is because he doesn't understand his job. Or, if he does, he's intentionally refusing to do it. He thinks he is a boss athletic director over other athletic directors, like he's the president of a big athletic organization and all the athletic directors are his senior vice-presidents. This could not be further from what his actual role is. He is the CEO of an entertainment vendor. He is no different, in principle, than the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery. His job is to sell a product (FOOTBALL and MEN'S BASKETBALL) to TV/streaming consumers and maximize the return for his constituent organizations. That's it, that's the whole enchilada. If TV money wasn't a thing, there would be no reason for the ACC as currently constituted to exist. If TV money wasn't a thing, VT football and all the other athletic programs could never leave a 3 hour radius from Blacksburg, and it wouldn't matter one bit. It's ALL about TV money. All the rest of it is either secondary support for the primary goal or entirely inconsequential. And he is out so far ahead of his skis, he's so far underwater, that he pretty much comes off as this sweaty, pathetic rube pining for yesteryear, talking about "gated communities" and "student athletes" while the product he is supposed to be selling dies on the vine. He should have been fired years ago. The ACC needs a cold blooded killer running the conference, and not some college athletics administrator - a MEDIA EXECUTIVE that knows how to SELL A PRODUCT. Professional Wrestling is still a thing, despite the fact everyone knows it's fake, and despite how low brow it is, because the people that run the WWE know what they're selling and how to sell it. Imagine if, tomorrow, they had the athletic director from Iowa installed as chief executive of the WWE. That's basically what the ACC has in Jim Phillips, the Charlie Brown of conference commissioners.