not worried — or breaking any type of news when he declares players don’t come to his program because of the conference.

“Whether the ACC goes to 52 teams or we move to a new ‘megatron-world conference’, I don’t really know,” Swinney said. “But people have never come to Clemson because of the league, honestly. People come to Clemson because we’re Clemson.”

–Field Level Media