TALLAHASSEE, FLA. (AP) - Florida State University President Eric Barron said Saturday that he doesn’t know how to make it any clearer: There have been no _ as in zero _ conversations between university officials with anyone about joining the Southeastern Conference.
Barron, attending a Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce meeting in Destin, re-emphasized that there have been no discussions about moving to the SEC, or any other league for that matter.
“From coach to (athletic director) to president and the board chair (trustees), there has been no discussion,” Barron told The Associated Press in phone interview from Destin. “I feel quite certain if any of those individuals had any discussions, including me, we would have shared it with each other.”
Barron, however, sounded more amused than irritated by all the reports.
“There’s certainly a lot of scurrying about for sure,” he said.
Barron and the university’s board of trustees would be responsible for any decision to change conferences.
Football coach Jimbo Fisher said the only information he’s heard about schools possibly leaving their existing conferences for the Southeastern Conference is from reporters.
Fisher, who was finishing up the first day of two-a-days Saturday in preparation for his team’s season opener in three weeks, was far more eager to talk about his team’s preparation than reports about possible conference realignments.
“Nobody has talked to me,” Fisher said Saturday when asked about reports that the Seminoles might possibly join Missouri, Clemson and Texas A&M in the SEC. “There is no proposal or anything that I am aware of at all.”
Clemson University President James Barker Saturday also denied reports that the Tigers are considering a move.
“We are committed to the ACC,” Barker said in a statement. “We have had no contact with the SEC.”
The latest reports on conference realignments began after Texas A&M officials scheduled a special meeting for Monday to discuss its future. According to reports, Texas A&M has been unhappy about The Longhorn Network _ created through a 20-year, $300 million deal between archrival Texas and ESPN.
“I’ve got enough problems worrying about practice,” Fisher said. “I ain’t going to worry about Texas A&M.
“We got an ACC schedule we got to win, we got a couple big nonconference games we got to win, and we got an ACC championship we got to win,” Fisher said. “That’s our focus and what I’m concentrating on.”
The Seminoles have mostly dominated the ACC in football, winning a dozen league championships and two national titles in the past two decades. They won their division last year in Fisher’s first season as head coach, but were defeated by Virginia Tech in a 44-33 shootout in the ACC championship game.
Florida State joined the ACC on July 1, 1991 after months of courtship by the SEC, becoming the ninth member of the conference that included charter members Clemson, Duke, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State, and Wake Forest along with Virginia and Georgia Tech.
Boston College, Miami and Virginia Tech all became ACC members in 2004 after leaving the Big East.
And Fisher, who spent 13 seasons as an assistant at SEC members LSU and Auburn, seems to be happy right where he is now.
“We’re in the ACC and happy to be in the ACC,” Fisher repeated Saturday.
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AP Sports Writer Pete Iacobelli contributed to this report from Johns Creek, Ga.
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