Let’s all take a deep breath and … hug our mothers.

(Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!)

In all seriousness, the past 48 hours have been one wild roller coaster ride for Florida State (the wildest in three years?) and its current conference partner, the ACC, and the supposed conference suitor on-the-side, the Big 12. For fans of the university’s athletic programs, as well as fans of teams within the current “footprint” of both conferences, the last two days have been similarly harrowing, similarly dramatic.

They have been filled with games of he-said, he-said; contract fact-checking; more clearly defined monetary payout timelines; highly-charged Internet debate and rebuttals; and the world’s share of new, out-of-the-woodwork, amateur conference expansion experts.

Let’s all pause and  take a deep breath.

Woosah.

Now, back at it we go.

The ACC is holding its annual meetings this week — they begin Sunday and run through Wednesday — with conference athletic directors and other school leaders meeting alongside ACC commissioner John Swofford. The motley crew has various items pertaining to the upcoming athletic year to hash out during the meetings, but you can be certain that among the hottest topics of conversation will be the events of this weekend.

AKA: “Is FSU leaving the conference, or not?”

***

That’s the million-dollar question of the spring, and perhaps eventually, the summer.

Now, to help answer it, let’s catch you up.

On Friday, FSU athletics director Randy Spetman told the Orlando Sentinel in a one-on-one interview that his university was “committed to the ACC.” Rumors and speculation about any conversations he and officials from the university had had with the Big 12 were false, he said. He hadn’t been in Texas all week, as had been speculated, and no one from his office was in the Lone Star State, either.

It was the same line other officials had uttered in the fall when chatter raged on in Tallahassee and out of it suggesting FSU was interested in leaving the ACC for the SEC. “We are committed to the ACC.”

University president Eric Barron has publicly said — and often — that he believes FSU is comfortable within its current confines in the ACC. He has listed academics and a now more than 20-year relationship with the conference as reasons he isn’t calling for his school’s departure. (More on Barron’s public thoughts on the matter are coming later in this post)

But, we all know that while he may have one of the last words in such a situation as this, there is another entity that has a rather powerful voice, too.

The board of trustees.

FSU athletics director Randy Spetman said Friday that his school was "committed to the ACC." His president issued a similar statement Saturday night, but his trustee board chair doesn't echo such sentiments. (Associated Press)

Adding to the intrigue, on Saturday afternoon, in an exclusive interview with Warchant.com, a website devoted to covering FSU athletics and recruiting, trustee board chair Andy Haggard expressed his concern over the ACC’s recently-extended $ 3.6 billion television deal with ESPN. His chief frustrations appeared to lie with the perception that the conference lost third-tier rights in football, per the new deal.

In his first quote in the story, he said:

“It’s mind-boggling and shocking. … How can the ACC give up third tier rights for football but keep them for basketball?”

***

That fact was later shot down by the ACC. As one conference official told me Saturday evening, the terms of the ACC’s third-tier broadcasting rights have been “unchanged since 2010.” At the time of the last conference television deal, those rights included keeping them for both men’s basketball and football.

Haggard shouldn’t shoulder much blame on that one, though. It has been speculated ad nausea in the blogosphere in recent days that that was the case. The reason that becomes important is because the common perception has been that the Big 12’s recently updated television deal — reported by CBS Sports last Monday as a “verbal agreement” — will shell out $ 20 million per school, per year, and continue to include third-tier options that could vault the finances of a program like FSU a few million even higher.

The ACC official was rather adamant in saying there has been no change to the conference’s third-tier rights policy, and that it doesn’t favor one revenue sport over the other.

Another perception about the conference has been that it and its North Carolina-based leaders have long favored men’s basketball. Particularly once FSU stopped running the league in football (12 ACC championships, all prior to 2006) and demanding respect as a national power in it, those fears among Seminoles fans began to increase. At the same time that overall league attendance and success in BCS bowl games began to wane, the Duke’s and UNC’s of the world were still advancing to — and winning — men’s basketball Final Fours.

Haggard even addressed those concerns in his chat with Warchant:

“(The TV deal) continues the perception that the ACC favors the North Carolina schools,” he said.

Using your decoder rings, you’ll know that “North Carolina schools” translates into “basketball schools.” Duke, North Carolina, Wake Forest and North Carolina State have been more relevant, collectively, on the hardwood in the past decade than they have in the Bowl Championship Series. But again, for that matter, in some ways, so has FSU, which won its first ACC men’s basketball tournament title this season.

Win on the gridiron, and you can help the ACC win, some national pundits have posited about FSU.

***

In addition to Haggard’s telling statements about his personal leanings with respect to the ACC, he also revealed perhaps the most damning news of all with respect to FSU’s status with the conference.

The board, he said, “unanimously … would be in favor of seeing what the Big 12 might have to offer. We have to do what is in Florida State’s best interest.”

And boom goes the dynamite.

What got kind of lost in his comments to Warchant and also in Spetman’s comments to the Sentinel, however, was this basic and, as of now, true, fact.

FSU has not yet been in contact with officials from the Big 12.

***

But that doesn’t mean Big 12 officials would object to unofficially inviting FSU officials over to meet their mothers this weekend.

Yahoo!’s Dan Wetzel on Saturday afternoon tweeted that when asked if the Big 12 would be interested in FSU, one league source said “I can’t imagine how we wouldn’t be interested in Florida State.” That anonymous quote came a day after Texas athletics director DeLoss Dodds had said such interest had “no basis.” Officials at Texas and Texas Tech had given similar comments earlier in the week to a writer for the Austin American-Statesman.

More from Wetzel in a sec.

***

In addition to Haggard’s comments about FSU looking into any Big 12 leads, Seminoles football coach Jimbo Fisher joined in the action when he opined the following to the Sentinel’s Mike Bianchi during the Seminole Boosters’ spring tour stop at Cheyenne Saloon in Orlando on Saturday.

“There have been no official talks, but I think you always have to look out there to see what’s best for Florida State,” Fisher said. “If that [jumping to the Big 12] is what’s best for Florida State, then that’s what we need to do.”

OK, so his quote may not make the same headlines as Haggard’s, but it is still telling. Clearly some within the university’s power structure believe a conference switch should be an option that is placed on the table and debated and not dismissed.

FSU coach Jimbo Fisher believes the university has to do what's in its best interest. … Even if that means exploring options of leaving the ACC for the Big 12. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

What’s unique about Fisher’s comment is that it is a little different from what his position was in this in this video from after a practice last fall when the FSU-to-SEC chatter had hit full bore. There was only one conference he was concerned about. The day before this video, he reiterated comments made by Barron; that FSU was committed to the ACC.

“We’re in the ACC and happy to be in the ACC,” he said in the video. “We’re getting ready to play an ACC schedule …”

***

Last fall: unity.

For about seven hours Saturday: division.

After Haggard’s comments got tweeted and retweeted around the globe, it became clear that something wasn’t right inside the athletic board rooms at FSU.

The athletics director was saying one thing, the board of trustees chair was saying another.

Who was right?

Or, the better question, as tweeted many times over Saturday by national reporters and fans alike, “Who was running things at FSU?”

***

At 11:01 p.m., Eastern Time, we got a bit of an answer.

FSU President Eric Barron finally decided it was time to weigh in on the matter. Without fully chastising his trustee board chair and calling him everything but a renegade, rouge voice in Tallahassee, Barron deferred to the ACC in a 78-word statement.

He started by saying the school regretted any “misinformation” about the ACC’s contract deal with ESPN. He added the university respected the chairman of the board’s opinions, and acknowledged that a school should make sure to take steps toward building a positive future for itself.

But, perhaps more importantly, for now, he parted with Haggard on one key issue:

“Florida State,” Barron said, “is not seeking an alternative to the ACC nor are we considering alternatives. Our current commitments remain strong.”

Boom goes the dynamite?

***

In addition to the drama of what some outside of Tallahassee are calling the Spetman-Haggard-Barron Bros. circus, there was this perfectly-timed and flawlessly-executed story from Wetzel on the mess the Seminoles now have sitting in their laps. Doing some fact-checking with the ACC, Wetzel discovered that there is a chance the member schools will not see an immediate increase to their yearly revenue from the conference distribution pot, per the new television deal.

Will the Seminoles be celebrating Big 12 wins anytime soon? Or will they still be celebrating ACC victories? (Raleigh News & Observer)

It had been somewhat assumed that the money, which would take ACC schools from approximately $ 14 million this coming season to $ 17 million per season, would kick in instantaneously. Wetzel quotes a source as having said that the full yearly increase to $ 17 million a year may not begin until 2021. The deal was extended through 2027.

Another eight seasons of less than $ 17 million being handed out by the ACC? Staying could be conference realignment financial suicide, many FSU exiters say.

At this time, since the new Big 12 deal has not been signed off on, it remains unclear just how quickly the full $ 20 million per year distribution payout will be given to the member teams.

But, consider this. When trying to maintain the arms race with in-state rival Florida and its extraordinarily lucrative deal with the SEC, the cash-strapped Seminoles, comparatively speaking, could be in a severe economic hole in the coming years. As Bianchi points out in his column, assuming the ACC’s $ 17 million kicks in instantly, FSU still would earn $ 128 million less than the Gators over the length of the ACC’s extended 15-year contract.

***

Hopefully these 1,800 some odd words helped tie together some loose ends for you and give you an idea of where we are entering what could be the most bizarre set of days of this college football cycle. Last year, Missouri and Texas A&M held us in drama and suspense. Now, it appears it’s FSU’s turn.

We’ll all be watching, waiting …

… and breathing.

(Again, hug your moms today. Happy Mother’s Day.)

Chopping Block – Seminoles Blog – Orlando Sentinel

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