Realignment officially kicks off for top leagues

HAPPY realignment day!

It certainly was for the Atlantic Coast Conference, which welcomed Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Notre Dame to the league yesterday with a celebratory news conference/flag planting in New York City.

After commissioner John Swofford welcomed the new teams at a news conference at the NASDAQ stock exchange in Manhattan, he said further expansion isn't on the agenda.

"It's not a topic of conversation for us right now," he said. "I would not anticipate it being in the future, but we'll see. I don't predict the future much anymore, I've learned better. But it's not something that's on the table for discussion in our league right now."

Swofford was joined at the news conference by Florida State football coach Jimbo Fisher, Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer, Notre Dame basketball coach Mike Brey, Syracuse basketball coach Jim Boeheim and former Pitt star receiver Larry Fitzgerald, now with the Arizona Cardinals. The group then took part in a closing-bell ceremony at the stock market.

The ACC does have one more lineup change scheduled for next year, when Maryland leaves for the Big Ten and Louisville joins.

The Cardinals were picked to replace the Terrapins ahead of Cincinnati and Connecticut. Both of those schools lobbied the ACC to be next out of the Big East, and both remain in the newly renamed American Athletic Conference.

Other leagues took a more low-key approach as they became official yesterday:

* The American Athletic Conference, which includes Temple, opened for business, and Memphis, Central Florida, SMU and Houston left Conference USA to become members of the conference formerly known as the Big East.

There wasn't even been enough time to change the signage on the Providence, R.I., headquarters.

"We're working on that now," commissioner Mike Aresco said. "We're getting there. There's some major stuff there we've been working on, but it'll be done soon."

* The new Big East is up and running. The basketball-centric league was created by old Big East members Villanova, Georgetown, St. John's, Providence, Seton Hall, Marquette and DePaul. Joining them are Butler, Xavier and Creighton.

"While we have much to do in the months ahead to bring the conference office to full operating capacity," new commissioner Val Ackerman wrote in a letter to the schools, "I'm confident that we will create a first-class organization we can all be proud of and that will fully support the work of our member schools."

* Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion and Texas-San Antonio all became members of Conference USA, as the league restocks after being gutted by the American.

* Georgia State, UT-Arlington and Texas State are in the Sun Belt, as the conference restocks after being gutted by C-USA.

* The Mountain West added Utah State and San Jose State from the Western Athletic Conference, which is now out of the football business.