The Confidential

Resolutions For Fans of ACC Schools…Add Yours

Tomorrow is a new year.  2015.   Yikes.  If you are reading this, you are capable of having one of those… “it’s been __ years since __” moments.  Dean Smith will be 84 this year.  Bobby Bowden will be 86.  In any event, each new year brings resolutions for a better year.  The Confidential has gathered what it thinks are decent  resolutions for fans of several ACC schools.  After reading ours, feel free to share yours for the schools…

1. Notre Dame.  Stop fighting for football independence and embrace the idea of joining the A.C.C. full-time.  Yes, you treasure your independence.  If you go 12-0, you will be in the playoff.  But, as you saw this year, if you are 11-1, you will be out most years.  The lack of a conference championship game will hurt you just as much as it did TCU and Baylor.  Think about it.
2. Florida State.   Relax!  FSU Twitter usually seems on the brink of having a collective heart attack.  ESPN does not hate you.  It likes stories that sell.  The more you folks complain about ESPN, the more money ESPN makes.  If this bothers you, please complain about the Confidential!  We are FSU-hating turds over here!!!   No, we love Florida State and the Seminoles.  We are proud of them… 29-0.   Carrying the ACC mantle.  It is praise like this that makes the Confidential poor and ESPN rich.  Enjoy the moment Seminoles.
3. Syracuse.  Savor the moments.   Syracuse, like Florida State, gets way too caught up in whatever ESPN is saying.  Remember being 25-0 last year?  Probably not.  You were too focused on why some retard voter had Syracuse #3 in a poll.  A few weeks later, losses to Boston College and Dayton were a wake up call regarding just how short-lived the times at the top can be.  Jim Boeheim will not live forever, which means he will not coach forever.  Enjoy what it is like to consider an 8-4 start a “bad year.”  These are the good times.
4. Duke.  Support your football team.  At 8-1 and hosting Virginia Tech, the stadium was three-thousand folks shy of a sell-out.  While the stadium is small, this football program has never been better.  Maybe the good times will last for 20 more years.  Maybe they will last for 2 more years.  All we know is that Duke football is powerful after years of being impotent.  Get in the stadium and support the team.
5. Louisville.  Push for a lacrosse team.  Lacrosse is a northeast sport that is spreading to the south and midwest.  It is also a bit of a blue-blood sport.  While continuing to improve academic prestige is important, adding lacrosse might be a good way to add to the school’s perception.  Why not?
6. Virginia Tech.  Be patient with the end of the Beamer era.  Frank Beamer built the Hokies and, like Bobby Bowden, will largely leave on his own terms.  It may get ugly, but just think of where the program would be without Beamer.  And also note how Florida State is back on top.  It may take a while to rebuild, but it is worth allowing the legend to pick his time to leave.
7. Pittsburgh.  Do not get attached to Pat Narduzzi.  The football coaching position at Pitt has been a bit of a turnstile lately.  If Narduzzi is successful, he will be on the short list for many major programs.  The only way he stays at Pitt is if he is mediocre.  Better to wish him to have success and use Pitt as a stepping stone, right?  So it goes.
8. Clemson.  Resolve to not boo injured players.  C’mon Tigers fans, you are better than that.   Who cares if they are interfering with your high octane offense?  If it is a good offense, it will still win.  As it did against Syracuse.
9. North Carolina.  Support a clean up of the academics.  Nobody knows for sure how many folks in the athletic department were privy to the academic shenanigans.  What is known is that they were real and unacceptable.  The Tar Heels need to get this part of their house in order and the karma will return to the on-fiend performance.
10. Wake Forest.  Be thankful.   Wake Forest is in a Power 5 conference because it was many years ago.  If the conferences were starting over, Wake Forest would not be atop anyone’s list.  It would be at the bottom, likely below all but Iowa State and Washington State.  Be thankful you got in when you did.  And be thankful the ACC is staying afloat.
11. Virginia.  Ignore the Big 10.  The Big 10 may be printing money, but it may not last.  Maryland was desperate.  Virginia is not desperate–financially or athletically.  The ACC and Virginia belong together.
12. North Carolina State.  Feel good.  The football and basketball programs are not elite, but they sure seem better off than just a few years ago.
13. Georgia Tech.  Savor the 2014 football season.  It is easy to look at an 10-3 season and focus on the three losses, rather than the ten wins.  Ask every runner-up–those seasons are painful.  But this was an outstanding season for the Yellow Jackets, who won the Coastal and beat Georgia. 
    
14. Boston College.  Realize just how good Addazio abd his staff have been for the program.  Not all seasons end like you hope and Boston College had too many losses to feel overly fortunate.  But Addazio has the Eagles winning enough to get to bowl games AND being competitive against every team, no matter how elite.  This is not an anomaly.  Two seasons of going toe-to-toe with FSU, Clemson, and USC is proof.  This is one heck of a staff. 
    
15. Miami.  Support Al Golden in 2015.  He is not going anywhere.  And he should not be.  You do not fire a coach after he navigates two seasons of sanctions.  Give him one more year–with full support–to get the job done.  It may be hard, but it is better for the program.  If he is not the right coach, fan support will help get a better one next time.
    
16. Conference leadership.  Get us a network.  Kthanks.  

Hey… you can do better I am sure.  What is a true or funny resolution for your school or another ACC school?  Feel free to share below!