Jim Phillips is a home-run hire as ACC Commissioner.

In tabbing the Northwestern athletics director to succeed John Swofford, the conference had to see him as checking every box in boldface. Swofford was the longest-tenured commissioner of the Power 5 conference (23 years), with a combination of the right timing to keep the ACC on pace with the Big Ten and SEC in expansion and increased TV revenue.

But because Swofford was a UNC graduate and former AD there, it was clear that no one with Carolina ties — including the uber-qualified Bubba Cunningham — was going to have a shot at the job for the foreseeable future. And while several administrators from other ACC schools were interested and likely considered, Phillips solved the problem of affiliation from which Swofford distanced himself as the years passed.

There was also the talk of a minority hire and/or a woman as the next commissioner. And, too, qualified prospects came from those two groups. But Phillips has an extensive past at football-oriented schools and one of the top academic universities in the country. He is an outsider when the ACC needs one who can provide new blood.

Considered a strong candidate to succeed UNC grad Jim Delany as commissioner of the Big Ten, Phillips’ proximity probably hurt him as much as helped. The job went to former Minnesota Vikings vice president Kevin Warren. Phillips, an Illinois graduate, joins the ACC with no lingering allegiances.

Phillips has administered during the boom era of college athletics. He walked the tightrope between academics and achievement at Northwestern, which is annually among the most decorated programs in the classroom and has become a force on the fields and courts in the Big Ten under his leadership. He also has tremendous fund-raising chops when and if that is needed in the future of the ACC.

Phillips is 52 and may not keep the job as long as the 72-year-old Swofford, but there isn’t a more prestigious  position in college athletics, including the thankless president of the NCAA. That job may be restructured in coming years, and Phillips will be perfectly situated to advise on that, rather than trying to get it.

(featured image: John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune via AP)

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