The ACC has targeted Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips to be its next commissioner, multiple sources told Yahoo Sports. The ACC is finalizing an offer for Phillips to replace the retiring John Swofford, with an announcement expected soon.

For Phillips, the ACC commissioner job arrives more than a year after he came achingly close to becoming the Big Ten commissioner. Phillips was the strong choice among the Big Ten’s athletic directors and within the league office to become the next commissioner, but Kevin Warren beat him at the eleventh hour.

The appeal of Phillips to those involved in the ACC search was his familiarity with the inter-workings of college athletics. His campus experience and Northwestern’s academic sensibilities appealed to the ACC, as recent commissioner hires in the Pac-12 and Big Ten that lacked campus and conference



https://sports.yahoo.com/sources-acc-to-...54647.html