Locked On ACC - Daily College Football & Basketball Podcast - TURBULENCE: Clemson, Florida State, and Miami IGNITE ACC's Most ENTERTAINING Decade Ever

Episode Date: June 16, 2026

ACC turmoil, powerhouse moments, and unpredictable drama define a wild decade—has any conference entertained more? Alex Donno and Kenton Gibbs break down the ACC’s top ten defining stories, from Clemson’s rise as a college football dynasty under Dabo Swinney, and the courtroom chaos with Clemson and Florida State, to Virginia’s stunning basketball redemption and Miami’s resilient run to the College Football Playoff. Expansion controversy takes center stage as Cal, Stanford, and SMU join, stretching the Atlantic Coast Conference to the Pacific and Texas. The duo spotlights seismic coaching changes—Coach K’s farewell at Duke, Roy Williams’ UNC departure, and Syracuse legend Jim Boeheim’s exit—while exploring constant realignment rumors, the ACC Network’s impact, and Florida State’s highs and lows. Is the ACC built for survival or another shakeup? Don’t miss this fast-paced, story-packed look at the decade’s defining moments in ACC sports. Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!   Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.  RugietGet 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhlRugiet. Performance medicine for men. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast   FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel.Visithttps://FANDUEL.COMto get started now.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The last decade in the Atlantic Coast Conference has been defined not only by championships and expansion, but by turbulence and some existential crises. You are Locked on ACC, your daily podcast on the Atlantic Coast Conference. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. He's Kenton Gibbs from Lockdown Wolfpack. I am Alex Dono from Lockdown Canes. And today, my friends, June 16th marks the decade anniversary of the Locked On Podcast Network. From our CEO, Fearless Leader David Locke, who had what was honestly a brilliant idea when he was play by, still is,

play by play announcer of the Utah Jazz to say, hey, jazz fans might want to hear about their team every single day. Went from his Locked on Jazz podcast to an entire network and great opportunities created for people like Kenton and my myself. We celebrate the decade anniversary of the Lockdown Podcast Network with Kenton a decade worth of stories that have defined the ACC. And I'll say this, you'd probably agree. Covering the Atlantic Coast Conference has not been boring. From the negativity to the championships, seems like there's always something going on. Oh, I lost you for a second. Now I can't hear you. my bad i was saying i was chewing something and it took me a lot longer than i thought my bad all right just just cut that out all right here we go here you ready yeah all right three two

one you know dono one thing people could argue where the acc ranks in the power for people could argue you know why we got left out of the big two and all that good stuff how we got left behind and all that. But you know what cannot be argued? This is by far in terms of storylines, in terms of entry, the most entertaining conference to cover. And we get to do it on not the fourth best, not the second best, not the third best, not the eighth best, not the 28th, the number one podcast network with Locked On. Shout out to David Locke for giving us the opportunity, but I'm telling you, there is no other conference I'd rather cover. Oh, I'm the big kid.

Everything's going fine. Every now and then a coach does something terrible and gets fired, but for the most part, you know, everything's okay. Oh, we're the SEC. They'll bend over backwards to make sure rules work out for us and everything will be all right. Oh, we're the Big 12. Nobody really talks about the things that we do

or the fact that Cincinnati was allegedly tipped off about a certain person's gambling problem and let him go on anywhere to a new spot where he was the generic gambler got put out. But other than that, not much to talk about. And one of our member institutions is duck in the smoke with SMU, but we ain't going to talk about nobody in here Texas, Chris, I mean, the Big 12 member university. We ain't got to say no name. We get the fun conference where every other day somebody's trying to take our teams, where we've got

coaches dating people that are too young to be host on this podcast network where we've got everything you could possibly want in one conference we've got it here we've got entry we've got all types of great players we've got former heisman winners coming through this thing and i'm tell you if you talk about where you just have the most fun where else would you rather be to quote a big kid coach that left under uh he didn't get fired. He left under rather tenuous circumstances of, you know, somebody spying. I believe the Michigan football team is the, uh,

what are they, the Michigan stallions of the USFL or something like that? That name shouldn't be important for later. But who's got it better than us, Donno? Nobody. And you really do have to take the good with the bad. And so what I want to start with here, Kenton, and this was not a positive thing for the conference whatsoever, but it's definitely one of the stories that defines the past decade when two member institutions, Florida State and then Clemson, were suing the ACC a couple of years ago. Litigation that lasted 17 months over the grant of rights, how to get out of it, which fuels a lot of those conference realignment rumors.

And like you remember, Kenton, you know, we go to the ACC kickoff media days every summer. And two years ago, when the lawsuits were in full swing, it was very awkward. I mean, every other question to Commissioner Jim Phillips, hey, how about Clemson, Florida State suing you? And he did issue a pretty strong statement to them. That lawsuit got settled a couple of months before last year's ACC kickoff, and Jim Phillips was very proud to have a, I guess you call it a united front now with the 17 or including Notre Dame 18 member institutions.

But, you know, Kenton, that for a year and a half almost, the vultures were circling because the ACC looked like it might fall apart as a result of those lawsuits. Absolutely. And I vividly remember, I know. I vividly remember. I remember like was yesterday. Everybody in our comments who were Clemson fans or Florida State fans saying, oh, we played our last game in this backwater conference. We played our last game in this conference. Donno, it's about what, three years after that, three, four years after that. People play games in this conference, aren't they? It may not be that way for too much longer, but we all knew that they weren't going anywhere at the time. And I'm going to tell you, that's what I mean by this conference is going to keep you entertained.

Because to see not only the lawsuit, but the settlement that came out of it, and then the results of that, right? Yeah. The success initiative and the viewership initiatives, right? You get the success initiative for who wins and all that and you get to keep all of your money. Your team, Miami benefited from that greatly during this last playoff run because the ACC got settled for, you know, that amazing run that Miami went on. Miami gets to keep all of that. And you think about the success initiative and what Florida State has been since then, not much success to speak out. Not my success to speak out.

So, you know, same with Clemson, actually. Both of those things. The success in this stuff was announced, I believe between the two banner institutions, you got what? One conference championship in football, no conference championship appearances in basketball. So, I mean, you know, it's a very interesting thing to see there and to see what happened here. But ultimately, that was one of the defining cases for the ACC in the last decade. And I'm glad you brought up the terms of the settlement because the ACC is now uniquely the only,

the only Power 4 conference that has an uneven revenue split. And, you know, trendsetters. And some people don't like it. Some people like it. I mean, heck, my alma mater and the team that I cover in Miami, like you mentioned, has benefited from that. I'm not going to complain about it. But it made the ACC a pioneer in terms of an uneven revenue split.

And, you know, okay, you talk about Clemson being a little down since the settlement, but we cannot deny over the past 10 years. Clemson's success under Dabo Sweeney with their first national championship appearance, just making the cut kind of January of 2016. But then they had three more national title appearances within the past years, the past decade, including two national championships. I mean, Kenson, you think about the years when wasn't a whole lot else going on in football because Florida State has had some very high highs, some very low lows.

Miami was irrelevant on the field for the majority of the past decade until the past couple of years. But, you know, Clemson goes out there and they win national championships head-to-head, two of them against the Alabama Crimson Tide with Deshaun Watson. And then Trevor Lawrence, Trevor Lawrence with a 15-0 undefeated season. That to me, you know, we talk about the bad. But Clemson's success, that was very, very good. And that helps define this decade. If you are to call Clemson a dynasty in decline, you know what that implies? That they were a dynasty.

Exactly. Icarus laughed as he fell, for he knew that that means that he had flew, right? That's or flown, rather. That's what this is. You know, you talk about Clemson, who they've been as a football program in the overarching theme of all of college football. How many national championships did they have before that? One. One.

Just one. So Davos time there. While we may be in the twilight, we may be in the back nine, there may be more years behind that situation than in front of it. But you cannot deny that Clemson's dominance, Clemson's dominance was something to absolutely admire. I remember a game against Georgia Tech where in the height of this thing. Now, Travis Eton rushed for 250-some yards or 240.

on like nine carries. And they had this inside to tackle versus outside the tackle splits. And both of them were like 30-something yards per K. And it was like, wow, this is unheard of. This is just God. How do you do that? In an inter-conference game, at the power four level, how do you do it? Well, Clemson showed you how.

I mean, just the team that unwavering and what they do and how they do it, Some would say to their detriment now, but again, there was a time where Clemson doing it to Clemson way proved that it was the right way. So you cannot discount what Davosweeney did to put Clemson amongst the pantheon of great teams. And they had so much success during that period that it kind of creates this Mandela effect where you think like, oh, Clemson football has always been a blue blood because they had so much success during that time. But as you mentioned, it's one national championship before Dabo. And like there were some years where Clemson was relevant, but never a powerhouse, not consistently before Sweeney. So it's like they had so much success for what six, seven year frame that it kind of makes you feel like they've always been that. It's pretty remarkable what Dabo was able to do.

And we'll see if he's able to bring it back. But speaking of bringing something back, when we come back, we have to talk about you. You talk about a story that helped define this decade. how the Virginia Cavaliers basketball team went from disgrace in 2018 to glory in 2019. You want to keep it locked right here because we're only getting started. Happy 10 years to the Lockdown Podcast Network, you want to keep it locked. Folks, throughout the NHL finals and congratulations to the Carolina Hurricanes, by the way. What a performance.

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You get exclusive ad-free versions of our episodes, Discord chat access with other listeners and with hosts, so many other great benefits. Just go to Lockedonpodcast.com slash Everydayer. You can join for all your favorite shows, whether it's Locked on Wolfpack with Kenton and Grayson, locked on ACC or Locked on Canes with me. Go to Lockedonpodcast.com slash Everydayer and join the Everydair Club today. Thank you so much for making this episode of Lockdown ACC, your first listen. You know, Kenton, when we talk about, you know, the highs and the lows,

I don't think anybody exemplified that in a shorter period of time than the Virginia Cavaliers did from 2018 to 2019 under Tony Bennett, where in 2018, they had the distinction of becoming the first ever number one seed, number one over seed that year and they fell to 16 seed UMBC retrievers University of Maryland, Baltimore County. So they had the disgrace of being the first one seed to lose to a 16. And then they bounced back the following year by winning the entire tournament. I mean, you had the agony and the ecstasy right there within a 365 day span. Yeah, that was a very different thing that, you know, like you said, we've never seen it before. Now, have some other.

teams followed in that trend, looking at you, Purdue, of being one seeds to lose to 16s, yes, but that was after, you know, Virginia did it and Virginia bounced back immediately with a championship, you know. You talk about Tony Bennett and his time at UVA. I mean, if there was nothing better that personified it, this was it, right? A great and dominant team, that packline defense and all that doing what the, or backline defense, rather doing what they do and, you know, making it very, very hard. on teams and then going from there to an absolute disgrace of losing.

If you were to ask most people, what does UMBC stand for before that game? I had to look it up. They wouldn't. They wouldn't guess. If you would have told them, if you give me the name of the university and the name of the team, I will give you $2 trillion. dollars. Everybody would have been clocking back into work tomorrow. We've been clocking back into work.

Okay. And that team took them out. And then what did they do the next year? Everybody who came their way got belt in that tournament. It was one of the best displays that we have ever seen. And it was your typical Tony Bennett team. Only one or two, you know, NBA guys that were going to stick around for a while. But for the most part, he did it with. very elite defense, not turning the ball over, and just playing balls to the wall, hey, we're going to make you hit tough shots and nobody could do it.

So Virginia deserved it. They earned that loss. They earned that championship. It was extremely impressive. And again, one of the highlights for the ACC for sure. Yeah. Yeah, the next defining story, top 10 defining stories that we've covered here in the AC. and unlocked on ACC.

How about that expansion, Kenton, two years ago, when the ACC controversially, and I'm still not sure how I feel about all this two years later, okay? But when the ACC officially added, Cal, Stanford, and SMU, taking the Atlantic Coast Conference footprint all the way out to the Pacific coast and adding an up-and-coming program from Texas and SMU that, you know, reached a conference championship game in their first year.

That was huge. And, like, I guess the jury is still out on the long-term success of this, but so far, these members have actually proven to be an additive when it comes to TV revenue, because the ACC network getting that extra footprint in Texas, Dallas area, and out west in the Bay Area, has actually helped the network create a lot more revenue. So so far, Jim Phillips's expansion plan. seems to be working. You know who my

or least favorite character was in all of those shows in the 90s? It was Mr. Feeney because he was always on that fence in Boy Meets World. I ain't on the fence about the Calgary. They alone earned everybody's way in here.

But then you got cousin SMU pulling up to the cookout. First year, conference championship appearance. How about it? Hey, we love us some Southern Methodists here at Locked on ACC. And Stanford, you're finding it.

You're finding your way. Don't find it somewhere. Hey, listen, Stanford, come on. We're hoping. Give us some reason for optimism here, you know. But I'll tell you what, Donald. This ain't being graded like a school test. And most things in life, if you're back 66%

in baseball, you'll be the greatest hit. there ever was. So you got two out of three of this expansion that have definitively added in right away against Stanford. We believe in you now that some Landruh Muck character has donated hundreds of millions to your athletic program. I thought it wasn't him. I thought that they proved it was a like a player from the 60s or 70s or something. No, I'm joking. I'm jock. I know it was Andrew Luck. I just don't know who it was. So with that being said, you've got nine figures to play with Stanford. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come join us at the table. Come show us something good. But all in all, this expansion is something I was excited

about it. It's inception. Everybody called me a fool to be excited about it. Yes, see, I wasn't excited. I'll admit, but you know what? I have come around and a lot of it has to do with the algorithm. That's what I've said. The calgaryism alone would have been enough for me to get excited. But then SMU joins us again, Stanford, we're waiting. Something besides the Olympic sports. Something besides the country club sports. Give us something. You know what it reminds me of? It reminds me of like when a big company buys out a smaller company. And it's like they don't really want the personnel.

They just want an algorithm. Right. So it's like we just wanted the Calgarythem. So it's like we're going to go and bring these teams in so we can absorb the Calgarith. Y'all see why Donnell's Donuts of Miami has now expanded up to Orlando? You see why? He's a man with a vision. ladies and gentlemen. He's a man with passion and pride. And I'm telling you, it's been great so far.

This merger, this not so hostile takeover to capture those three teams. Yeah. So I know you're going to love this next story that was one of our top 10 most defining moments. North Carolina hires Bill Belichick to be their new head football coach. He's now heading into year two at UNC. he's got the now, I think now 25-year-old Jordan Hudson, who's, you know, she's making public records requests so she can find out who within the program was talking trash about her behind closed doors to the media. I mean, you can't deny Kenton, it's a circus, has not worked out on the field yet, but Bill Belichick is a head coach within the USC. That's been quite the story. You know, to get foiled by your head coach's old lady is one thing. To get foiled by your head coach's old lady that probably, if he was one of the players,

she probably wouldn't be the oldest wagger or whatever, you know, wife and girlfriend of the group. Insane. But, you know, I hate to be that guy that's like just beat my chest saying I told you so the entire episode. But I will say this. taking on Bill Belichick was a big swing by U.S.C. And everybody knew coming in, even if everybody did not disagree with me that this was going to be a burning failure, everybody agreed that this was either going to be a stunning success or a horrible failure. Everyone knew you're not going to get five and seven, six and six, seven and five with Bill Belichick at the hell.

They're either going to turn into a unit right away or we'll see a dumpster fire right away. And it's been the latter and not the former, you know, for this team. And so it's unfortunate, but to give UNC credit to give me a little timber to get upstairs to the big man, once it's time for being the transition away from this physical plane, UNC took a big swing and you've got to applaud that. Yeah. You know, another one, and this kind of falls into the first story we covered, but not all of it has been related to that.

I mean, Kenton, to have to, one of the things we have to deal with covering the ACC are constant conference realignment rumors, a ton of clickbait out there on these interwebs. Like I can't, I can't tell you, Kenton, how many times I have logged on to my social media direct messages or even gotten text messages from friends who were like, hey, is it true Miami's about to join the Big 12? or is hey Florida states joining the Big Ten in three months it's like this stuff is always constantly out there even since the lawsuits have been settled just the timelines have moved back to a couple of years but it's the type of thing I don't think I don't think Gordie on locked on SEC ever has to deal with this kind of stuff that we have to deal with but that's why I say this is the most entertaining place to be you know yeah when Drake Toll is getting his clicks at the expensive saying Miami to the Big 12. What type of fit is it? Louisville to the Big 12.

Dun Deal. Pit to the Big 12. Potential implosion of the ACC. You know, the reality is we've got to combat that. You know, every single year, every single time, it's like a, it's like those vultures looking at an animal that they think is on the way out. and they just kind of, hey, what's going on over there? Let's pick it the skin, see if it do something. Let's pick the skin a little bit. As we've been happening, everybody's been trying to pick at the ACC's skin to see if there was something here. And, you know, I must say, ever since the lawsuits happened,

Donald, how many teams do we have at the inception of the lawsuit? Actually, less than we have now, I think. Bingo! That was my point. Exactly. I think we had, we had 14 then and we've got 17 now. Ladies and gentlemen, the jury, my case is resting peacefully. It's put on it snuggy. It's put on the good slippers, turned that AC down about 64 is going to ban.

Because the reality is the ACC, despite all the daughters, despite all the, this is the year, it all falls apart. Oh, yeah, you know, we're going to get you. We're going to get all your heavy hitters, Clemson, to the SEC. How about it? Oh, Big Ten expands its footprint into Florida with Florida State. What do you think it? Somehow, all of our teams have remained. Everybody still together. We absolutely love to see it. You know, speaking of Florida State, when we come back, you talk about, you know, we had Virginia going from, you know, the agony to the Great Heights the following year. Florida State had the opposite thing happen a few years ago. You want to keep it locked. We're not. done yet on this brand new episode of Lockdown ACC, and happy 10th anniversary to the Lockdown Network. My friends, workplace chaos can show up fast.

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Check out Kenton Gibbs and Grayson Boone on Locked on Wolfpack talking all things NC State. And check me out on Locked on Cains talking all things Miami. All right. So, Kent, I may have to recuse myself from this one because I know, you know, Miami got. taking shots at Florida State, but it's been good and bad, a remarkable decade for FSU. You had 23, 13 and 0 winning an ACC championship, getting completely hosed by the college football playoff committee. They didn't allow you in because Jordan Travis, your quarterback had broken his leg.

They did get, you know, routed by Georgia in a bowl game. But, you know, still, they should have been in that playoff. and then they find a way to crumble to 2 and 10 the following year, and they're still working their way back from that. From a good and a bad, Florida State has had themselves a decade. You know, when you look at what happened there, first of all, that Florida State defense, really that Florida State team as a whole,

but especially that defense, gentlemen, take about, take about. What you all did will never, or not will never, should never be forgotten, okay? For reference on how good they are, everybody talks about the Georgia game where they were playing with their third string guys and, you know, they were darn near picking people out the parking lot saying, hey, you're an FSU fan.

Come on, play for the spirit. And what we saw in that season, people talk about, oh, Georgia was what happened when they played real SEC comp. Do you remember who their first game of the season that year was, Donald? Was it LSU, and they won? Correct. LSU. LSU put up 24 points on them. They also played Florida that year, that year, rather. Do you want to know how many points Florida put up on that team, Donald? How many?

15. So the two SEC teams that they played, including, let's be clear about this, the two SEC teams that they played, including future Heisman winner, Jaden Daniels, future first round pick, Brian Thompson. They allowed 19 and a half points per. Ask most people, will you take your defense allowing 19.5 points per game in today's game? Oh, yeah. If you tell me NC State-old average that, I'd give you my first born child. I don't even have kids yet. Take it. Take it.

As soon as it's born. Go ahead. Go on my way. You weren't going to be named K, Jay, but, you know, me and your mom have got to try again. Sorry, bud. So the reality of this thing is they play. phenomenal football against the best competitions all year long, starting off against number five LSU, and we're dominant through most of it.

Dominant through pretty much every stretch winner team was involved and everybody was there. The only thing I will say is the way that everybody opted out for the bowl game. I get it. I get it. You're professionals, you're going to be professionals. and you don't want to risk the injury for the bowl game and all that good stuff. That was their moment to show the world. This is how good we are even without George Travis.

That was their moment. I don't hold that game and the results of that game against that team. I do hold the fact that the player, as many players as did, sat out of that game against them. And I get it. It's not fair. It's not right. I was one of the loudest voices screaming.

You cannot leave an undefeated power 14 out of the playoff. You can't do it. Especially when you look at how their defense was rolling down the stretch down. It was the stuff was unheard of. They play, and these are actual points allowed, okay? Past the month of November forward, these are the amount of points allowed. Seven at pit, 20 against Miami, 13 against North Alabama, 15 against Florida, and six in the ACC championship game.

That defense was unstoppable in that game. I remember that. Verse and Fisk alone said, we're not going to lose this game. Let alone all the other guys. Let alone all the other guys. So they should have gotten in. But the loser bill stuff that has infected your program,

it's the same reason Notre Dame is not going to be good or as good as they should be. Same reason they're not going to win a national championship in the next two to three years. even though they should. They should be there. Loserville stuff, when it affects your program, when your guys decide not to compete at that level,

and I know what people are saying, but Ken, everybody who sat out that game left, that's incorrect. One of the live back that sat out came back and played for the next season. You cannot have Loserville stuff on your team. You have to cut it out like the cancer that it is, and we've seen it, Dono.

We've seen it. That team, have they, been back to a bowl game since then? No. Seven wins in the last two years. Loserville stuff gets in your program and it will not leave. Once it takes root, it's over.

Yeah. You know, so another story in our top 10 that was obviously near and dear to my heart on Locked on Cains and it was important for the ACC last year, Kenton, because you know, we were in a weird situation where the team that won

the ACC championship in Duke which was a story in itself, but they did so with five losses. And there were group of six champions that were ranked ahead of them. So if Miami had not gotten into the playoff last year, the ACC could have been left without a representative. Now, you and I both agreed,

like the committee putting Miami in was the right decision because of the head-to-head win over Notre Dame with the same record. Now, the way that the committee came to that decision, was wacky because for what, five, six weeks, they consistently had Notre Dame ranked in front of Miami and didn't flip it until the final reveal show. And I can remember when I'm watching that reveal show, I didn't think Miami was going to get in,

but my heart was pounding when they got to that final at large spot. And when they put Miami up there at number 10, I went crazy. And then Miami actually went on to validate, making the college football playoff because they were underdogs at Texas A&M. They won. They were big underdogs against Ohio State, and they beat at the time championship favorites OSU in dominant fashion in the Cotton Bowl.

And then they had a barn burner win against Ole Miss to get to the championship game where they fell to Indiana. But that was an incredible run for Miami, and it was so needed for the ACC because they would have had nobody in, if not for that. Donno, I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to tell you something. I wasn't even worried from the standpoint of the ACC. I wasn't ready to let Ruby Bain go yet.

I wasn't ready. Yeah. I wasn't ready. Yeah. The way that he was playing down the stretch during the season, I needed to see more. I needed that in my life. You could inject the way that he was playing. I'm not talking about the highlights, the all 22.

If you injected it into my veins, you would say, oh, he's on that bane, been because I'd be feeling real great. You understand? You know, for the Batman fans, you get it. We're not talking about Rubin Bay. We're talking about the Luchin' door. But to see Miami take off as they did when they got the opportunity. That's all you can ask for.

All you can ask for is the opportunity. We juxtaposed this story with the Florida State story very intentionally and not so Dono could get a laugh off. But because as much as people said, Miami doesn't have the this and the that, and they always wet the bed and knees get to. types of games and they're not ready and they're a year away and they're a quarterback away and they're this away and they're that away. It took Fernando Mendoza having a Heisman performance for Indiana to win that ball game.

It really and truly did. If you see a lesser quarterback on that fourth down run, he gets stopped. He gets stopped. He gets stopped. Miami grabs, takes the ball and who knows what happens from there. He got in there with sheer will. That's what I'm saying. He made some guys miss.

He did some He did some Heisman things. He did some things that you say. That's why he was in New York. And you live with that. But Miami all the way through. I mean, Bain and Mezador terrorizing officers. Marcel Reed still gets nightmares. You know, you can't even say something is the Baintyo exists around.

He's going to look up. Who? Where's he at? Where's he in? You know, you can't. If you even say, yeah, that's a messy door over there around Ohio State. What?

Messador? Where is it? Where is it coming from? Who's it? You know? So the reality is that team phenomenal. And in a moment where you talk about the ACC needed it. The ACC, not only were we talking about not getting in, and this is no slight to Duke.

It's just the reality. Not only where a group of six teams is raided in front of Duke, Duke had losses to group of six teams. That's right. That's just the fact. They lost to Tulane who got in. That's just a fact. Yes, A loss to a group of 16. Not losses.

A loss. It losses, it applies plural. But you look at that and you say, the ACC needs something. Needs something. And Mario Cristobal says, fine. I'll do it myself. And he gets them all the way to the national championship. You know, hell of a run.

Much needed by the ACC. Much needed for this show on the number one podcast network, sports podcast network in America, baby, because we needed something good going into the playoff. For our second to last top 10 story, we go back to basketball for this one, because I think something that's defined the past decade, specifically the past, what, four years,

has been the changing of the guard with some legendary coaches retiring. And, of course, we'll get to the biggest of those in a second, but, you know, Roy Williams, his chapter at UNC, coming to a close, Jim Beheim, his career at Syracuse, you know, Tony Bennett and Virginia, Jim Laranega recently at Miami, Leonard Hamilton at Florida State. And then, you know, the biggest one of all after, I think a 42-year, 10-year at Duke, Coach Kay stepped away and left it to his protege, John Shire.

But it's like, I mean, Coach Kay had literally been coaching for my entire life and yours, because I'm a little older than you, until, you. You know, he decided to step away from the Blue Devils. That was that that was a landmark story for us in the last decade. Oh, absolutely. You know, I joked about Virginia having too many Tonys because they had Tony Musket, Tony Bennett, Tony Kalanjord, Tony Elliott, all at the same time. And lo and behold, all the Tonys that I liked were the first ones to leave.

You know, what's going on there? No, but in all seriousness, you know, you talk about a changing of the guard. you're not just talking about coaches who are, you're not just talking about coaches who are all right. You're talking about coach. All of the coaches you mentioned had all of these things in common. Multiple number one Cs and at least one national championship. Some of which had multiple.

Is that not insane to think about? And then you think about how drastically different those coaches were, right? Duke being the empire. Nobody wants to root for them. Everybody doesn't like Duke. That's just what it is. UNC, although I may not like them. The team that, you know, it's something about them.

You got your heerness and all that good stuff. You got all the stars come out for UNC and all that good stuff. Greatest Robert Air is and all that. Roy Williams was a definitive part of that legacy. And then, you know, you look at Jim Beehine, the master of the zone. In a time where the zone is obsolete, everybody's just going to shoot you out of it. Jim Beehom said, no, you won't.

We're going to run this two, three, to the death of us, and you're not going to do anything about it. And boy, was he right. Do we all remember that magical run with Carmelo and company up there? You know what I mean? McNamara and company, they did their thing up there in Syracuse. And so you look at all of these coaches, and of course, Bennett and that defense,

Bennett and the multiple seven footer, bend it and you know what you're getting it's going to be slow it's going to be ugly it's going to be nasty but you got a shot because virginia may also shoot 20% that night you never know you never as good as they were you never know and you see those four contrasting personalities that are also different the four contrasting styles also different that changing of the guard it feels like a childhood is gone moment it feels like seeing brady and Manning and Breeze all retired. Because it's like, man, what, what happened?

What happened to the game I love seeing all these guys going? Yeah, well said. And then, you know, last but not least, and this is definitely a defining story for the ACC. 2019, Kenton, the launch of the ACC network, which, you know, not only gives, you know, an opportunity to house, you know, football games every single week,

but a great platform for the, the Olympic sports, great platform for college baseball and college softball, and really necessary to have a TV network when the SEC and the Big Ten already had one. The Big 12 still doesn't have one to this day. And like, I remember it's kind of a turbulent start for the ACC network, because some big cable systems like Comcast didn't offer them right away. But then eventually things all kind of fell in line. And it's definitely been an additive in terms of conference revenue and exposure to have their own network. And I'm glad that took place for us.

You know, I had the pleasure of being on the ACC network as making a guest appearance there. And I'm going to tell you, first class folks, they're great people up there. They do good work for the most part. And, you know, they may get a lot of flack because things aren't done perfectly. But again, it's better than what some other conferences have.

And to think, the Big 12 is the only conference without a channel. And did you know that a Big 12 member institute or a former Big 12 member institute is what got all of the conference handles started? The Longhorns. The Longhorn Network got it started. And yet here we are seeing a situation where they're the only ones without one. And again, ours, you know, shout out to Mack Lane, Tannenbaum, Manuel, Barry, all those guys. All those people up there, they're fantastic. They're a fantastic group.

And again, I was happy to be there when I was there. I'm happy to come on anytime because, again, it's always great to talk ACC ball with folks who love the ACC. Yeah, that's complete facts there. And we do as well. You know, sometimes it's tough love. We don't always cover the most positive stories, but, you know, we have the ACC's best interests at heart. And, you know, Kenton and I are both really thankful for this locked on podcast network to give us a platform, to be able to talk ball, to be able to talk all these storylines and draw. that we get to bring you guys on a daily basis.

And you want to make sure you follow Kenton at TGIF underscore Kenton. Check them out on Locked on Wolfpack. Check me out on Locked on Cains and follow me at Alex Dono. And we'll talk to everyone next time on another episode of Lockdown ACC. We are part of the number one Locked on podcast network, number one sports podcast network, your team every day.