New arrivals have their say

GREENSBORO, N.C.- Reality was standing directly inside the front door of the Grandover Resort on Sunday after 51 years of lurking outside.

Just two blocks from the Atlantic Coast Conference headquarters and less than a mile from the country club where the ACC was created in 1953, there stood a Virginia Tech assistant football coach complete with his Hokie hat, shirt and shorts emblazoned with ACC logos.

Expansion wasn't just some kind of bad dream after all. And it's no longer some abstract blueprint. It actually happened and it's here.

Players and coaches from Virginia Tech and Miami joined their brethren from Wake Forest and Maryland and Clemson and so on for the annual family get-together known as the ACC preseason football kickoff. Along with them came a relative swarm of media that was nearly 60 percent larger than usual.

There were so many reporters, even the Duke players got enough attention that nobody felt obligated to sit down for a pity interview.

"I doubt the ACC will ever lose its basketball conference tag," Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst said, "but we're closing the gap."

Florida State's easy ride is over. There is now a conference member that owns a winning record against the Seminoles, and the long-time rivals meet on opening day to practically decide the 2004 ACC Championship.

"We take on all comers," said Florida State receiver Craphonso Thorpe, unbowed by Miami's aura.

While Virginia Tech has coveted a place at the ACC table as long as the conference has existed, Miami enters the union as if it were an arranged marriage. With five national championships in the past 21 years, you can bring a certain amount of hautiness to the table.

"It's a new challenge," was Hurricanes defensive lineman Orien Harris' brief summary of the big change.

Miami's media guide barely acknowledges the program's new affiliation. The ACC logo seems grudgingly placed in the bottom right corner of the back cover. Only one of the 320 pages is dedicated to the conference, and even that is topped with the ACC motto "Tradition of Excellence" in quotation marks - as though no respectful Hurricane really believes that.

By the third paragraph of the 2004 outlook, Miami puts its new home in perspective: "While the Hurricanes are focused on putting on an impressive performance in their inaugural Atlantic Coast Conference season, the ultimate goal of a national championship remains this program's driving incentive."

Contrast Miami's low-key enthusiasm with Virginia Tech's downright giddiness. The centerpiece cover of the Hokies' media guide proudly proclaims "Inaugural Season ACC", as does a banner across the bottom of every other page in the 328-page book.

"It's like we're finally here," Hokies safety Vincent Fuller said. "Everybody is excited around Blacksburg. And being one of two players to represent Virginia Tech for the first time in the ACC is definitely exciting."

Whatever orientation the pledge players went through didn't include anything about ACC history. None of the Miami and Virginia Tech players could say where or when the conference was started, which schools were original members and which school dropped out (South Carolina). They couldn't name the 2003 leading rusher (P.J. Daniels) or the any team other than Florida State that's won the conference title in the past 12 years (Maryland and Virginia).

Asked to name the most accomplished North Carolina quarterback ever, they stared speechless - which was the only correct answer since UNC has never had an accomplished quarterback.

But the pledges have clearly been coached (or brainwashed) into saying all the right things about their new conference.

Everyone talked about what a great football conference it has always been with great tradition and great competitiveness.

New traditions will soon be built, and the ACC has certainly never had more to be proud of when it comes to football.

The reality is that the ACC has finally arrived on the gridiron, and it may change everyone's perspective.

"You look at the top teams in the conference and say, 'Hey, those are the ones we're going after now,' " Whitehurst said. "Everyone has a circled game on their calendar, and ours might not be South Carolina anymore."

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.